Les Gougets - The Fantastic Horn Duo

The instrument that I play is the horn.
Often called the French horn, the modern horn
used in orchestras and bands comes in several varieties
of complicated tubing with numerous valves and slides.
This extra plumbing allows it to play
a range of over 4 octaves of chromatic notes.

But a predecessor of the orchestral horn
is the Trompe de Chasse,
a brass instrument that originated in France.
It is a coil of tubing about 13 feet long
with a mouthpiece and flared bell.
The simple design allows it to be played
with the bell held either to left or right
and easily carried slung around the shoulder.

The instrument is associated with the French hunting traditions
where groups of Trompe players will accompany the hunters,
following the horses and dogs while playing horn calls
that describe the different elements
of the hunter's chase after their quarry.

But as far as I know
there are no French traditions
where the Sonneur–the player,
performs on two trompes at the same time.

 Or while bending over backwards.

 * * *

The first image of a man and woman dressed in white tropical suits and holding two trompes de chasse is taken from a postcard captioned:

The celebrated Gouget's Fantaisistes

We first met them in my post of September 2014 entitled Two Make Three, where they were called the Esperantoj Artisto, an unusual name written in an invented language called Esperanto. These first postcards of the duo were never sent so I had no postmark to date them. This newly acquired postcard has a clear stamp on the front with a date of 13 June 1908. The short message is Une bonne santé — A good health. Incredibly, I believe it is from Madame and Monsieur Gouget and is addressed to Monsieur Robert Despard(?) of a circus in Nancy, France.

 * * *

The second image shows the Gougets playing two trompe de chasse in the traditional one-armed manner. Because there are no valves, the instrument is ambidextrous and the bell can go on either side of the player.

The postcard has a curious caption of Esperantoj Artisto, which means Esperanto Artist. The Esperanto language was devised in 1887 by L. L. Zamenhof, a Polish ophthalmologist, as an international language. According to its Wikipedia entry, the word esperanto translates into English as "one who hopes", though you only get esperanto when you use Google Translate which offers Esperanto as a language choice. What's more curious is why the M. and Mme. Gouget used this language.

The postcard I featured in 2014 was never posted, but this second version has two nice postmarks. One postage mark is from Nice, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France, dated 23 April 1908. And the other from the city of Bayonne on the opposite southern corner of France in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, marked 25 April 1908. It is also addressed to Monsieur Despard(?), the proprietor of a circus in Bayonne and I believe is written by one of the Gougets.

 * * *

The previous postcards are typical promotional material used by French music hall entertainers at the beginning of the 20th century. The printer used photos to make the image but the method is not as clear as the next two postcards which are true photographs. With flowers in her hair, Madame Gouget is dressed in a wonderfully embroidered gown and wears a pearl choker. Her husband wears a formal white tie with tail coat and sports a medal on his lapel, presumably for some musical honor. Their trompes are suitably shiny with a leather wrapping for the hand hold.

This postcard was never mailed but has a French warning printed on the back:

Tous les pays etrangers n'acceptent pas la correspondance au recto. Se renseigner a la poste.

~

Not all foreign countries accept front-facing correspondence. Inquire at the post office.

 * * *

 

Monsieur Gouget had another photo taken at the same session. Notice that there are pin holes that match the other photo. Here he is simultaneously playing a duet on two trompes de chasse. This novelty of playing two brass instruments at once is a very specialized skill. The player's two lips have to be flexible enough to make two different vibrations into each mouthpiece. Anyone who can do it well, deserves to have a medal.

The musical notes available for the trompe de chasse are restricted to only about 14 pitches, the acoustic overtones determined by the length of the tubing. Nonetheless quite a lot of music can be played on the trompe de chasse, but after a while the characteristic horn calls do tend to sound alike. 
This severe limitation on scales and musical keys were the principal reason that all early brass instruments like the trompe de chasse evolved into modern valved instruments which allow the instrument to instantly change length and thereby change key.

However the Gougets were clearly versatile musicians who understood the musical limits of the trompe de chasse and improved their act by including other instruments. This next image, clipped from one of their other postcards in my collection, shows how the fantastic Gouget duo could turn into a trio when Monsieur Gouget's applied his double embouchure to two cornets. Notice that one cornet has an extra piston valve on the side. I suspect this worked with a special echo attachment. Mme. Gouget is playing a flugelhorn here. Their attire matches the clothing in the two photo postcards so I think this was taken at the same time.

UPDATE

 

 

                                                                 Here is another postcard
                                                     of the Celebrated Gouget's Fantaisiates
                                             which I recently acquired after I wrote this post.
                                                  Madame and Monsieur Gouget are posed
                                     in their safari attire holding a flugelhorn and a cornet.
                                            Monsieur's instrument has a special attachment
                                    just below his left hand that looks like a motorcycle muffler.
                  Pressing an extra valve with his left thumb diverts the sound from the bell tubing
                       to an echo mute that gives the performer an instant effect of distant sound.

                                      UPDATE UPDATED

                                                     Here is another postcard of Monsieur Gouget
                                                         which arrived a day after my last update.
                                                 Clearly taken on the same day as the other postcards
                                                         of the Celebrated Gouget's Fantaisistes
                                                            this photo shows only Monsieur G.
                                                           holding a flugelhorn in his left hand
                                                               and the echo cornet in his right.
                                                               The position of the instrument
                                               gives us a good look at the "muffler" attachment.

 * * *

Back in August 2016 I featured the talented Gougets in a story entitled Musical Marital Arts with this postcard where they are standing in the same photographer's studio as in my first postcard of today. They are dressed in white traveling clothing suitable for an exotic tropical climate, but here M. Gouget has removed his pith helmet. Mme. Gouget holds a very short hunting horn that looks like it is actually made of animal horn, possibly rhinoceros horn. M. Gouget holds an amazing uncoiled trompe de chasse with six serpentine bends. In the picture it looks to be about 8 feet from mouthpiece to bell, though with bends it is longer still. Initially I assumed he was holding it in a playable position with the bell resting on the floor.

I was wrong.

It seems the proper position to blow an uncoiled trompe de chasse is vertical, delicately balanced on the player lips while bent over backwards. And because the instrument is limited in notes, it should be accompanied by a signal horn and the mandolin.

This illustration appears on a promotional postcard for a French circus.
It is undated but because of the dates on the previous postcards
I believe the celebrated Gouget's Fantaisistes,
the Esperantoj Artisto,
Monsieur and Madame Gouget
were a musical act for a few years around 1908.

Où allez vous?
Voir le Grand Cirque Pinder
Voir les seuls éléphants jouant aux quilles pour un diner
Ecouter les Instruments Monopole
de la Maison COUESNON, de Paris, 94, Rue d'Angouleme
Joués par les Virtuouses  et Mme Gouget

~

Where are you going?
See the Grand Circus Pinder
See the only elephants bowling for dinner
Listen to Monopole Instruments
of Maison COUESNON, in Paris, 94, Rue d'Angouleme
Played by the Virtuosos M. and Mme. Gouget

What the elephants thought
of the Gouget's music
we can only imagine.
But it's fun to think of them
swinging their trunks in time
to the Gouget's horn calls.

Here is a short video
to demonstrate the thrilling sound
of the trompe de chasse.Conveniently the best duo I could find
happened to be a woman and man,the Duo Pichon / Boitière, 

performing La Coursieroutdoors at a 2010 competition in Beaupuy, France.
The trompe de chasse remains even now
a popular instrument in France
and continues to be played
at formal hunts with dogs and horses
and at trompe competions.

* * *

* * *

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where the best art collectors know
that a good picture is worth a thousand words.