As bold as brass – what is brass and why is it used to make musical instruments?

Brass

Brass has a wonderful, bright, gold-like appearance.  It is malleable [workable], low friction and has a golden glow. Even when dirty and tarnished, it can be brought back to its former glory with a bit of cleaning. But what is brass and why use it to make musical instruments?

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. It is possible to create a range of brasses with different properties by changing the proportions of zinc and copper used. Bronze, in comparison, is an alloy of copper and tin.

With its gorgeous gold-like appearance and superior malleability, brass is used extensively for decoration and jewellery. It is also employed in applications that require low friction, such as gears, locks, bearings and ammunition as well as valves for plumbing and electrical applications.

Below is a cigarette card from the Do you know : A series of 30 collection from the 1920s.

And finally… brass is of course used extensively in the production of musical instruments for all of these amazing attributes plus its acoustic properties and resistance to corrosion. Brass glitters like gold, and along with brass keys and ferrules, it has been the primary material used for making the actual bodies of brass instruments for a very long time. It’s what gives brass instruments their characteristic tone. The materials used to make a wind instrument affect its timbre. With brass instruments, it is possible to determine the timbre by the type of brass and the proportions of each element used.  We can also find brass used in making percussion instruments, such as cymbals or gongs, as well as harmonicas too. Without brass, we would be missing a part of our orchestras. It has been with us for centuries.

Shakespeare himself once mentioned brass:

‘Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.’ [Henry VIII]

He meant perhaps that we remember well everything done to harm us, yet we quickly forget the good things that others do.

In English, we have quite a few sayings that use the word. ‘Bold as brass’ means to be very bold or brave and ‘top brass’ are the leaders of an organisation. In the north of England, our ‘where there’s muck, there’s brass’ means that money can be made where there is dirt or unpleasantness.

In terms of taking care and cleaning brass, we have to consider the dreaded ‘tarnish’ or valuable ‘patina’. Brass becomes tarnished because of its exposure to oxygen – it’s a natural process. The more a brass item is used, the more tarnish or corrosion can occur. Lacquer is applied sometimes to items to prevent this tarnishing.  Sometimes people want to keep an item’s built-up tarnish or ‘patina’ rather than polish it to make it look like new, especially antiques. It’s a question of taste and the functionality of the item in question.

There is a whole range of products available on the market to clean brass. It takes time and patience and some elbow grease no matter what you use. The most bizarre homemade brass cleaner, which also serves as a face scrub, cleaning agent and condiment, is no other than tomato ketchup! But we wouldn’t recommend it for instruments, so don’t try it at home kids…

LIBRARY OVERVIEW

Keyed bugle – METZLER & SON

This is an extraordinary six-keyed bugle by METZLER & SON. The company METZLER was founded in 1788 by Valentin METZLER... read more

Cornopean – RAOUX, Auguste

A rare and extremely collectable Cornet a Pistons (cornopean) in B-Flat by the famous maker, (Marcel) Auguste RAOUX (1795-1871).Auguste Raoux... read more

Last name HAYNES – American flute manufactory

The HAYNES surname is synonymous with Boehm flute manufacture in the USA. But it’s all somewhat confusing – same name,... read more

Piccolo – RITTERSHAUSEN, Emil

This delightful piccolo in C was made by the renowned Berlin-based maker Emil RITTERSHAUSEN. Carl Emil Cäsar RITTERSHAUSEN (1852-1927) worked... read more

Flute – KLEMM, Carl August

This beautiful ebony flute was completely restored.It is stamped with the marks of Carl August KLEMM (1769-1830). He was born... read more

Bass ophicleide – A.G. GUICHARD

This bass ophicleide was made perhaps around 1840 in Paris by the August G. GUICHARD workshop. This important maker would... read more

Fife – CAHUSAC, Thomas Sr.

This boxwood fife is very old indeed. It was made around 1780–90 by one of London’s famous instrument-making families –... read more

Emil Rittershausen – Boehm flutes made in Berlin

Who better to make Boehm flutes than a flute maker who received first-hand training from Mr. Boehm himself? Carl Emil... read more

E. Rittershausen, Berlin

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