Cornopean – RAOUX, Auguste

Brasswind

A rare and extremely collectable Cornet a Pistons (cornopean) in B-Flat by the famous maker, (Marcel) Auguste RAOUX (1795-1871).
Auguste Raoux was the last generation of a very famous family of instrument makers, spanning from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries – five generations in all. They were master horn makers and saw the transformation of the solo horn to the cor a pistons.

It seems that Auguste initially worked with his father Lucien Joseph Raoux (1752-1823) making instruments until his father died. He worked out of rue Serpente in the several buildings that he owned there. They had managed to obtain licences to be instrument makers to the king and royal music academy. This is shown by the stamp referring to the ‘sole supplier of the king’ (SEUL FOURNISSEUR DU ROI). Auguste Raoux married Louise Isidore Désirée Dècle in 1826, but she left him in 1836. An inventory follows in the same year of their shared goods and among the instruments are normal cornets and some with valves. We can then perhaps date this instrument to around 1825-1830. It was then in 1830 that Auguste lost his royal patronages and the patents with the 1830 revolution.  He then had problems with severe competition and his business went into decline. He was eventually forced to sell the business to Jacques Christophe Labbaye in 1857.

This instrument features three Stölzel valves. The Stölzel valve was an early piston valve design, developed by Heinrich David Stölzel, a German horn player. Stölzel developed the valve in 1818 and it was patented prior to 1820. It was a predecessor of the Périnet-designed piston by Étienne-François Périnet. He was the inventor of the modern piston valve that we know today.

It is interesting to note that Périnet was actually an apprentice to Raoux and leant the trade of instrument making at his workshop before he opened his own in 1829 when he added a third valve to the cornet which had previously had only two Stölzel valves. 

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One of the beautiful stories of mythology tells of the way the first musical instrument was suggested. As the story runs, as Orpheus was walking along the shores of the sea, his foot struck a reed that had been cast up by the waters, and had dried in the sun. The reed gave forth a soft, sweet sound as it was made to vibrate by the stroke of Orpheus’ foot and the result was the lyre or hand-harp of the ancient Egyptians. A similar story, and probably the same one adapted to the wind instruments, is that of Lucretius which says that “the simple flute had its origin from the breathing of western winds over certain reeds,” and thus was suggested the musical pipe, or simple tube, which has developed into one of the most fascinating of instruments.

The most elaborate and beautiful collection of flutes ever displayed in the United States, and probably in the world, was seen by visitors to the German section of the Columbian Exposition. The display was that of E. Rittershausen, of Berlin. It was arranged in a large, square glass case, and consisted of flutes made of various woods, of Ebonite and of sterling silver. The Rittershausen flutes are the standard of the world, and have received the indorsement of the best performers upon this favorite instrument. Until 1832 the flute was not regarded as a perfect instrument. In that year Theobald Boehm, of Munich, brought the instrument to such a degree of perfection as to make it one of the most prominent of orchestral and solo instruments. The Rittershausen flutes are made exactly upon the Boehm system, and with such wondrous skill and delicacy of workmanship as to have long since become the favorite of discriminating flutists. It is, in fact, the instrument universally referred to when the Boehm flute is desired.

Like the illustrious Boehm, Mr. Rittershausen is also a virtuoso as well as a manufacturer, devoting his entire faculties to the production of a perfect flute. By his own practical skill he is enabled to appreciate the many details and requirements in the construction of such an instrument as is demanded by the most fastidious virtuoso. This, it will readily be seen, is an invaluable consideration in the selection of a flute by a skilled performer. And in the rapid progress of musical culture of America, there are many lovers of the beautiful instrument who are its admirers and enthusiastic students at the present time.

Living in the musical city of Berlin, Mr. Rittershausen is thrown in personal contact with the greatest flutists of Europe, thereby receiving many suggestions from them that are of incalculable benefit in the manufacture of his instruments. The Rittershausen factory is located at 107 Bergmann street, Berlin, and its product has been famous from the establishing of the present business in 1870. Each year adds largely to the number of Rittenhausen-Boehm flutes in use in America, and they have received the highest testimonials from the most famous composers and performers in this country as well as those abroad. The American representative of the Rittershausen flutes is Mr. Carl Fischer, No. 6 Fourth Avenue, New York.

Musical Instruments at the World’s Columbian Exposition – Frank D. Abbottt, Charles A. Daniell – 1895 – P. 200