Thiemo Wind

Andries Hilbrant, an Amsterdam Woodwind Maker Prior to Richard Haka

Haka (ca. 1646–1705) was long considered the earliest documented woodwind maker in Amsterdam. This article shows that a full generation before him a woodwind maker named Andries Hilbrant was already working in this Dutch city. Hilbrant came from Nordhausen in Thuringia, about halfway between Kassel and Leipzig. This paper presents newly discovered information regarding Hilbrant’s life and work. I present evidence showing it is plausible that Haka learned his craft from Hilbrant. It is thrilling that we now have the name of an Amsterdam woodwind maker from that period, although, unfortunately, none of his instruments have been preserved.

Chet Stussy

Exotica, Intrigue, and the Talking Machine: The Case of the Stroh Ukulele

Following the advent of the phonograph in 1877, instrument makers became intrigued by the material disposition of the novel machine and began to apply concepts of phonographic design to their musical instruments. The Stroh violin of the London-based Stroviols firm often typifies this phenomenon, although several other popular nineteenth-century instruments, from guitars to ‘ukuleles, also underwent such dramatic material reconfiguration. While the history of the ‘ukulele has been well documented, the journey of the ‘ukulele into the orbit of the phonograph merits closer attention. Specifically, an instrument from this milieu offers a fruitful case study (one currently unexamined in organological literature) to explore the changing status and morphology of musical instruments developed during an era of heightened interest in phonography at the dawn of the twentieth century: the Stroh ukulele. This article examines the instrument and its origins at the nexus of a confluence of factors (exotic, material, and technological ones) during the machine age. Using advertisements, trade publications, and related ephemera, I illustrate the varied cultural origins of this object and thus offer a preliminary history of the instrument. Attention is also given to dialogic relations between musical instruments and machines

Thomas Strange

John Osborn, Enterprising Piano Maker in Boston and New York

John Osborn was the apprentice of James Cogswell, a cabinet maker in Boston, during the first decade of the nineteenth century. Osborn followed Cogswell when he joined the piano making operation of Lewis and Alpheus Babcock in Milton, Massachusetts. Benjamin Crehore, the earliest piano maker in Milton, was by then an employee of the Babcock brothers, and together they mentored the young Osborn in all of the details of piano making, allowing him to become a piano maker himself. Although Osborn is less well-known to the reader of American piano-making history today, he was associated with several of the most important piano making firms of the first half of the nineteenth century. 
      Osborn’s most famous apprentice, Jonas Chickering, would go on to form one of the largest piano factories in America at any time, and the brothers Lemuel and Timothy Gilbert would have their start under Osborn as well. 
      This paper traces the path of John Osborn through the many important early American piano firms he worked for or battled with, and offers some insights into the world of piano making in America during the first half of the nineteenth century

Arnold Myers

John Bayley, the Improved Acoustic Cornet, and the Handelian Trumpet

John Bayley, a British cornet soloist and conductor who worked in the United States and British Columbia, partnered with instrument maker Benjamin F. Richardson in Boston to produce cornets with novel designs. Subsequently he worked with John Augustus Köhler in London who manufactured his “Improved Acoustic Cornet” and “Improved Acoustic Handelian Trumpet”. This article reviews Bayley's cornet and trumpet models as made in Boston and London, drawing on contemporary documents and the study of extant examples in America and Europe. It discusses the acoustically significant features of these instruments and their relationship to the modern cornet and trumpet.

David Lasocki and Giulia Tettamanti

The Bassanos and the Invention of the Dulcian (Curtal): New Evidence

Scholars have surmised that the dulcian (curtal) was invented in Italy by 1546, probably by Jeronimo Bassano I (fl. 1481–d. ca. 1545), the pater familias of the important family of woodwind musicians and makers who worked in Venice and London in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Newly discovered evidence from the court of Ercole II d’Este in Ferrara shows that in 1535 it bought from Jeronimo’s son Anthony Bassano I “instruments called dolzene,” implying novelty or unfamiliarity, and therefore different from the dolzaina previously documented there. These instruments, presumably invented by Anthony, Jeronimo, or both, were almost certainly dulcians, designed on a new principle from any previous woodwind instrument: they had a doubled-back conical bore and a larger range. Dulcians made by the Bassano family, both mentioned in archival records and surviving today, are listed in appendices.

Lisa Beebe

Creative Avenues for the Fretted Vietnamese Đàn bầu Monochord

A monochord zither, the đàn bầu is a symbol of cultural pride in Vietnam and in the Vietnamese diaspora due to its organological distinctiveness. Vietnamese state institutions, such as broadcasting stations and conservatories, position the đàn bầu as a symbol of a national identity. This article focuses on the history and construction of a fretted version of the đàn bầu, illustrated by the work of Vietnamese-Canadian composer Bíc Hoàng. Before her passing in 2024, Bíc Hoang built a successful career as half of the duo Khac Chi Bamboo Music, arranging Vietnamese folk songs for educational programming before turning to composing new works for the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra (VICO). Bíc Hoàng’s compositions and performances with the fretted đàn bầu offer important insights into the ways musicians use musical instruments to navigate shifting political and cultural climates. This research is based on interviews with Bíc Hoàng conducted between 2017 and 2023 as well as information from video recordings, scores, publicity materials, and concert programs from Ms. Bíc’s performances.

Jóhannes Ágústsson and Kjartan Óskarsson

The Estate of the Dresden Jagd-Pfeiffer and Instrument Maker Johann Müller (1664–1735)

Dresden had a lively musical culture in the early eighteenth century, with an estimated 200 to 300 working musicians in the Saxon capital. All kinds of auxiliary staff and businesses were needed to service and provide assistance to so many people: music teachers, copyists, tuners, movers, and instrument makers. With the exception of the landmark articles of Herbert Heyde, the literature is all but silent on the very important question we will try to answer in this article: who made, serviced, and maintained the woodwind and brass instruments used by the musicians in the city? This study proposes that the Jagd-Pfeiffer Johann Müller was the most important maker of woodwind and brass instruments in Dresden from at least 1709 until his death in 1735. We propose that interesting innovations took place in his workshop as demonstrated by the fascinating inventory of his estate, here published for the first time, and we show that it can be established that Müller’s craft and knowledge were carried on by members of his family and by apprentices of his workshop, ensuring his legacy was kept alive into the nineteenth century. 

Stewart Carter and Zhiyu (Alex) Zhang

Father Amiot’s Report of the Kangxi Emperor’s “Improvements” to Ritual Instruments in Eighteenth-Century China

In 1754 Joseph-Marie Amiot (1718–93), a French Jesuit missionary in Beijing, produced a manuscript treatise, “De la musique moderne des chinois,” and sent it to France. Drawing on contemporary Chinese sources, particularly the Daqing huidian (欽定大淸會典, “Collected Statutes of the Great Qing”), Amiot reported on the changes to Chinese rituals and ritual instruments promulgated by the Kangxi Emperor (reigned 1661–1722). As the second emperor of the Qing Dynasty, ruling over a land in which he and his Manchu cohorts were essentially foreigners, Kangxi wanted to set the ritual practices—and in particular the ritual musical instruments—of his reign apart from those of the preceding dynasty, the Ming (1368–1644). Both Amiot and the Daqing huidian provide illustrations for these instruments and give their precise dimensions, accurate to a thousandth of a Chinese inch (cun 寸),the equivalent of 0.003mm.

Erasmo Estrada

An Instrument for the Concert Stage: An Investigation into the Redesign of the Rabeca in Pernambuco

The rabeca is an emblematic, violin-shaped Brazilian string instrument traditionally associated with popular performances involving dance and music, known as folguedos. For decades, it played alongside acoustic instruments like ganzás, pandeiros, and zabumbas. However, since the late twentieth century, the performance context of the rabeca has gradually shifted from rural, open-air settings to amplified, modern concert stages. This shift has led to significant changes in the instrument’s organology, distancing it from its traditional origins.
    This article investigates the factors driving the redesign of the rabeca by a group of makers in the eastern region of Pernambuco. A detailed examination of the sociocultural, economic, and political contexts has illuminated the reasons why makers from the two main regions of rabeca construction in Pernambuco have adopted or modified specific building techniques. These modifications have had a notable impact on both the shape and the sound of the instrument.
    The concept of hybridity, as defined by Néstor García Canclini, has been instrumental in understanding how the interaction of social, political, and economic forces over time has influenced the structure of the rabeca in these regions. With this approach, the article provides insight into how these forces have shaped an instrument that has fostered the growth of a vibrant urban rabeca culture while keeping alive the musical traditions of the zona da mata norte region in Pernambuco.

Laurence Libin, Fanny Magaña, Jimena Palacios Uribe, Edward Charles Pepe

The Ixtaltepec Piano: A Preliminary Report

A unique square piano has been preserved with other disused instruments in the “Museo religioso” connected to the village church of Santiago Ixtaltepec in Oaxaca. This anonymous piano raises questions of origin, attribution, and function. Its forty-seven-note note range, damperless English-style single action, rustic workmanship, and discovery of an 1813 coin within its plain, legless case hint at early nineteenth-century construction. However, an 1872 inscription under the soundboard and distinctive features shared with a later anonymous square piano found in the church of San Miguel Chicahua point to manufacture late in the  century, possibly in the workshop of a provincial organbuilder such as José de Jesús Cano. Marks on the Ixtaltepec piano indicate didactic purposes. It might also have been played for entertainment and as an occasional substitute for a baroque organ also associated with the Ixtaltepec church. Discovery of these two pianos reveals a hitherto unremarked indigenous school of piano making in Mexico.

Carol Meyers

Frame Drums in the Ancient Levant: A Woman’s Instrument

The ancient Levant, like other areas of the ancient Near East, was home to a rich music culture, and the frame drum was arguably the oldest and most popular component of the extensive repertoire of instruments that contributed to the musical experiences of performers and their audiences. Although other membranophones are attested in the large, imperial centers of ancient Near Eastern civilization (Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt), the frame drum was the most important one and probably the only one in the Levant. This article examines the archaeological—mainly iconographic––and textual evidence for frame drums in the ancient Levant. Both kinds of evidence indicate that it was a single-gender instrument played mainly by women, often in ensembles. It also identifies the performance situations associated with the frame drum and considers the sociocultural implications of the frame drum as a woman’s instrument in the ancient (Iron Age) Levant.

William E. Hettrick

Out in Front: The American Cabinet Piano-Player at Home and Abroad

Jayson Dobney

Side Drums, Race, and Power in North America

Edgardo Civallero

The Erquencho and Other South American Clarinets without Holes

Sebastian Kirsch

“Age Adds Goodness to Instruments”: The Origin of a Myth

J. Drew Stephen

Abandoned, Rediscovered, Revived: The Story of the Natural Horn in the Twentieth Century and Beyond

Sebastian Werr

New Sources on the Early History of the Almenräder-Heckel Bassoon: The Correspondence between Carl Almenräder and the Music House B. Schott’s Söhne

Albert R. Rice

The Recorder Collection in the Sigal Music Museum