History of Brass Instruments
The history of the brass instruments dates back to the antiquity and these musical instruments have been part of the human culture since long. As examples of the early brass instruments, one can point to the salpinx which was found in the Greek civilization. Many of the early instruments were made out of material such as bronze, wood, and silver, but still they are called the brass instruments. In the Roman civilization, one can find brass instruments like tuba, lituus, and buccina. The other early brass instruments were mainly horns, made out of bronze or the horns of animals. The Scandinavian lur and the Roman cornu were the examples of these early brass instruments. The brass instrument that is still in use is the Hebrew schofar which is still used by Jews in their ceremonies.The brass instruments that one finds today were much similar that were developed during the great Renaissance period of the European civilization. An S shaped trumpet was developed during the period 1400-1413. The folded and the slide trumpet were then developed; the slide trumpet was further improved and the improved brass instrument was then called as sackbut. The developments and improvements continued in the arena of brass instruments in the next centuries and many other different brass instruments were developed. The brass instruments that had valves were mainly developed in Germany by William Weiprecht in the year 1828 and all the instruments were made of brass. The brass instrument called trombone always carried with it religious significance and hence the legendary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used them in his operas known as Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute.