The Czech Tradition of Brass Instrument Manufacturing in the Latter Half of the 19th Century in the Light of Practical Manuals of the Period

By their nature, musical instruments are very complex objects that embody a combination of both artistic and physical properties. Monitoring or interpreting their development in various historical periods must therefore be set into a broader historical and especially cultural context. Knowledge about period technologies is increasingly seen as being of fundamental importance not only for understanding the development of instruments and of their manufacturing, but also as a precondition for the modern production of faithful copies of historical instruments. In answering this question we are faced with a lack of direct sources, and findings can be deduced on the basis of surveying preserved specimens and other secondary sources. For this reason, the practical manuals by two Czech brass instrument makers, V. F. Červený (On the Manufacturing of Metal Musical Instruments) and J. Šediva (Instructions for Making and Ordering Brass Instruments, Infantry Signal Horns, Cavalry Signal Bugles, and Large and Small Drums), can be classified as unique sources. They give us a real picture of the practices of period craftsmen because they describe in relative detail the entire manufacturing process. In both cases, the manuals turned out to be quite unique, not only for their focus and content, but also, in particular, for the time when they were published – at a time when craftsmanship was still largely being passed on by word of mouth and when a firm's competitiveness was ensured not only by its constant progress, but especially by its own (often secret) production processes. By publishing an edition of these practical manuals and setting them in a broader cultural and historical context, this book's goal is to contribute something towards our knowledge of a topic that is of increasing interest to researchers, performers, and musical instrument makers.

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