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Baritone horn
The baritone horn, or often simply the baritone, is a valved brass instrument pitched in B♭ in the saxhorn family, employed chiefly in brass, military and concert bands. It has three or sometimes four valves, usually piston valves, although rotary valves are common in Eastern and Central Europe, where it is called the Tenorhorn. The bore is moderately conical, like the E♭ tenor horn and cornet, although narrower than the closely related euphonium and other valved bugles, like the flugelhorn and tuba. It uses a wide-rimmed cup mouthpiece of similar dimensions to trombone and euphonium mouthpieces. Like the trombone and the euphonium, the baritone can be considered either a transposing instrument reading B♭ treble clef, or a non-transposing instrument in bass clef.
In British brass bands, the standard instrumentation includes parts for two baritones, in addition to two euphoniums. In US concert band music there is often a part marked baritone, but these parts are commonly intended for, and played on, the euphonium. A baritone can also play music written for a trombone due to similarities in timbre and range.
The name baritone has been applied to several related valved brass instruments in different places, languages, and times in history, generally pitched in 8-foot (8′) C or 9′ B♭ and developed in the 19th century. The euphonium, although similar, has a wider conical bore and larger bell that places it closer to the tuba.
Names in other languages include the French saxhorn baryton, from which the modern British brass band instrument was derived, and in Italian, flicorno tenore; flicorno baritono and flicorno basso refer to the euphonium, the basso always having a fourth valve. In Germany, the baritone usually has an oval shape and rotary valves, and is called the Tenorhorn (while the smaller E♭ tenor horn is called the Althorn), and Baryton or Baritonhorn refer to a similar instrument but with the euphonium's larger bore and bell size. The American tendency to confuse the baritone and euphonium may have been due to the influx of German musicians and instrument makers to the United States in the 19th century.
The 1894 Lyon & Healy catalog depicts instruments called the B♭ tenor, B♭ baritone, and B♭ bass (with only one "B"), with the same pitch and overall three-valve construction and differing only in bore and bell widths.
The American-style baritone, with three piston valves on the front and a curved forward-pointing bell, was dominant in American school marching bands throughout most of the 20th century. This instrument, along with the British-style upright baritone, concert euphonium, and similar-looking cylindrical bore instruments like the trombonium, were almost universally lumped together and labelled baritone by both band directors and composers. Band scores and manufacturers have sometimes treated them as the same instrument.
The baritone horn found in British brass bands was derived from the French saxhorn baryton, a lower-pitched member of the family of saxhorns, although bore measurements of historical instruments show it is closer to the baritone saxotromba. These were two families of conical-bore piston valve instruments developed in the 1840s by Adolphe Sax. Other members developed into instruments now common in bands, such as the E♭ tenor horn and the E♭ and B♭ tubas.
By the 1850s, Sax had convinced French military bands to use exclusively saxhorns in their bands, giving the instruments one of its first staples in the military field.
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Baritone horn
The baritone horn, or often simply the baritone, is a valved brass instrument pitched in B♭ in the saxhorn family, employed chiefly in brass, military and concert bands. It has three or sometimes four valves, usually piston valves, although rotary valves are common in Eastern and Central Europe, where it is called the Tenorhorn. The bore is moderately conical, like the E♭ tenor horn and cornet, although narrower than the closely related euphonium and other valved bugles, like the flugelhorn and tuba. It uses a wide-rimmed cup mouthpiece of similar dimensions to trombone and euphonium mouthpieces. Like the trombone and the euphonium, the baritone can be considered either a transposing instrument reading B♭ treble clef, or a non-transposing instrument in bass clef.
In British brass bands, the standard instrumentation includes parts for two baritones, in addition to two euphoniums. In US concert band music there is often a part marked baritone, but these parts are commonly intended for, and played on, the euphonium. A baritone can also play music written for a trombone due to similarities in timbre and range.
The name baritone has been applied to several related valved brass instruments in different places, languages, and times in history, generally pitched in 8-foot (8′) C or 9′ B♭ and developed in the 19th century. The euphonium, although similar, has a wider conical bore and larger bell that places it closer to the tuba.
Names in other languages include the French saxhorn baryton, from which the modern British brass band instrument was derived, and in Italian, flicorno tenore; flicorno baritono and flicorno basso refer to the euphonium, the basso always having a fourth valve. In Germany, the baritone usually has an oval shape and rotary valves, and is called the Tenorhorn (while the smaller E♭ tenor horn is called the Althorn), and Baryton or Baritonhorn refer to a similar instrument but with the euphonium's larger bore and bell size. The American tendency to confuse the baritone and euphonium may have been due to the influx of German musicians and instrument makers to the United States in the 19th century.
The 1894 Lyon & Healy catalog depicts instruments called the B♭ tenor, B♭ baritone, and B♭ bass (with only one "B"), with the same pitch and overall three-valve construction and differing only in bore and bell widths.
The American-style baritone, with three piston valves on the front and a curved forward-pointing bell, was dominant in American school marching bands throughout most of the 20th century. This instrument, along with the British-style upright baritone, concert euphonium, and similar-looking cylindrical bore instruments like the trombonium, were almost universally lumped together and labelled baritone by both band directors and composers. Band scores and manufacturers have sometimes treated them as the same instrument.
The baritone horn found in British brass bands was derived from the French saxhorn baryton, a lower-pitched member of the family of saxhorns, although bore measurements of historical instruments show it is closer to the baritone saxotromba. These were two families of conical-bore piston valve instruments developed in the 1840s by Adolphe Sax. Other members developed into instruments now common in bands, such as the E♭ tenor horn and the E♭ and B♭ tubas.
By the 1850s, Sax had convinced French military bands to use exclusively saxhorns in their bands, giving the instruments one of its first staples in the military field.