featuring horns by C.F. Schmidt
Note: The five horns shown on this page are NOT part of the collection of Dick Martz. The photographs below are by Dick Martz with comments by the horns' owner, Louis Denaro.
Grossherzogl
Sachs: Hof-Jnstrumenterfbkt.
BERLIN W.57
früher
WEIMAR
21642
Carl Fisher
New York
Sole Agent of Amerika a. Canada
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Formerly owned by a professional player in the Chicago area and held in storage for a number of years. This horn has a squared off main tuning slide, similar to Kruspe horns from the period. The label's style, wording, and reference to "Berlin previously Weimar" probably establishes the horn's date of manufacture to before World War I. Following the war Schmidt returned to Weimar and the citation became "Weimar previously Berlin" until eventually dropping references to Berlin altogether.
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& Co.
WEIMAR
früher
BERLIN
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This horn was purchased on eBay from a seller in Eastern Europe who allegedly obtained it from a professional orchestral player in Berlin. At the time of purchase this horn was almost "as new" except for pronounced distortion in the tubing leading from the piston to the corpus of the horn. This distortion and the fact that this horn's wrap appears more elliptical that the other Schmidt horns in the collection may be due to the manner in which it was assembled; and the manufacture date supplied by the eBay Seller suggests this may have occurred sometime after WW II.
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A solder scar on the left leg of the F tuning slide suggests that the brace between that leg and the leadpipe has been moved about a centimeter below its more usual position between the 2nd and 3rd valve slides. (Compare the location of this brace with the corresponding braces on the horns pictured above and below). Evidence of a similar relocation of the corresponding brace is found on the nickel-silver horn pictured third on this page and has been found on other C.F. Schmidt double horns. There is folklore that placement of braces can affect certain notes by interacting with vibration at nodal (or antinodal) points in the air column. C.F. Schmidt horns are notorious for having weak or "wolf" notes and placement of this particular brace may be thought to correct some such problems.
WEIMAR GERMANY
Carl Fisher New York
Sole Agent of U.S.A. and Canada
Made in Germany
35611
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Originally owned by a high school player from 1930s, this horn was recently played for a year by a professional in Boise, Idaho. It has seems to have all of its metal and most of its original lacquer. There is one dent where the branch is coupled to the Bell and multiple raised dents on the bell flare. The main slide had a tuning rotor on it that lowers pitch of the horn down one or two half steps. This slide has been moved to the F tuning slide. The playing quality is similar to the Berlin Schmidt shown above in some ways, regarding production; the wrap is a bit tighter with slightly different placement of the piston and different bell taper. This horn has a GREAT high B-flat!
WEIMAR
früher
BERLIN
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This is one of only "a handful" of Nickel-Silver C.F. Schmidt double horns known. Legend has it that two CF Schmidts were built for a Canadian millionaire in the early 20s (ca. 1922?) who purchased and played them briefly and put them in the closet. This one was discovered by a Conservatory student about 1985. John Zirbel purchased it from the student and played it for several years. Mr. Zirbel then sold it to Tom Haunton, who played it in his freelance career in Boston. The horn is much lighter than other (brass) C.F. Schmidt double horns. It was accompanied by multiple extras including tuning slides and alternative pistons to switch between F and B-flat. Unfortunately, this horn has no hight B-flat whatsoever. In the photo immediately above, there is a solder scar suggesting that the brace has been moved down in a similar manner as previously described (see note above).
ALEXANDER
MAINZ
Germany
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This is a copy of the C.F. Schmidt double horn by Gebr. Alexander, Mainz. It was owned by a former student of Joseph Singer who stated that he sourced it from Mr. Singer of the New York Philharmonic around 1960. Our recent research indicates that Gebr. Alexander built this model sometime before 1914, so this may have been a legacy instrument that somehow came into Mr. Singer's possession prior to 1960. After purchasing the horn from Mr. Singer the student had an accident in a subway turnstile with it and let it sit for 40+ years. The horn has since been repaired and it now resembles the Schmidt copy by King but is clearly on a higher level with Alexander workmanship details and quality. The horn features an independent B-flat tuning slide is of a more compact wrap than a C.F. Schmidt horn but has overall less resistance than "modern" Alexander 103s. It plays very nicely in all registers and the current owner would like to see Alexander build a horn like this in the modern era!