Couesnon Bb Long Bell Piccolo Trumpet Belonging to Henry Nowak

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Seller: vintage_views_consignment_and_consulting ✉️ (2,069) 100%, Location: New York, New York, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE & many other countries, Item: 165802245054 Couesnon Bb Long Bell Piccolo Trumpet Belonging to Henry Nowak.

This Couesnon Monopole Conservatoire long bell silverplated 3 valve Bb piccolo trumpet (and mute), number 22952, has an impressive provenance.  It was purchased around 1963 from Rayburn Music of Boston by our client, Henry Nowak, the distinguished principal trumpet player, teacher, conductor and author.  Rayburn indicated it previously belonged to Roger Voisin (1918-2008) who joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1935 at the age of 17, and from 1950 through 1973 was their principal.

It has a "beautiful tone" Wynton Marsalis once remarked.  (Mr. Nowak met him while on tour with the Brooklyn Phiharmonia in the 1970s and remains a longtime friend to this day.)

The extra tubing gives the appearance of a lower keyed instrument.  It accepts a Bach cornet mouthpiece and is believed to date from the 1940s or 1950s. It certainly dates from no earlier than 1931 when Couesnon et Cie was reorganized (incorporated) to become Couesnon, S.A.  

It was used by Mr. Nowak in many concerts of Baroque music at Carnegie Hall and elsewhere.  It can be heard on his performances of the Bach orchestral suites with the Marlboro orchestra on Columbia Records, and the recording of the Baldassare Concerto with RAI National Symphony Orchestra.

Now retired, Mr. Nowak enjoyed an impressive career spanning five decades.  He is the former principal trumpet player with the Kansas City Philharmonic, the Robert Shaw Group, the Mostly Mozart Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, the American Ballet Theatre, Festival Casals, Inc. of Puerto Rico, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI (Radio Audizioni Italiane) National Symphony Orchestra of Rome, and served as a lecturer and soloist with the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.  With his brother, Jerry Nowak, he co-authored The Art of Expressive Playing, published by Carl Fischer.  Toward the end of his career he lived in Hong Kong and lectured, taught and performed throughout the Far East.  He was a professor and soloist with the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and founding professor with the Korean University Academy of Performing Arts.  He was also a guest lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory and assistant conductor with the Vietnam National Symphony, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra tour of Japan, Myanmar Symphony, and the Pan-Asian Chamber Orchestra, Calcutta.

Mr. Nowak played on numerous recordings of the Marlboro Orchestra under the direction of Pablo Casals, who in February of 1970 wrote, "Henry Nowak is an excellent trumpet player with a beautiful sound, a solid technique and an outstanding musicianship. I have known Mr. Nowak for years and he has played under my direction as a member of the Casals Festival Orchestra and at the Marlboro Festival.  I have admired him as a soloist and in chamber music groups."

His students include David Krauss, Principal with the Metropolitan Opera.  References include Wynton Marsalis and Yo-Yo Ma.

Item sold as-is. All sales final.  Item HN-01.

  • Condition: Used
  • Condition: Good condition. No case included.
  • Brand: Cousenon
  • Type: Piccolo
  • Color: Silver
  • Number of Valves: 3
  • Instrument: Trumpet
  • Experience Level: Beginner, Advanced, Expert
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: France
  • Key: Bb

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