ITG 2001 Conference - H.M. Lewis

Arthur A. Molitierno, Reporter
H. M. Lewis, professor of trumpet at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky, has performed with the Lexington Brass band as a cornet soloist. His hobby has been collecting and playing antique musical instruments. For his lecture/recital, Lewis performed on nine antique cornets and played as many solos: The Meadow Lark, Polka Brillante (1898) by J.O. Brockenshire; Rock of Ages (1903) by C.L. Barnhouse; The Devil’s Tongue by Walter Schmidt; The Pearls by W. Paris Chambers; The Gallant Trumpeter by Theodore Hoch; Miss Blue Bonnet (1932) by Frank Simon; Three Kings (1932) by Walter M. Smith; and lastly, Austriana (1914) by Vincent Bach.

The recital/lecture raised the supposedly simple question: what is the difference between a cornet and a trumpet? Playing on various cornets from the 1880s to about 1926, Lewis demonstrated sound qualities inherent to the different types of cornets. He also demonstrated, through various musical compositions, the types of works that were written to take advantage of their unique designs. His first selection, The Meadow Lark, Polka Brillante, was played on an E-flat cornet. The E-flat cornet was the leader’s instrument in brass bands, while the B-flat cornet was an alto instrument and the trumpet in F was the dominant horn for trumpet passages. In seven more examples of compositions and cornets ranging from the cornet in C to the cornet in B-flat, Lewis switched mouthpieces to match the tonal qualities of the particular make, model, and bore of the various instruments. Lewis performed all of the selections with an ease that would challenge the most dexterous of players. The Devil’s Tongue gives some sense of technique required to play such compositions. The audience could progressively hear how the sound of the cornet became brighter until finally Lewis announced the death of the cornet in 1926. In 1921, Herbert L. Clarke had warned a colleague not to change to the trumpet, but in 1926 Vincent Schrottenbach began manufacturing trumpets. By the time everyone knew Vincent as Bach, the advice of Clarke would not be taken by serious performers. The bright sound that is associated with the modern trumpet is already apparent in the cornets that Bach made in the late 1920s.

One of the interesting insights into the playing demands and style of the period between 1880 and 1920 is that trumpet solos were written with frequent passages that required flutter tonguing. Some passages were also designed to employ pedal tones, and the expectation was that these pedal tones would be in tune. That possibility existed because of the construction of the cornet as opposed to the modern trumpet that cannot play these low register notes in tune without difficulty. Today, such notes are used by trumpet players to either warm-up or to relax the embouchure but hardly ever as a musical device in solos.

So one may still ask, what is the difference between the cornet and the trumpet, other than the distance of the bell from the embouchure? Lewis did not find the original explanation given to him by his band director as adequate; that is, that the trumpet is 2/3 cylindrical and 1/3 conical, while the cornet is 2/3 conical and 1/3 cylindrical. Lewis indicates that if one eliminates many other variables such as size of bell and windway designs (passage of the air through the valves), the answer is easily supplied by Bach, who told him that “the difference was that the cornet was built with four 180-degree bends in the main tubing, while the trumpet had only two 180 degree bends.”

Accompanying Lewis was professor Garnet Ungar on piano. Accompanying Lewis on the Three Kings, a trio written for soloists playing King cornets, were Bill Jones, professor of trumpet at Appalachian State University, and Wayne Collier. Both players are members of the Lexington Brass Band.

In his final selection, Lewis performed Austriana, composed by Bach and written in 1914, on a very bright sounding Bach cornet, an instrument once the property of composer Bernard Fitzgerald. H.M. Lewis’ lecture/recital took the audience on a fascinating journey through the historical development and evolution of the cornet. One could not help but come away impressed by his knowledge and by his fine playing.