​New Acquisition Alert! Two Early Trombones

Two interesting German trombones of early manufacture made their way into the NMM collections: a bass slide trombone by Robert Schopper (NMM 15807), from Leipzig, and an alto slide trombone by Friedrich Alwin Heckel (NMM 15808), from Dresden. Both instruments were from the former collection of trombonist Gerhart Alan Schmeltekopf (1941-2022).

Schmeltekopf graduated from Michigan State University with a Brass Specialist Degree. A few of his performance highlights include the Glenn Miller Orchestra with Buddy DeFranco, a tour in Mexico with Orquestra Sinfonia del Noroeste, a touring company of Man of La Mancha and one season of the musical 1776, as well as an eight-year tenure with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He taught band in the Chicago Public Schools and taught trombone at the American Conservatory of Music and Concordia University. In 1973, he began building harpsichords and clavichords, and established The Gerhart Ensemble, later renamed the Early Music Celebration. By 1978 he had opened the Early Music Center, where he sold sheet music, harpsichords, recorders, and replicas of other early instruments.

NMM 15807 is a typical German-style ‘tenorbass’ trombone (tenorbass posaune) in B-flat with an F extension valve (Quartventil). The garland bears the engraved signature of court purveyor (Hoflieferant) R. Schopper, as well as the typical embossed shell and oak leaf-and-fruit designs. With serial number 9084, it can be dated ca. 1910–1915. The style of signature appears to be of an earlier time when Schopper was still engraving Instrumentenbauanstalt, but he only received the Hoflieferant title in 1913. However, this word also seems to have been engraved on the garland at a later time, in the little space left underneath “Leipzig.” It is possible that Schopper manufactured the instrument earlier, but then sold it later, adding the title word. The instrument is made of brass with nickel-silver trim. The valve attachment is a single rotary valve with a spring-return mechanism on the crank device, string linkage, leather thumb-loop actuation, and valve protector brace.

NMM 15808 is an alto trombone in E-flat made essentially of seamed brass. With no serial number, the style of F. A. Heckel’s signature in gothic script and the title of Royal Saxon Court Instrument Maker (Königlich Sächsischer Hofinstrumentenmacher) suggests an approximate dating ca. 1889–1915. The bell garland also bears a simple foliage design engraving.

As expected in these early instruments, both have a cylindrical, single-bore slide section of simple friction with no locking mechanism. They both feature the characteristic nickel-silver snake ornaments (Schlangenverzierungen) at the bow guards, a hand-hammered bell with garland (Kranz), and Saxon rim. This pair of trombones constitutes a nicely preserved example of the type of romantic German trombones being manufactured at the turn of the century, of which the NMM has very few examples. Considering that Schopper apprenticed with Heckel, both instruments allow further research and comparison between workshop manufacture and design. The Schopper example came with an extra/secondary slide of heavier build and slightly dual bore, which might have been a custom reproduction made for Schmeltekopf to use as the main working slide for the instrument.