This is a blog about music, photography, history, and culture. These are photographs from my collection that tell a story about lost time and forgotten music. Mike Brubaker
Military bands have always been a popular subject for postcards, but images of individual bandsmen are less common. This postcard from 1908(?) shows a horn player from an Infantry Band of Belgium. The card has been colorized, presumably in the correct blue and red hues for his uniform, and was undoubtedly part of a series of bandsmen cards printed by Dr. Trenkler Co. Bruxelles. Note his sword hilt visible just at his back. Curiously, his horn has no mouthpiece.
His instrument is a piston valve horn, which was the design commonly found in France and Britain during this era. Germanic countries favored horns with rotary valves and that style has become the standard for the modern instrument. But the piston valve horn was equally popular, especially for military bands. The older natural horn or hand horn which uses no valves, was still common in France up to the end of the 20th century. Compare him to two other army horn players who used piston valve horns - Adolf Adel from 1896, and the West Kent Bandsman from 1914-18.
The card was sent from Welkenraedt in Belgium's eastern Walloon region to a Captain Felix de Prat in Leganés, Spain. The simple signature with the number 65 is not clear to me, but I'd like to think there might be some significance in the choice of a bandsman postcard. Perhaps Felix was a horn player too.
The geography of Europe made the small country of Belgium the crossroads to many conflicts, including both World Wars. But an even smaller country is Luxembourg, which is nestled just between Belgium, France and Germany. Officially known as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, like Belgium it is also a constitutional monarchy, and equally proud of its military band traditions. This circa 1905-10 photo postcard shows the Luxembourg Military Band posed with their instruments in a formal but relaxed manner. Their uniforms look similar to the Belgian bandsman, but without the shako plumes which would have distracted. There are 5 piston valve horns, showing the way the
instrument's crook can be turned allowing the horn to rest easily on the ground. The crook is a removable coil of tubing and comes in different sizes to change the key of the horn, which are usually in F but E flat was also common.
But because Luxembourg is so small, there is actually only one Luxembourg Military Band whose musical traditions continue today. The website for the Luxembourg Army History even gives a roster of the bandmasters. Fernand Mertens
(1872-1957) served as bandleader from 1909 to 1937, and I believe he is seated in the center of the band, either the officer with sword or just to the left. This illustration from 1925 comes by way of Wikipedia and shows Mertens with his predecessors. He was also Belgian, and composed a number of marches for band and a few operettas.
For contrast here is the U.S. Marine Band from the same period before the Great War. It is arguable which band has the greater proportion of mustaches. This postcard has the more typical formal pose for military bands and shows 8 horns in a line. All appear to have rotary valves except for possibly a piston valve (1st L) and even one without valves (3rd L). This would likely indicate the country of the bandsman's musical training, as the band took on musicians from many different cultural backgrounds.
Standing in the center is William H. Santelmann (1863-1932) who served as bandleader from 1898 to 1927. He was one of many German musicians who immigrated to America and found employment in the Marine Band. His son, William F. Santelmann, continued in his father's tradition and served as director of the Marine Band from 1940 to 1955.
Find more enthusiasts of vintage photographs at Sepia Saturday
The photo record of women brass players in 19th and early 20th century America shows that women performed in community bands, professional orchestras, and even in vaudeville acts. But with rare exception, these were segregated groups exclusively for women. But the roots of female musicians in brass and wind bands goes back to the old country, specifically the musical traditions of Austria and Germany. And in these ensembles, women are often shown as equal performers with men.
This first promotional postcard is of Herm. Brandt's Damen-Trompeter-Corps und Streich-Orchester or Herman Brandt's Ladies Trumpeter Corps and String Orchestra. Herman is clearly the bandleader seated in the center, and three men are in the back row with flute, clarinet, and tuba. In the middle row are 4 young ladies playing herald trumpets, a popular instrument in German bands. This style trumpet has no valves and is played like a bugle with a limited set of notes. Seated in the front are 4 more ladies, one with a cornet and three wearing helicons. Two are the smaller tenor helicons very like the one shown in the photos of my recent post on the Vaudeville Girl.
This second postcard of H. Brandt's Demen-Streich und Blas-Orchester shows 4 men with 10 women, 8 playing brass instruments. Herman now stands in the center back row playing a cornet, just behind a woman holding a baton. One could assume that Frau Brandt is conducting but of course it may not be his wife. Maybe his sister. Since they were called a string orchestra too, they must have been very adept at switching to violins, cellos, and basses.
The card was sent from Wien - Vienna, Austria on July 4th, 1900, but Herr Brandt's orchestra probably didn't perform in honor of America's Independence Day, perhaps instead they celebrated the marriage on July 1st, 1900 in Reichstadt, Bohemia of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary to Sophie Chotek von Chotkova.
This genre of the Damen Blas Orchester or Women's Wind Band was a very popular ensemble in Central Europe to judge by the great number of damen musiker photo cards from this era. As with most ladies bands, there was usually a man acting as the band leader, but unlike the American bands, these German and Austro-Hungarian ensembles frequently had men as supporting musicians. These small bands were advertised as women's musical groups so that was certainly part of their novelty, but how much equality was present is hard to say. Until only a few years ago, women musicians in Central Europe had continued to struggle against the gender barrier, but are now finally accepted in major orchestras.
I tried to find on YouTube some contemporary examples of the music one might have heard played by one of these bands. There are thousands of examples but unfortunately very few with women brass players. But I found one from an Austrian Television Show with a woman on tuba, though in a smaller group.
The music repertoire for these bands was undoubtedly a mixture of
popular songs and dances from the many different Germanic regional
cultures. It's important to remember that in this period the unification of Germany
had a different meaning, Prussia had only recently brought together the various German states and principalities into a
confederation in the 1860's, and after the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, Germany stretched
from Alsace in the west, in what is now France, to central Poland in the east. And Austria was
not the small land-locked country of today, but a vast multilingual
empire that included Hungarian, Czech, Bohemian, and Slavic people as
well as German speaking Austrians. Music was the common thread weaving
all these cultures together and songs and dance music crossed borders more freely than any other art form. It's interesting to think that some of these German and Austrian women may have emigrated to the United States and contributed to American music culture.
This postcard shows a smaller band called the Damen-Trompeter-Corps "Diana" with O. Iboldt, the director in the center back row. The Prussian style mustache figures prominently in all these bands. Here three men stand behind five women dressed in more ethnic style costumes. They all have rotary valve brass instruments, including a helicon on the lower left. It was postmarked 7 August 1908 from Berlin.
Another card dated from 1908 shows the Damen-Blas-Orchester "Tannhäuser", director Jos. Brunet, in a band of 5 men and 6 women. Note the herald trumpets in the foreground. Many of the groups have these nicknames, which may be a kind of marketing gimmick by the booking agents as a way of distinguishing the different ladies bands.
The Damen-Trumpeter-Corps "Stefanie", director H. Förste, sport nautical costumes to go with their brass instruments, but only for the women. Curiously, in contrast to the women's dress, all the men in these bands are in ordinary business suits. In this postcard from 1909, seven women and four men make up the musical group. Again note the herald trumpets and mustache. Herr Förste holds a role of music, usually a symbol of a pianist.
Here is another YouTube video of a traditional Bavarian band. They are a mixed group of men and women playing woodwind and brass instruments similar to those shown in these vintage postcards. The band features some tubular bell chimes in music that probably resembled the music of an early Damen Blas Orchester.
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The bands may have played music hall theaters similar to American vaudeville, but I suspect they played more for large restaurants and outdoor beer gardens. Beer has always been a staple food of brass players. The larger bands may have marched inside the larger Oktoberfest style tent shows, but probably not in parades. These ladies don't look dressed for that.
This last group, the Janietz Elite Damen Blas Orchester must have been very popular as they produced many different photo cards including some more expensively colored ones. I will have to devote a future post just for them. This large ensemble of ten women and seven men added more instruments including saxophones of various sizes and some exotic percussion instruments. The glockenspiel in the center is a feature common in a many German band photos of this period. Note also that there are two women horn players seated on the right.
Instead of herald trumpets they have four very long trumpets, something like a brass alphorn with valves. I can't believe they were played without assistance to hold them up unless, like alphorns, the bells rested on the floor. But perhaps the most novel part of this group are the costumes. The ladies are dressed in long Scottish kilts and tam o'shanters. I recently read a biography of Kaiser Wilhelm II, which described his lifelong love of all things English by virtue of his English mother, Princess Victoria, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria. I can understand how royal influence changed musical entertainments, just look at the mustaches, but how Scotland got pulled into the German Ladies Brass Bands is a mystery lost in translation. And why the women are wearing a Sporran which is man's item of utility is also a mystery best left alone.
I finish with one more YouTube video which best demonstrates how these women brass players might have sounded, in this case on solo trombone. There's a joke in the middle if you are patient.
Today I present a very special photograph. Perhaps more than any other photo in my collection, this lady has inspired my pursuit of images of early musicians and the history behind their careers. I do not know her name, and in fact I know more about who she is not, which I will have to explain at another time. Even so, I have given her the name Florida and she is holding a horn, a single horn in F for those of you who need to know these details. She is wearing a rather stylish costume that has a certain theatrical or even ethnic quality. Her pose in this large format studio photograph shows only the most simple of backdrops with a faint painted landscape in the background.
What makes Florida a remarkable image from the first decades of the 20th century, is that this portrait shows a young woman as a professional horn player. Today this is not at all exceptional, as women play all kinds of brass instruments in orchestras, operas, and bands. But not too many years ago, the world of professional music was very much an exclusive club for men. It was only in certain theatrical groups, or in small bands and orchestras organized by women, that they could make a livelihood. Most of these groups used string instruments or common band instruments, but a photo of a lady horn player is a uniquely rare item.
In the lower left corner above her shoes, (compare them to those of The Vaudeville Girl ) is the photographer's logo. Bert's K.C. which stands for the studio of Burdette Emery Wetherwax which was located at 127 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Missouri. This was also the address for the Gayety Theater.
Bert's specialty was the theater world and there were easily over twenty other theaters in Kansas City's theater district. Vaudeville and burlesque as well as the early films created a major mid-west hub in Kansas City for the traveling entertainment industry in America. And of course, the connection to America's rail network was important too.
The photos marked Bert K.C. that I have found on internet archives include promotional pictures of ballet dancers, chorus girls, actors, jazz bands, and musicians. He may have even taken the photo for this postcard of the Gayety Theater Building.
The Gayety theater was opened in 1909 as described in this report in from the Kansas City Journal:
November 3, 1909 NEW THEATER OPENS SUNDAY.
Musical Comedy, Vaudeville With Burlesque Tinge at the Gayety.
The new Gayety theater will open Sunday afternoon with a matinee by the "College Girls" Company. The house is to be devoted to musical comedy and vaudeville with a burlesque tinge. It is owned by the Kansas City Theater Company of New York and will be managed by Thomas Hodgeman, the present manager of the Majestic theater.
The new theater is at Twelfth and Wyandotte streets and has several innovations. The dressing rooms are all outside the theater proper. On the Twelfth street and Wyandotte street sides business houses will occupy the fronts with the exception of the main entrance on Wyandotte street. The theater is surrounded on four sides by open spaces, which provide four exits from the ground floor and two each from the other two floors, in addition to two emergency exits from each of the top floors.
The interior is finished in "art noveau," the colors being gold and yellow. With the exception of the chairs the theater is entirely fireproof. It will have a seating capacity of 1,650. There are three floors, with 550 chairs on the orchestra floor, 400 on the balcony floor, 600 on the gallery floor and 100 in the twelve boxes. The stage will be protected by an ornamental asbestos curtain.
The auditorium of the theater is 72 by 108 feet, of which 40 by 70 feet is taken up by the stage. Inclines instead of stairs will be used to gain access to the first two floors.
The exterior lights were novel enough to make the pages of the 1916 Electrical Review and Western Electrician. Any theater with 1650 seats that still needed a 75 foot tower with 3226 light bulbs to stand out, was competing in a big way for the public's attention.
Bert Wetherwax was born in Beatrice, Nebraska in 1882. In the 1910
census he was working in Kansas City as a traveling salesman for
photographic supplies. He had a wife, Margaret and an infant daughter. His studio was first listed in the Kansas City directory in 1915 and continued through the early 1940's.
The vast archives of the internet revealed a marriage license from 1921, when at age 40, Bert remarried to Bessie M. Daily age 24. His death certificate also came up, showing his death in 1945 at age 62, survived by his widow, Lucile age 48. Interestingly he was also listed on the death certificate as a veteran of the Spanish-American War, though he would then have been only 16 years old. Unfortunately I was unable to find any corroborating military records.
But this is only so much trivia that did not really help to answer my real question: What was Florida's real name?
Meet Carolina, another vaudeville lady musician who posed for Bert's camera. Again there are no clues except they are both pieces of a bigger puzzle. Carolina holds a cornet and bears a resemblance to The Vaudeville Girl , but she is not the same girl I think. She also wears a kind of theatrical dress with a rather daring exposure of shoulder. Like Florida and the Vaudeville Girl, she has sensible shoes under a similar hemline. Note the fancy engraving on her cornet.
First Playhouse of This Character
to Be Opened Here Tonight.
Kansas City's first Yiddish theater will be opened tonight in the Hippodrome annex, Twelfth and Charlotte streets. Manager Jacobs has fitted up a snug home for Yiddish drama here, the annex being cut off entirely from the Hippodrome proper by an outside entrance, though there is, of course, an entrance from the inside as well. M. B. Samuylow, who was seen here at the Shubert this season, will head a strong Yiddish company playing "Kol Nidre," a four-act opera with book by Charansky and music by Friedsel. Other Yiddish companies will be seen here from time to time and it is hoped to make the Hippodrome Annex theater the home of permanent Yiddish attractions, as there is a large clientele from which to draw.
Though it is impossible to identify Carolina's background, the inclusion of Yiddish theater in Kansas City certainly attracted an influence from New York's Broadway theater circuit.
Carolina has more the look of a vaudeville performer than just a girl who played cornet in a town band.
But Bert knew ladies bands too. In this large format photo, the lady is not unknown. Her name is Lucy M. Biehl, one of daughters of the Biehl Family Orchestra . Lucy is holding a tenor saxophone and is dressed in a fine white uniform with a military-like fur shako. (Again compare her hat to The Vaudeville Girl ) And her photo, like Florida's and Carolina's, is also marked Bert's K.C.
The Biehl family orchestra started in Davenport, Iowa but in 1920 they lived in Kansas City where they listed their occupation as musicians, show business. Of the three sisters, Lucy, Leona, and Grace Biehl, Lucy was the oldest born in 1883 and played clarinet and no doubt doubled on saxophone. If this photo was taken around 1920 she would be about 37. The family toured with a tent show, a kind of musical variety and dramatic show that played small towns in the mid-west, but was still very much a part of the vaudeville style. Here Lucy Biehl is dressed either in her family's showband uniform or perhaps a costume from some larger musical theater revuew.
But who was Florida? I have not found her musical show yet, and I may never know for sure, but I did find this all girl musical group from 1926, The Spanish Orchestra produced by the Redpath Bureau, a large artist agency for the Chautauqua circuit.
The Chautauqua events were intended to be bring refined class and artistic acts to the public in performances that would educate as well as entertain. But many of these groups played the regular vaudeville theaters too. Could Florida have been a horn player in the Spanish Orchestra?
In a continuation of last week's vaudeville theme, I introduce to you "The Great Weber", a most unique and startling musician, whose like you may never have seen before - a cross-dressing, singing mellophone player.
At the beginning of the 20th century, every community in America that was large enough to have a train station, would have at least one, if not two or three theaters devoted to the traveling artistes of the vaudeville variety circuit. These acts toured the country offering every style of music, comedy, melodrama, illusion, and athletic stunt to a public eager for entertainment, and willing to pay good money for it.
"The Great Weber" is a wonderful example of the novelty act. As you can see in this promotional photo postcard he was One Person but Nine Characters - at least. He sang, performed on both the violin and mellophone, and to make it worth watching, he dressed in women's clothing.
Female impersonators, and for that matter male impersonators too, have been part of the theater since Shakespeare's time. In this era there was no real dividing line between the early vaudeville acts, music hall shows, circus and carnival performers, and burlesque reviews. It was all showbiz. They each had cycles of popularity and varied levels of sophistication - from classic opera to lowbrow humor. But risque titillation could always sell tickets.
This illustration came from the October 26, 1910 Evening News in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and shows The Great Weber - impersonator, soloist, duetist, and musician dressed as both a woman and a man. He was finishing a run at the Dreamland Theater and was described as "one of the best singers to play any vaudeville house." No comment on his playing the mellophone or violin.
On the back of the card is a note from the Great Weber to his friend, Mr. Benny G. Van of Rochester, NY. He writes from Janesville, Wisconsin that he is still on the road and living with his brother and sister in Chicago. Benny is Benjamin G. Van or Van Olinde in later census records. His father, George W. Van was a "showman traveler" and in 1910 Benny was a "theatrical manager", but his circuit was described in one eBay auction reference as the carnival side shows displaying freaks or "Big Lady Minstrel Shows". Interestingly in 1900 at age 25, Benny's employment in the census was listed as "cripple."
Infuriatingly, because Benny G. knows him, The Great Weber signs only his stage name. Though he does leave an address, 7710 Emerald Ave. in Chicago, despite a very deep search of census records, city directories, etc. I could not find his brother and sister, or a full name for the Great Weber. And was Weber even his real surname? It is one of the more common names in America and certainly in Chicago, and it to make it more difficult, an internet search for "Great Weber" includes thousands of hits for: "great Weber & Fields" vaudeville comic act, "great Weber Duck Farms" c. 1910-20, and "great Weber gas grill".
Still there were just enough hits in the newspaper archives to date the Great Weber from around 1910 to 1921, and everywhere from Michigan to Iowa to New York. By chance though, I found his act listed under the headline of another group whose photo postcard is also in my collection.
The De Rue Bro's Minstrels and Concert Band shown in this promotional card, were in the genre of minstrel shows. This card was never mailed so there were limited clues, but research revealed that they were popular from around 1910 to around 1925. Billy De Rue, "That Talkative Man" and his brother Bobby De Rue "A Satan for the Blues" traveled with a 22 man ensemble that probably played a hybrid version of the old comic minstrel show combined with military band music. I'm unsure if they performed in the traditional black-face. Note that beneath their top hats and long coats they are wearing army leggings. My guess is that Bobby is on the front right holding a cornet and wearing a cap. Which bandsman looks most talkative?
They included The Great Weber in March 1919 for an engagement in Olean, NY. It included the Leahy Bros., the Golden City Vocal Quartette, and Kelda the Human Frog. Guaranteed the best minstrel show ever here.
These musical acts were part of an elaborate industry which included a complex network of theatrical agents and theaters. It was also driven by a competitive industry of New York music publishers and song writers in Tin Pan Alley. These shows were the predecessors of
silent movies that would eventually take over the public's attention and ultimately lead to the "talkies" and finally television shows.
This may be all the history ever written about The Great Weber, but it
isn't enough to just look at his photo. What might his act have sounded
like? I may have an idea.
One of the most popular vaudeville singers of this era was Eva Tanguay (1879 - 1947) shown here in a photo from the New York Public Library Archive. She was famous for her lavish costumes and extravagant lifestyle. An article on Slate.com, Vanishing Act describes, Tanguay as the first mass media celebrity - a rock star. She became one of the most highly paid music hall artists of her time and her songs were all the rage in the America of 1900-10.
The song I Don't Carewas written in 1905 and Torguay recorded it in 1922. I'm willing to bet that The Great Weber sang it too. And
I'll bet his costume trunk was every bit as heavy as Eva's.
Verse 1
They say I'm crazy, got no sense,
But I don't care.
They may or may not mean offence,
But I don't care;
You see I'm sort of independent,
Of a clever race descendent,
My star is on the ascendant,
That's why I don't care. Chorus 1
I don't care,
I don't care,
What they may think of me.
I'm happy go lucky,
Men say I am plucky,
So jolly and care free.
I don't care,
I don't care,
If I do get the mean and stony stare.
If I'm never successful,
It won't be distressful,
'Cos I don't care. Verse 2
Some people say I think I'm it,
But I don't care,
They say they don't like me a bit,
But I don't care;
'Cos my good nature effervescing,
Is one, there is no distressing,
My spirit there is no oppressing,
Just 'cos I don't care. Chorus 2
I don't care,
I don't care,
If people don't like me,
I'll try to outlive it,
I know I'll forgive it,
And live contentedly.
I don't care,
I don't care,
If people do not try to treat me fair.
There is naught can amaze me,
Dislike cannot daze me,
'Cos I don't care.
By itself this photo might seem to be just another pleasant portrait, circa 1915, of a young woman seated at a piano and holding a cornet. She looks almost like a model for a music store advertisement displaying a piano, a violin, a cornet, and a very curious instrument - a tenor helicon. Not a typical American band instrument.
It was taken by DeHaven, Chicago. Located only a block from Grant Park on the 5th floor of 144 Wabash Ave. and overlooking the El - the elevated train tracks, the photographer was right in the heart of Chicago. But the names for the DeHaven Studio photographers were actually David Hyman Bloom, and younger brother Samuel Bloom. Born in 1891 and 1894 respectively, they arrived in America in 1908 as part of the wave of Jewish immigrants from Russia. The two Bloom brothers and sister Beatrice ran the DeHaven photo studio from perhaps 1915 through 1930.
But this is not a solitary photo, there is more.
Seated at a piano, with cornet, violin, tenor helicon, and also a trombone. this photo shows another young woman with stylish hair, wearing a more theatrical dress, showing some ankle, but posed in the exact same way. But this photograph is marked Apeda, N.Y.
The cornet is held at the same forward angle in both photos making it impossible to compare the instruments. The violin might be the same but really all violins look the same in sepiatone. The upright pianos are different. The oak grain piano case in the Chicago photo is replaced in the New York photo with a darker case with carved medallion on the front. Though the feet on the piano stool
are the same, piano stools probably had a standard form everywhere. What is unusual is that the obscure instrument, the tenor helicon, is identical in both photos.
A tenor helicon is about the same length and pitch as a trombone. The musician wears it over the left shoulder much as a bass helicon or sousaphone is played. It was probably designed for use in mounted cavalry bands where the player's right hand could press the valve keys and the left hand could hold the horse reins. Though not a popular instrument for a young American woman, it was played by some women in German and Austrian Damen Orchester, musical stage ensembles for women which flourished in the early 1900's in Europe.
Here are closeups of both women.
Comparing the eyes and especially the dimple, I believe they are pictures of the same woman.
Apeda Studios was a major photography business active in New York City from 1910 to the 1930's and they produced many promotional photographs for the Broadway theaters and the early screen artists. You can find more glamor pictures of early 20th century celebrities of stage and cinema at this link: Apeda Studio NY
But wait there's more.
This photo, marked Guttenstein, Alhambra Theater Bldg, Milwaukee, though a bit over exposed, shows a lady musician holding a cornet and wearing an elaborately embroidered band uniform coat and dress with a military-like pillbox hat. The instrument's mouthpiece is pointed toward the camera, but its small shape makes this a cornet and not a trombone.
Now look at the eyes and the dimple. It is the same woman again just as in the first two photos. Her costume is too fancy for a town band, so it suggests she is a stage performer, perhaps in a vaudeville show or touring musical revue. Assuming she also also played the piano and violin, she must have been a very talented musician to be able to play such diverse instruments.
The Alhambra Theatre, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was a large opulent palace to entertainment. Built in 1896, it had 3000 seats and 18 private boxes. Countless vaudeville acts, dramatic plays, and musical shows played the Alhambra on the tour circuit. And it was one of the first theaters showing movies. But though the films were silent, theaters like this were anything but quiet, as they always employed musicians in the orchestra pit to accompany the films and other acts.
Since theatrical people could be frequent customers of a skilled photographer, it made good business for Mr. Guttenstein to set up a studio in the theater itself. He may even have taken the picture for this 1909 postcard of the Alahambra Theatre.
But wait, there's even more!
Another photograph from the Apeda Studios in New York, this time of a girl playing a trombone while seated on a large pedestal. The photo is similar to those of other vaudeville and stage performers from 1915-1925. She wears a very fancy embroidered coat and dress, topped with a splendid fur capo complete with plume. Though the trombone mouthpiece partly covers her dimple, look at her eyes. It is the same girl again.
Unfortunately her identity will have to remain a mystery. The four photos came from the same dealer, but there are no names, no dates. Only good guesses.
But for further proof of my good guess on this young lady musician, look at the shoes in each photo. Different costumes, yes. But sensible shoes are always a good investment for any girl. These were well traveled shoes, too.
This is a web gallery of antique photographs of musicians. Most are of people whose names are now lost in time but they represent the many kinds of players, instruments, and ensembles that once defined musical culture. But these photographs also capture a moment in the history of people and places, so I write about that too.
All the photos shown here are in my personal collection.
For Best Effect Click on the Images for a Larger View
For information on my music for horn - go to the bottom of this column.
Military bands have always been a popular subject for postcards, but images of individual bandsmen are less common. This postcard from 1908(?) shows a horn player from an Infantry Band of Belgium. The card has been colorized, presumably in the correct blue and red hues for his uniform, and was undoubtedly part of a series of bandsmen cards printed by Dr. Trenkler Co. Bruxelles. Note his sword hilt visible just at his back. Curiously, his horn has no mouthpiece.
