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Next in the line of euphonium ancestors is the Ophicleide which was
introduced in 1817. It was made of brass and had keys similar to that of
a saxophone. Mendelssohn used it in
his Midsummer Night’s Dream for comic effect to imitate the braying
of an donkey. A more serious usage was Berlioz’ Symphony Fantastique,
where the ophlicleide is quite important to the unearthly character of
the "Dies Irae" section. Modern instrumentations lose much of the effect the originally intended instrumentation provides. The ophlicleide would, however, be soon rendered obsolete by the invention of rotary and piston valves around the same part of the early nineteenth-century. French bands would still use them until the end of the century and even sold them through Cousnon’s catalog until 1916 or so. |
