The original Sousaphone in concert

While doing research on the history of the Sousaphone over the past few years, one of the biggest surprises that occurred was the offer to play the original Sousaphone, built by J. W. Pepper in 1895, in my community band for its 20th anniversary concert on May 3, 2015. Now I can check off something on my bucket list before I even have one!

George Class, with whom I have worked closely at the Pepper company, was the one who gladly made the offer and helped with all of the arrangements.

George Class with me at the concert on May 3, 2015

Once we got the enthusiastic "green light" from our director (who is also a tuba player), the plans for the concert took a distinctly Sousa turn. He scheduled four marches by the great bandmaster (three in the program, and one as an encore), and a dixieland piece that allowed Sousa's creation to be featured in a quintet for part of the piece.

Here's what we said in the program about the strange-looking tuba that had joined the band for that special concert:

And here are a few photos from the rehearsal the week before, during which a couple of reporters from The Philadelphia Inquirer showed up (my director had tipped them off!) to create a front page feature about the horn and the concert:

Being interviewed by Kristin Holmes and Tom Gralish of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Working on the Original Dixieland Concerto

The concert on Sunday was recorded, so here are the relevant videos:

At the end of the concert, I met with folks out in the atrium to let them see the original Sousaphone up close and personal. It was a great day!

The original Sousaphone on its own

Click here for a brief video clip of the original Sousaphone on its own (and yes, the date of the horn is incorrect in the video itself- it should say 1895 there as well).

J.W.P. Sousaphones for sale - finally!

While J. W. Pepper designed and built the first Sousaphone in 1895, it appears that he didn't start selling Sousaphones until a decade later. Here's what appeared in Pepper's Musical Times and Band Journal toward the end of 1905 (vol. 19, no. 222):

There are a number of very curious - if not outright questionable - things revealed on this page.

First of all, there is the photo of Herman Conrad, who is listed as playing the "BBb Bass Sousaphone" in "Sousa's Concert Band." However, the image dates back to at least 1895, and Conrad had left the Sousa Band at some point in 1903. Further, he had only played the original Pepper Sousaphone in that band in 1896 and perhaps 1897 (we only have confirmation for 1896). From 1898 through 1903, Conrad played various versions of C. G. Conn's first Sousaphone, so the testimonial here is very misleading.

However, perhaps the quote is from before 1898, when only the original Pepper Sousaphone existed, but that would make it irrelevant to the Sousaphones featured on this page! My guess is that Conrad never even tried one of the horns seen here.

Second, and related to that, the testimonial appears to be an adapted version of what Conrad had said about Pepper's Premier BBb Bass at some point (referring to a standard tuba, or perhaps a helicon) which appears on page 9 of the 1905 catalogue:

The only difference between these two testimonials is the horn mentioned - both after Conrad's name, and at the end of the quote. In other words, it appears that Pepper simply borrowed the previous testimonial and added the word "Sousaphone" in order to sell the Sousaphones that he was now (finally!) selling. Conrad may have had no idea what was going on!

Third, it does appear that Pepper was stretching the truth about the horns featured. Just below the image of the Eb Sousaphone he said, "We Guarantee These Sousaphones to be Absolutely Perfect In Tune, Tone, Workmanship and Quality of Materials." Wow! A guarantee of absolute perfection? Nothing like a little exaggeration to sell horns, huh?!

It may be that Pepper pushed things a bit because he was frustrated with how people had forgotten that he, and not Conn, had built the first Sousaphone all those years ago. Note what he said in the explanatory paragraph right above the bell of the BBb horn:

The telling sentence is toward the end: "Remember that we are the sole originators of this style of basses, and all others [referring to Conn, I presume?] are imitations of these magnificent large-proportioned monsters."

"Imitations," indeed - Pepper created the first one. However, the Pepper Sousaphones of 1905 were significantly different from the original Sousaphone of 1895. For example, while the latter was built entirely in the Pepper factory (part of his "Premier - Own Make" line), these new horns were imports of a sort.

In his Everything Musical catalogue for 1912, Pepper commented about his "American Favorite" line, to which these Sousaphones belonged: "We call it 'American Favorite' because it is the favorite line in all parts of America." But then he explained that "Our own shops design the model and fix the grade of material that goes into every part of these Instruments." The horns themselves, however, were apparently built elsewhere, while "the tuning and general inspection" as well as "the high-grade plating" were done "right on our own premises." All of this was apparently a way to keep the cost down, in comparison with the "Premier - Own Make" line.

And what would one of these "magnificent large-proportioned monsters" set you back in 1905? Here's what it says about the larger of the two horns (which had a 28 inch diameter bell - did you catch that?!):

Pepper's 1906 catalogue featured these same horns, in almost the exact same layout, on its bright yellow back page:

Courtesy of the Oberlin College Library

These Sousaphones also appeared on page 14 of the 1907 catalogue, but that was the last time they were featured in an annual catalogue. Apparently they didn't sell all that well.

In fact, the only other time I came across one of these horns in a Pepper publication was on an insert to the 1912 catalogue that listed used instruments:

Courtesy of the Hagley Library

The cost on the left ($94) was the original cost of the Eb Sousaphone in brass finish (close - it was $96); the cost on the right ($55) was the sale price in 1912.

Finally, one of the Eb horns (in silver plate) can still be seen today in the Don Johnson Exhibit at the Marion County Heritage Center in Lebanon, KY:

Courtesy of Don Johnson

The Pepper horn finds its way home

John Bailey with the Pepper horn in 1991.

The story of how the original Sousaphone resurfaced in recent years is almost too good to be true. On a quiet Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1973, John Bailey, a 24-year-old tuba player and recent graduate of West Chester State College, joined his mother and sister for an outing to Renningers Flea Market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. John had moved back home to Wernersville, near Reading, where he began teaching and occasionally subbing with the Ringgold Band—yes, the band that holds the distinction of being the very last one that Sousa conducted before he died in 1932.

     

John wasn’t looking to buy anything that day, but he noticed a vintage three-valve “raincatcher” Sousaphone, heavily tarnished and covered with dust, hanging upside-down from the rafters by a single loop of binder twine! When he was told that it cost only $50, he raced home to get the money. His plan was to get it into playable shape and have an interesting horn for use in parades.

In cleaning up the Sousaphone, John discovered that it was unfinished, that is, just raw brass, which further supported my initial speculation that perhaps the horn was never actually used in public (although it was; see here). He also found that the front of the bell featured some beautiful and highly significant engravings.

However, for almost 20 years, John kept that historic horn in storage, collecting dust once again. Along the way, he received confirmation from experts that he had something special, but, with limited funds, he never got around to having it restored and displayed.

The Pepper Sousaphone as it looked at the time of its purchase by the Pepper company in 1991.

The valves and tuning slides had been kept in a separate box when Bailey bought the horn in 1973.

But then, in August 1991, John gladly sold the horn back to its maker, the J. W. Pepper company. George Class, Pepper's historian, was there to close the deal, and the company then proceeded to have its historic horn restored, including adding a lacquer finish - perhaps its first proper covering in 96 years! The Sousaphone is now proudly displayed in the central atrium of the Pepper building in Exton, PA.

Pepper historian George Class when he picked up the horn at John Bailey's home in 1991.

George in the Pepper atrium in 2014

John Bailey in 2014

Conn or Pepper? The debate in '94

John Beery and Lloyd Farrar at the AMIS annual meeting of 1994

In the course of my research, I came across a rather unique event that occurred almost exactly a century after the first Sousaphone was created. It was at the 23rd annual meeting of the American Musical Instrument Society, which was organized that year - 1994 - by Dr. Margaret Downie Banks. Here's what she shared about that event a few years ago, upon receiving The Curt Sachs Award for 2014:

Certainly one of my most memorable collaborations with AMIS was the annual meeting that I organized in Elkhart, Indiana in 1994, to coincide with an exhibition I curated about the C. G. Conn company, called “Elkhart’s Brass Roots.” Conference attendees toured many of the town’s historic musical instrument factories, enjoyed a turn-of-the-century band concert on Island Park, and witnessed an animated talk about the history of drums presented by the legendary William F. Ludwig II. I even enticed C. G. Conn III to travel to Elkhart from California for only the second time in his life to receive the keys to the City from the Mayor. Behind the scenes, however, I found myself having to explain the good-natured debate about the origins of the Sousaphone that was simultaneously being stirred up by Pepper loyalist and AMIS member, Lloyd Farrar. Was the first Sousaphone designed in Elkhart by Conn’s grandfather or was it made in Philadelphia by J. W. Pepper? That debate, incidentally, has never been conclusively resolved—at least not to my satisfaction.

Now, of course, that "good-natured debate about the origins of the Sousaphone" has been "conclusively resolved" (I've even enjoyed a few email exchanges with Dr. Banks, who encouraged me to call her Peggy). But back in '94, no one was able to make a solid case. The Pepper horn had been returned to the J. W. Pepper company only a few years earlier, and Lloyd Farrar, who Peggy mentioned, was hard at work on behalf of Pepper, learning all he could about that historic Sousaphone (I have had numerous phone conversations with Lloyd this past year).

In digging through the archives at J. W. Pepper last year (with their permission, of course), I came across some of the correspondence between Lloyd and Peggy from the early 90s. They had begun sharing information and documents that shed light on the early history of the Sousaphone, but in a letter dated November 7, 1992, Peggy declared to Lloyd, "I am still not convinced, from the photos and information which I have received, at least, that the Pepper instrument is incontrovertibly the first sousaphone. Nor am I convinced of the early dating. Please--convince me otherwise."

At some point over the next 12 months Lloyd proposed an on-site comparison of the Pepper horn and the so-called "Original Sousaphone" built by Conn that was in the Leland B. Greenleaf Collection of Musical Instruments up at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Peggy agreed, and encouraged Lloyd to make the arrangements with John Beery, the curator of the collection (John and I met back in 2012, and have exchanged a few emails since then).

The so-called "Original Sousaphone" in the Greenleaf Collection when I paid it a visit in July 2012.

In the meantime, Peggy did a little research on the Interlochen horn, and here's what she learned (from her letter to Lloyd, dated October 5, 1993):

I tracked down the display label from a 1939 exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry in which the Interlochen Conn sousaphone was displayed. The label contained some interesting information and reads as follows:

Original Sousa Sousaphone. The sousaphone was built by Conn especially for Sousa's band in 1898. This is one of the original 4 built and when Sousa's band was discontinued after Sousa's death in 1931, this horn was purchased from the Sousa estate, having been in continuous use for 33 years.

The serial number of the Interlochen sousaphone, compared to the standard derived serial number list, suggests that this instrument was produced about 1904 [rather than 1898] . . .

So now there were significant doubts about the Interlochen Sousaphone being the first. And Lloyd agreed. In his response of October 17, 1993, he shared with Peggy his belief that the "sousaphones used throughout the history of the mature Sousa band were not the very first instruments of the type to be manufactured--rather they were a second series produced after several years of experimentation."

But the plans for bringing the two old Sousaphones together continued, and Lloyd convinced John to join him for the AMIS meeting in May of the following year. John shared with me back in July 2012 the details of that historic encounter:

Lloyd Farrar, J. W. Pepper's official historian, invited me to bring the "original Sousaphone" to the conference. He brought the "original Pepper" instrument and we roomed together. We spent quite a bit of time with the two instruments side by side (on our hotel room beds) and really examined them.

He's not kidding - check this out!

That's Lloyd on the left bed, and John on the right!

John continues:

Lloyd was sure he had discovered something definitive about the tuning slide, but when we got right down to cases, he was still not sure he could make his case. We left the conference fast friends, and with the debate still not completely settled. However, I do believe he had a strong case for the Pepper instrument as the "first" instrument of its kind to have been built.

He then adds one more delightful bit of trivia about this Sousaphone encounter which relates to the photo at the top of this post:

We also performed "Bombasto" on the two instruments as a duet during Lloyd's presentation to the society. He played the tuba part and I played the melody parts. It was great fun and I suppose somewhat entertaining to the audience, if a bit esoteric for most listeners.

This occurred on  Saturday, May 21; here's the listing in the program:

Later that day a related presentation occurred:

I've reached out to Lloyd to see if I can get a transcript of this "Dramatic Reenactment." Stay tuned!

Santa on the Sousaphone!

Enjoying this album the week before Christmas. And Santa's got the big horn on! Sousa would be proud (well, if the bell were pointed back up!)

Hark! The Brass Herald angels sing

Pulled this out of my mailbox yesterday, straight from the UK . . .

A few months back, Steve Dillon encouraged me to send my ITEA Journal article on the early history of the Sousaphone to Philip Biggs, editor of The Brass Herald, to see if they might be interested in re-printing it. And here it is - an early Christmas present!

The Stonewall Brigade Band helicon

In poking around the internet recently, trying to learn more about the history of the helicon, I stumbled upon the following claim at the website of the Stonewall Brigade Band of Staunton, Virginia:

In 1893 the band was engaged for a two-week period at the Columbian Exposition, World's Fair, Chicago, where the band acquired the first-ever manufactured over the shoulder bass horn, called a helicon. This was the precursor of the famed Sousaphone. The Helicon is still in the band's possession and is used by the brass ensemble for performances of period music.

Below this statement is the following photo:

In communicating with some of the leaders of this historic community band, they admitted that they needed to do some "weeding out of fact and folklore," and I offered to help them do so regarding their wonderful, old helicon. They graciously sent me some photos, and what I have been able to conclude is noted below.

Roger Ergenbright, one of the the band's longtime tuba players

Roger, along with band president Donald Dollins and music director Bob Moody (taking the photo of the bell).

The engravings on the bell tell us just about everything we need to know about the horn:

First of all, right smack in the middle we find "Ch Missenharter." This refers to Karl Moritz (Charles) Missenharter (1829-1899), who had worked in his father's brass instrument factory in Ulm, Germany, until he moved to New York in 1869 to start his own branch of the family business.

Missenharter horns won various awards over the years, and that explains what is stamped above the name on the bell. "Medaille 1st Class" refers to an award at the Exposition Universelle of 1855 in Paris; "Philadelphia" (the first time it appears) refers to an award from the International Exposition of 1876; "London" refers to an award at the International Exhibition of 1862; "Paris" refers to an award from the Exposition Universelle of 1867; and "San Francisco, American Institute" cannot be positively placed, but surely refers to yet another award.

Below his name it says, "Excelsior," which is simply the line of band instruments that Missenhalter built and sold in the U.S. Here's a page from the April 1885 edition of S. R. Leland & Son's Band Journal showing various horns in that line:

Courtesy of Jon Patton

Below "Excelsior," it says "Harry Coleman, Manf'r, Philadelphia." In the summer of 1891, Missenharter sold his company to Harry Coleman, a Philadelphia-based music publisher (who, by the way, published some of Sousa's marches in the 1880s and early 1890s - including Semper Fidelis and The Washington Post). Coleman continued producing Missenharter instruments in New York, until he moved the whole operation down to Philadelphia on October 21, 1892. Here are the notices about these changes found in The Music Trade Review at those times:

From the August 5-20, 1891 edition (vol. 15, no. 1, p. 278)

From the October 29, 1892 edition (vol. 16, no. 12, p. 251)

Now we can begin to hone in on the date of the helicon in question. With "Philadelphia" on the bell, it had to be made after Coleman moved the factory there, which is late 1892. And the style of horn matches the helicon we see in the page from 1885 above, which means that the claim by the Stonewall Brigade Band that their helicon was the "first-ever manufactured over the shoulder bass horn" cannot be true (unless, perhaps, this is referring to the first Coleman produced Missenharter helicon that came out of the factory in Philadelphia; but that cannot be confirmed at present).

And what about the claim that the horn was acquired in Chicago at the World's Fair of 1893? That may very well be the case. The serial number, 8789, which is the last thing stamped on the bell, fits that time period. And Missenhalter horns built after the Fair typically had "Chicago" added to the list of places where awards were won. There is no "Chicago" on this bell, so the horn was almost certainly made right before or during the six months of the Fair.

We know that Harry Coleman had a small band instrument booth at the Fair, located in the southern end of the massive Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building (section I), which was right on the lake:

Looking at the layout of the room, Coleman's booth was right above the J. W. Pepper booth - which was right across from the C. G. Conn booth. All three are to the right of the Mason and Hamlin room:

From Musical Instruments at the World's Columbian Exposition, published in 1895 and available online

I have yet to find any more information about Coleman's presence at the Fair (although I did learn that he died a few years later, in March 1895, of heart failure; he was only 52). But according to the guys in the Stonewall Brigade Band, the helicon was purchased there for $175, although it was not able to be picked up and taken home until after the Fair. They had originally thought it was purchased at the Conn booth, but that is almost certainly incorrect, given that it is a Missenharter/Coleman horn.

I'd love to hear how it sounds!

Advertisement in the May 1895 edition of the Musical Record

Helicon sighting at TubaChristmas!

Here's how things looked at the Lansdale, PA TubaChristmas this afternoon:

Having started to dig into the history of the helicon bass lately, I was pleasantly surprised to see one of these great old horns at our concert (front and center above; my son is the third Sousaphone from the left in the back - the second bell-front horn; me and my tuba are buried in the middle somewhere!).

Talking briefly with the helicon owner afterward, he shared that it was built in 1905 and imported from Europe. It did sound a little muffled, but I think I know why . . .

The Sousaphone's direct ancestors

When the Sousaphone first appeared in 1895, the idea of a large brass instrument that wound around the body and rested on the shoulder was nothing new. The concept goes way back to the early Roman Empire, when the cornu was used in the military, and for various state occasions.

Cornu players on Trajan's Column in Rome, dedicated AD 113. This instrument was used "in the heat of battle . . . to inspire the Romans and to strike fear in the enemy," which sounds like my tuba section in college! (Photo is from The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 6, p. 490; quote is from vol. 25, p. 861).

Interestingly, it is back in those days that we find the first use of the word tuba, although at that time it referred to a straight, trumpet-like instrument (much like the plastic stadium horn, or vuvuzela, of today). The cornu was essentially a modified tuba, made larger and longer, and curved into the 'G' shape you see above. It was revived 17 centuries later as the tuba curva during the French Revolution.

Now, of course, tuba is the name of a whole family of wide-bore valved brass instruments, including the Sousaphone. I'll let John Philip Sousa explain (from his article, "The Strange Instruments of the Military Band," The San Francisco Call, October 12, 1902, p. 13):

Did you catch that? The "Sousaphone" is essentially a modified helicon, "adapted to concert purposes" (a surprise to most people - it was not designed for marching!). But what do we know about the helicon bass? I've touched on it briefly here and here in this blog, but let's dive in a little deeper.

Long before Herman Conrad was playing the Sousaphone in Sousa's band, he was playing the helicon in Gilmore's band, in which he performed from 1888-1892. Here he is with his massive "helicon tuba" back in 1889:

This is the lead photograph in a fascinating article by Leon Mead in the September 28, 1889 edition of Harper's Weekly, titled, "The Military Band of the United States." Mead goes on to explain that

(NOTE: Henry Gimckel is probably Henry Gunckel)

While the concept for the helicon may have roots in Russia, the horn was apparently first produced around 1845 by Ignaz Stowasser of Vienna, who eventually patented the new instrument in 1848. Early versions looked a bit clunkier than the "ponderous bass" we see Conrad wielding above - 40 years later:

Bb helicon by Stowasser, 1850 (from The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 11, p. 339).

But the concept remained the same - a large, coiled bass instrument, similar to the cornu, although with valves and a much wider bore. This design proved convenient for playing while marching, and on horseback, but the instrument also found it's way into concert settings, as is the case with Conrad.

Quite curiously, around the same time that Stowasser first produced the helicon (again, 1845), Belgian instrument-maker Adolphe Sax came up with his own version of a valved bass that was inspired by the cornu. Referred to now as the Saxtuba, it never really caught on like the helicon did. But here is one of only two surviving examples from early on:

Bass saxtuba in Eb, 1855 - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Google had some fun featuring this obscure bass horn last month, as they celebrated Sax's birthday, which was November 6, 1814. Coincidentally, Sousa was born on the same day 40 years later - go figure!

And speaking of Sousa, let's fast-forward to his band shortly before the arrival of the Sousaphone. When Gilmore suddenly passed away in 1892, Conrad was one of many top-notch musicians from Gilmore's band that signed on with the newly formed band led by Sousa. And he brought with him his massive helicon, as we can see from this photo of Conrad with the Sousa Band at the St. Louis Exposition in October 1893:

Courtesy of the U. S. Marine Band Library

But here's a curious discovery: there appears to have been a second helicon used in Sousa's band around that time - one built by J. W. Pepper, exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, and supposedly played by George Barbour during the band's stay at Manhattan Beach (but a year later, it seems, as Barbour apparently wasn't in the band until 1894). At least that's what we read on page 2 of Pepper's Portraits of Great Artists:

I have yet to find any photograph showing this horn in action with Sousa's band, but I did come across a classified ad in Pepper's Musical Times and Band Journal, vol. 16, no. 183, which was published in 1899, listing this giant helicon for sale (the ad remained through edition no. 191):

More importantly, we know that shortly before Sousa formed his new band, he pitched the idea for a modified helicon to Pepper. He simply didn't like the way a standard helicon sounded in a concert setting. As he put it years later, the horn

was all right enough for street-parade work, but its tone was apt to shoot ahead too prominently and explosively to suit me for concert performances, so I spoke to Mr. Pepper relative to constructing a bass instrument in which the bell would turn upwards and be adjustable for concert purposes. He built one, and grateful to me for the suggestion, called it a Sousaphone.

The initial conversation about creating this new horn occurred in 1892, and for three years, it seems, Sousa tolerated one or possibly two helicons in his band. But finally, in late 1895 or early 1896, Pepper delivered the replacement:

The body may very well have been patterned after the helicon that Barbour used - we can't say for sure, without getting a closer look at both instruments (and I'm not aware that the first horn still exists). But from this point on, the modified helicon dubbed the "Sousaphone" began to grow in popularity, ultimately becoming the most commonly used shoulder-borne bass horn in America. And today, sadly, the standard helicon has gone the way of the cornu, becoming little more than a footnote to the history of the Sousaphone.