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Italian OTS Tenor in Bb
c.1870
This
is a post US Civil War Over The Shouder (OTS) Tenor with
side-action rotary valves (SARV) employing mechanical
linkage. Foreign made OTS horns were imported by both Union
and Confederate bands during the Civil War 1861-1865.
The OTS horns were configured so that the music would waft backwards towards the marching troops - with the band in the lead. This design quickly fell out of favor after the war as band leaders finally realized that the troops march to the drum beat anyway - and that the music was better heard by the admiring crowds using bell-front configurations. This horn was made by B.
Cazzani & Co of Milano Italy- and was likely imported well after
the end of the war by T. Pirone, New York. Cazzani made woodwind and
Brass
instruments in Milano from late 1800s to 1912. The bell is inscribed Premiato Stabile and Esportazione Mondaile and has a
logo containing words Ditte Riunite
The horn plays easily and clearly and the valve action is fast
and accurate. The use of a water key is indicative of a manufacture
date after the US Civil War.
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