Keyed bugle#History

The first known mention of a bugle with keys appears on 4 April 1800 in London's Morning Chronicle newspaper, in an advertisement for an instrument built by instrument maker George Astor.{{sfn|Lasocki|2009|p=16}}{{cite news |title=NEW-INVENTED BUGLE HORN |work=The Morning Chronicle |date=4 April 1800 |location=London}}; cited in Lasocki (2009).

However, not until 5 May 1810 was a patent on a five-keyed bugle granted to Yorkshireman Joseph Haliday, entitled "Halliday's [sic] Improvements in the Musical Instrument called the Bugle Horn."{{sfn|Lasocki|2009|p=11}} Shortly thereafter, in 1811 the first known solos on the instrument were performed by trumpeter Henry Willman, brother of the clarinetist Thomas Lindsay Willman. Performances at the Theatre Royal, Dublin were announced with "Mr. H. WILLMAN will play a Concerto on that highly-improved Instrument, THE Patent Kent Bugle Horn, (INVENTED BY MR. JOSEPH HALLIDAY)".{{sfn|Lasocki|2009|p=36}} The first book on the instrument, which by then had six keys to enable more tones, was Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Royal Kent Bugle by Johann Bernhard Logier in 1813.{{sfn|Lasocki|2009|p=13}}{{cite book |last1=Logier |first1=Johann Bernhard |title=Introduction to the Art of playing on the Royal Kent Bugle Illustrated with Appropriate Examples of Fingering also General Rules for Acquiring a good Embouchre [sic] to which are prefixed Forty-two Lessons in various Keys Calculated to facilitate the Improvement of the Pupil on this Curious & Delightful Instrument. |date=25 Nov 1813 |publisher=J. B. Logier's Music Saloon |location=Dublin, Sackville-Street |url=https://imslp.org/wiki/Introduction_to_the_Art_of_playing_on_the_Royal_Kent_Bugle_(Logier,_Johann_Bernhard) |access-date=10 October 2021}}

While the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica claims that Haliday called it the "Royal Kent Bugle" as a compliment to the duke of Kent, who was at the time commander-in-chief, and encouraged the introduction of the instrument into the regimental bands, this appears to be at least partly erroneous. The duke was never commander-in-chief of any bands in Europe, and the dedication might have been made by Holden.{{sfn|Lasocki|2009|p=11}} A Royal Kent bugle in the key of C, stamped with Halliday’s name as inventor, and made by P. Turton, 5 Wormwood Gate, Dublin, was exhibited by Col. Shaw-Hellier at the Royal Military Exhibition in 1890. The instrument, made of copper, measures {{convert|17|in|cm}}, and the total length of the tubing, including the mouthpiece, {{convert|50.5|in|cm}}. The diameter at the mouthpiece is {{convert|0.5|in|cm}} and at the bell {{convert|5.75|in|cm}}.

The instrument has a tessitura range of around two octaves, not including the fundamental tones. The notes of the harmonic series with no keys down are:{{cite book |last1=Day |first1=Captain C. R. |title=A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890. |date=1891 |publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode |location=London |pages=168-169, and pl. xi. fig. D |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044041019977&view=1up&seq=200&skin=2021&q1=kent |access-date=23 September 2021}}

{{Image frame

| align = center | width = 300 | innerstyle = background:white;padding:0.4em

| caption = Notes from the harmonic series available open (no keys)

| content = {

\new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }

\clef bass \key c \major \cadenzaOn

\parenthesize c4 \finger \markup \text "1" ^ \markup "unused"

\once \hide r1

\clef treble

c'4 \finger \markup \text "2"

g' \finger \markup \text "3"

c'' \finger \markup \text "4"

e'' \finger \markup \text "5"

g'' \finger \markup \text "6"

\parenthesize bes'' \finger \markup \text "7♭"

c''' \finger \markup \text "8"

\break

}

}}

To the original instrument specified in the patent, Halliday added a sixth key, which became the first and was in the normal position open; this key when closed gave B{{Music|flat}}, with the same series of harmonics as the open tube. The series, however, becomes shorter with each successive key:{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Bugle |volume = 4 |last= Schlesinger |first= Kathleen |author-link= Kathleen Schlesinger |pages= 760-761 |short=1}}

{{Image frame

| align = center | width = 600 | innerstyle = background:white;padding:0.4em

| caption = Notes from the harmonic series available on the second through sixth keys

| content = {

\new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }

\clef treble \key c \major \cadenzaOn

cis'4 \finger \markup \text "2" ^ \markup "2nd key"

gis' \finger \markup \text "3"

cis'' \finger \markup \text "4"

eis'' \finger \markup \text "5"

gis'' \finger \markup \text "6"

\once \hide r2

d'4 \finger \markup \text "2" ^ \markup "3rd key"

a' \finger \markup \text "3"

d'' \finger \markup \text "4"

fis'' \finger \markup \text "5"

\once \hide r2

ees'4 \finger \markup \text "2" ^ \markup "4th key"

bes' \finger \markup \text "3"

\once \hide r1

e'4 \finger \markup \text "2" ^ \markup "5th key"

\once \hide r1

f'4 \finger \markup \text "2" ^ \markup "6th key"

\break

}

}}

The bore of the instrument is just wide enough in proportion to its length to make possible the playing of the fundamental tones in the first two series, but these notes are never used, and the harmonics above the sixth are also avoided, being of doubtful intonation. In the ophicleide, the bass variety of the key bugle, the bore is sufficiently wide to produce fundamentals of a satisfactory quality.

The keyed bugle was chiefly used in B{{Music|flat}}, a crook for B{{Music|flat}} being frequently added to the bugle in C.

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

{{ubli

| {{Cite Q|last= Dudgeon |first= Ralph T. |date= 2004 |Q116224505}}

| {{Cite Q|editor1-last=Herbert |editor1-first=Trevor |editor2-last=Myers |editor2-first=Arnold |editor3-last=Wallace |editor3-first=John |date=2019 |url=unset |publication-place=unset |Q114571908}}

| {{Cite Q|editor1-last=Herbert |editor1-first=Trevor |editor2-first=John |editor2-last=Wallace |date=1997 |publication-place=unset |Q112852613}}

| {{cite journal |last1=Lasocki |first1=David |date=2009 |title=New Light on the Early History of the Keyed Bugle Part I: The Astor Advertisement and Collins v. Green |journal=Historic Brass Society Journal |volume=21 |pages=10–55 |doi=10.2153/0120090011002 |doi-broken-date=16 January 2025 |url=https://www.historicbrass.org/publications/hbs-journal?view=article&id=6903&catid=52 |access-date=10 October 2021|url-access=subscription }}

}}

{{refend}}

{{EB1911 |wstitle= Bugle |volume = 4 |last= Schlesinger |first= Kathleen |author-link= Kathleen Schlesinger |pages= 760-761 |short=}}

• Bugle
• Ophicleide

{{Brass instruments}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent Bugle}}

Category:Brass instruments