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Thread: Simone Mantia in 1902 with Sousa: Original Fantasy

  1. #1

    Simone Mantia in 1902 with Sousa: Original Fantasy

    Do you ever wonder what the "state of the art" euphonium player sounded like 119 years ago? Here is Simone Mantia with Sousa's band in 1902, playing his own composition Original Fantasy. What flabbergasts me is how the fast slurred pitches pop out so clearly. That is easier to get from a compensating horn, but to sound that way you need to align your airstream, chop setting, and fingers exactly on each of the 16ths/32nds. I've noticed the same thing from some trumpet players, like Harry James and Rafael Mendez among several others, who are obviously not playing on compensating pistons.

    In college, my trumpet-playing roommate mentioned one of the trumpet players in the band he was in. He said it almost sounds like he is tonguing those slurred scales, but he was not. I suspect this is the kind of thing he was talking about.

    This is from an old cylinder record.

    https://youtu.be/WIwaHIJnVdI

    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Hidden Valley, AZ
    Posts
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    His technique is excellent. You can really hear him wrestle with the intonation problems inherent in euphs of the era.

    All in all, a good job doing so.

    DG

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