Music & Musical Instruments

This ophicleide was made by made by Klappman Freres in Paris, France, around 1815 to 1850. It is a 9-keyed ophicleide, made of brass. This instrument is engraved:

KLAPPMAN FRERES
A PARIS

This bow was made by an unknown maker in France, around 1898-1902. It is a violin bow made of a Pernambuco stick with a celluloid face, full nickel silver mounted ebony frog with pearl slide and eyes, and an ebony button with two nickel silver rings and a pearl eye (not original). Accessioned with violin (Cat. #66.095) The stick is stamped:

OLIVER DITSON

This commercial bow was made for Oliver Ditson and Company of Boston, Massachusetts. Ditson Company was primarily known as a music publisher, but also traded pianos and all kinds of orchestral instruments and accessories. This bow was probably stamped “OLIVER DITSOBN” while being made on contract in Mirecourt, prior to export to Boston.

Jelly Roll Morton. Jelly Roll Morton, Volume 10: The Jazz Piano Soloist...2 (Circle Limited Edition #306).
78 rpm. Album is for a 3-disc set comprised of JM-69, JM-70, JM-71, JM-72, JM-73, and JM-74.

This is part of a limited edition 45 twelve-inch record set, The Saga of Mr. Jelly Lord. The set is comprised of interviews and musical performances of musician Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton (1890-1941) recorded by American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax (1915-2002) at the Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, from May 23, 1938 to December 14, 1938. In the interviews, Morton recounts his experiences, both in New Orleans and on the road, as a popular musician of the early twentieth century.

The Saga of Mr. Jelly Lord limited edition record set was issued by Circle Sound Inc., incrementally with two albums every three months, beginning in late 1947. The recordings were pressed on red vinylite. Album design and typography for this set was by Jimmy Ernst (born Hans-Ulrich Ernst, 1920-1984), a German-born American painter.

This set of planchettes was made by an undetermined maker and place, around 1847-1850.

It is tune #229 - Zeliska. These planchettes were accessioned with Debain player piano (Cat. #236911). They feature English patent #11359 (1846), by Alexander Debain for improvements in keyed musical instruments

This sheet music is for the song “The Wearing of the Green,” by Boucicault. It was published by Belwin Publishing in New York, New York.. This sheet music is No. 636 from the Belwin series Edition Beautiful, published from 1920s-1930s.

Belwin was formed in 1918 by music publishing employee Max Winkler (1888-1965), film-maker Max Winkler (1875-1961), and publisher of original composition and arrangements for silent cinema S.M. Berg. The name Belwin was created by combining the surnames of Berg and Winkler.

This printed program is from a concert given by Jenny Lind at the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia on October 19, 1850. The inside back cover features the portraits of Jenny Lind, promoter P.T. Barnum, baritone Giovani Belletti, and pianist, arranger and conductor Jules Benedict.

Johanna Maria “Jenny” Lind (1820-1887) was a Swedish soprano, famously known as the "Swedish Nightingale." She was one of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century. American showman P. T. Barnum contracted Lind to undertake a concert tour throughout the United States beginning in 1850. Lind terminated her contract with Barnum amicably in 1851 and continued to tour for nearly a year under her own management.

Advance publicity created such a demand for concert tickets that Barnum sold them at auction. Throughout the tour, popular frenzy for Jenny Lind tickets and merchandise created “Lindomania” raising large sums of money for Lind and Barnum. Lind donated much of her profits to charitable causes.

This Appalachian dulcimer was made by an unknown maker possibly in eastern Tennessee or western Virginia, undetermined date. It is a single-bout dulcimer made of walnut, put together with brass tacks and screws, with a metal bridge, 8 extant metal frets, 4 round sound holes, carved out pegbox for four friction pegs (three melody strings and one drone string), and “tongue” tailpiece. The entire instrument is painted a light rust color, with leaves and flowers in dark blue and red. The sides of the fingerboard are painted black. The sound holes are surrounded with sunbursts made of the same triangular shapes that appear along the upper edges of the peg channel.

Collector Anne Grimes purchased the instrument from William Breedlove, popularly known as the musician “Unaka Bill,” who collected instruments in the areas of eastern Tennessee and western Virginia to sell to antique dealers and collectors of musical instruments.

Anne Grimes (1912-2004) was an American journalist, musician, and historian of American (particularly Midwestern) folklore. Grimes studied voice and piano at Ohio Wesleyan and initiated graduate studies at Ohio State University. Following her education, Grimes was a music teacher, music and dance critic, and radio host. After WWII, Grimes began collecting and documenting folk songs throughout Ohio, as well as collecting Appalachian dulcimers and zithers. She would continue this work, performing, recording, and lecturing on instruments from her collection throughout the rest of her career.

This viola mute was made by an unknown maker, undetermined provenance and date. It is a slip-on style mute, made of leather. Accessioned with original plastic case.

This item was sold by Albert Moglie (b. December 16, 1890, Rome; d. June 9, 1988, Washington DC), instrument maker and restorer, and proprietor of a violin shop in Washington DC for 65 years from 1922 until 1987. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to Antonio Sgarbi and subsequently worked under Luigi Enbergher, Giuseppe Rossi, and Rodolfo Fredi, all of Rome. Following these apprenticeships, Moglie was a student of Hippolyte Sylvestre in Paris and Leandro Bisiach in Milan.

Albert Moglie came to America at the age of 24 to work for the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, first in Cincinnati and then New York City in 1916. By 1917 he had established his own shop in New York at 1431 Broadway. He moved to Washington DC in 1922.

Moglie enjoyed a fine reputation in Washington as a violin restorer and is especially remembered as the caretaker of the Gertrude Clark Whittall Stradivari quartet of instruments at the Library of Congress, an association that began in the 1930s and lasted more than 50 years.

The Smithsonian, National Museum of American History, Archives Center houses additional information on the life and career of Albert F. Moglie:

https://sova.si.edu/record/NMAH.AC.0283

This cornet was made by C.G. Conn in Elkhart, Indiana in 1904. It is a B-flat cornet, Conqueror model serial #83389, made of silver plated brass with gold plate inside the bell. This cornet has 3 piston valves that incorporate the equitrilateral valve principle to avoid sharp bends in the air column through the valve sections, which was patented by J. P. Oates in Litchfield, England in 1851. This cornet is engraved:

CONQUEROR
C. G. CONN
MAKER
ELKHART - IND.