National Music Museum Newsletter VOLUME 38, NUMBER 2 NMM WEBSITE • NMMUSD.ORG Celebrating the Saxes: NMM 2014 summer exhibition a big success “This NMM exhibit was ‘everything you wanted to know about Sax’. A battle of the Saxes!” — NMM curator Deborah Check Reeves. This summer, the NMM celebrated the 200th birth valve technologies. And the sheer beauty of their anniversary of the great Belgian musical-instrument instruments make them objects of art in their maker Adolphe Sax (1814-1894). Sax created not own right. only his masterpiece the saxophone but many other extraordinary inventions, changing the course of “Celebrating the Saxes” chronicled the fortunes of music history. The NMM took part in the worldwide the Sax family. As a boy, Antoine-Joseph, “Adolphe,” Cornet à pistons, by Charles-Joseph Sax, ca. 1845 Sax celebration with an exhibition of some of the frequented his father’s instrument workshop in finest Sax instruments (made by his hand, by his Brussels. NMM visitors saw a cornet à pistons and father, his son, or in his workshop). “Celebrating the a keyed bugle in B-flat by Charles-Joseph. By 24, Saxes” ran through Labor Day. Adolphe had patented a design for the bass clarinet. By 29, he had opened his own workshop in Paris and Among the NMM instruments displayed: Adolphe was engineering the instruments that would bring him Sax’s popular saxhorn and the short-lived acclaim. But his success was dogged by controversy, saxotromba, as well as masterworks like his soprano rival lawsuits and patent challenges. In spite ophicleide, a grand-parade trumpet, a valve trombone of towering achievements, Adolphe died in B-flat with six independent valves, a trumpet in bankrupt. His youngest son, Adolphe- F with six independent valves, and a petit saxhorn Edouard, still forged on, reviving (soprano flugelhorn). One of the highlights of the the Sax workshop. A soprano NMM’s permanent collections is an Adolphe Sax bass saxophone and a flugelhorn saxophone — one of only five bass saxophones the (contralto saxhorn) by Adolphe- Trumpet in F with six independent valves, master made — and which was part of his Edouard were part of the NMM exhibit. by Adolphe Sax, 1869 personal collection. By 1928, the Sax dynasty and This privileged look into the NMM’s Adolphe Sax brand had come to an end. French collection would have been a draw alone. But the manufacturer Henri Selmer purchased Museum’s deep instrument holdings extend also Adolphe-Edouard Sax’s business. The to the other brilliant craftsmen of the Sax family: Selmer era begins a new story — also Adolphe’s father, Charles-Joseph (1790-1865), well-attested to in the NMM’s historic and Adolphe’s son, Adolphe-Edouard (1859-1945). instrument holdings. The Sax dynasty reigned in Brussels and Paris from the early 1800’s to early 1900’s. Their work Photos at left by Mark Olencki reflects their historical era, the Industrial Revolution, with the introduction of modern instrument Tenor saxophone in B-flat, by Adolphe Sax, 1872 production, complex metalworking methods, and Photo credit: Bill Willroth, Sr. Flugelhorn in B-flat, The NMM Newsletter is published by the National Music Museum, ©National Music Museum, September 2014., by Adolphe-Edouard Sax, ca. 1907-1928 Ed. Patricia L. Bornhofen, NMM Manager of Communications, [email protected] Google chooses NMM to take part in dynamic online museum Multiple views of more than 70 National Music production values are excellent. In some instances, shaped sitar from India, a crocodile-shaped zither Museum instruments have been launched in a this high-resolution virtual gallery allows you to from Burma (Myanmar), and a Rivinus ergonomic stunning online gallery, made possible by the zoom in and get ‘closer’ to an object than you could viola inspired by the work of Salvador Dalí,” says Google Cultural Institute: http://goo.gl/kRuLPm . be permitted in person. It is an incredible tool.” Banks. “And we plan to add more images over time.” The Google Cultural Institute is a unique Internet platform that gives people worldwide access to some Choosing which instruments from the NMM’s The National Music Museum is the only musical- of the world’s greatest museums. Google invites prodigious collection to showcase as a first offering instrument museum with a gallery in the select museums to present high-resolution images was no small challenge, says Margaret Banks, NMM Google Cultural Institute. “Being included in the and authoritative information about their collections. Associate Director and Senior Curator of Musical Institute affirms that we are not only a respected The Cultural Institute currently supports more than Instruments. The image gallery includes many historical and cultural institution but that our 460 partners from over 60 countries – with more of the NMM’s ‘crown jewels’ — the oldest cello musical instruments are beautiful and beguiling than 6,000 works of art and craftsmanship on view. in existence, the Amati ‘King’ (mid-1500’s); the art objects as well,” adds Director Johnson. ‘Harrison’ Stradivari violin (1693); the earliest and “We are honored to have been chosen to partner still playable Neapolitan harpsichord (ca. 1530); The NMM is also slated to offer Google with Google’s Cultural Institute and to exhibit as well as more modern treasures like an 1860 ‘street view’ tours, a simulated walk-through significant pieces from our collection in this Adolphe Sax saxophone, and a 1952 Les Paul experience of the Museum. The launch for medium,” says NMM Director Cleveland Johnson. electric guitar. “We also present an eclectic selection that feature will take place in September. “As might be expected, Google’s graphic caliber and of hand-carved instruments, including our peacock- Photographing royalty In June, student paparazzi from the University of South Dakota’s Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute (OHSAI) took their best shots of the world’s oldest cello, the NMM’s prized Amati ‘King’ (mid-1500’s). Photo credit: Patricia Bornhofen – 2 – A German immigrant story By Michael Suing, Associate Curator of Musical Instruments The 1800’s brought booming German-immigrant each activated by a spatula-shaped key. The populations to American cities, in turn creating large size alone of this instrument is remarkable, career opportunities for accordion players like given its relatively early date of manufacture. Constantin Wettering. Born around 1832 in Mecklenburg, Germany, Wettering and his wife This accordion was most likely designed Agnes immigrated to the United States in 1857, to the specifications of a professional Diatonic button accordion by J. Pomm, Berlin, Germany, ca. 1858, once owned by Constantin Wettering. Arne B. Larson Collection, beginning their journey in New York, moving on musician like Wettering who was pushing 1979. NMM 1273. to Ohio, and settling in Chicago. In U.S. census the boundaries of chromaticism available records between 1857 and 1889, Wettering with diatonic instruments. While chromatic Curation is a process of continual discovery, listed his occupation as professional musician. piano-type accordions had been made finding pieces to unfinished puzzles, mining and Nothing indicates he had a supplemental income. elsewhere in Europe by 1858, they were refining the history of an object. Case in point: But if he could play his strikingly complex not common. As a professional entertainer, For over 35 years, the elaborately engraved accordion [shown here] to its full capacity, Wettering must have found financial advantage name ‘Constantin Wettering’ on the exterior of and live solely off his performance pay, he in showcasing his expertise with such a the accordion had led NMM curators to assume must have been an accomplished musician. sophisticated accordion. His music career spanned that Wettering was the instrument’s manufacturer. His unique instrument was also very versatile at least three decades in the United States. But recently, during a closer examination of the — capable of being played in different keys accordion, NMM curators discerned the maker’s for all kinds of ‘gigs’ — ensemble or solo. A green paper label adhered inside the label inside bearing the name J. Pomm. That treble casing indicates the accordion was revelation, along with access to now-digitized Known as a diatonic button accordion, the manufactured in Germany by J. Pomm. Located census records and other archives on the internet, instrument pre-dates the chromatic piano- at various Berlin addresses between 1848 and are helping to set the accordion story straight. type accordions of later popularity. Typically, 1875, but predominantly on Kurze Strasse early diatonics would play in only a few keys. 19-20, Pomm is listed in city directories as But this example, probably custom built, a ‘harmonica maker.’ It was common for played in eight different keys, each activated manufacturers of free-reed instruments to in turn by wooden pull knobs on the treble offer a range of instruments — harmonicas, casing. Of eight original knobs, six survive, accordions, melodeons, and harmoniums. but four of them are strictly decorative. They may have been added by the manufacturer to NMM founder Arne B. Larson acquired the introduce symmetry or to make the instrument accordion in Chicago in the 1950s and appear more expensive and specialized. subsequently donated it to the Museum in 1979, along with the rest of his collection Also unusual is that each key has a dedicated of 2,500 instruments that became the row of buttons, resulting in 70 buttons arranged nucleus of the museum’s collections. The in four rows. While this may be useful for accordion has been exhibited since 1976 switching from key to key, it seems unnecessary alongside other European folk instruments. and overly complicated. The bass (left-hand) configuration of the instrument has 16 chords, Photos by Tony Jones – 2 – – 3 – Meet our NMM staff Dr. Margaret ‘Peggy’ Downie Banks ‘Matriarch of the NMM’ would be a suitable oversees NMM internships; facilitates independent and earned her Ph.D.