Variationen fur die Trompete in F: A Modern Transcription for Band

Josef Kail (1795-1871) was one of the most pivotal figures in the history of brass instrument design and early pedagogy. He held multiple patents for innovations regarding the addition of valves to the trumpet. He was also the first professor of valved trumpet and trombone at the Prague Conservatory. Little emphasis had been placed on his importance in the history of valved brass instruments, but since the 1991 publication of Bohuslav Cizek's article, "Josef Kail, Forgotten Brass Instrument Innovator," there has been a renaissance in publications regarding Kail's life and work. Kail himself was a natural horn player who graduated from the Conservatory in 1817, six years after the institution opened. After graduation, he held professional horn positions in the Theatre Orchestra of Pest, and later in the orchestra of the court opera in Vienna in 1823. While in Vienna, he co-patented (with instrument maker Josef Riedl) a trumpet with two valves. It is believed that this patent represents the first transfer of Stolzel's valve invention (patented in 1818) from horn to trumpet. Kail returned to Prague in 1826 as the first person to hold the position of professor for valved trumpet and trombone. Between the years of 1826 and 1829, Kail perfected the invention that he had patented three years earlier. While no drawings or depictions of the two valve trumpet that Kail patented are known to exist today, it is a note of historical record that the valve mechanism he employed was comprised of two horizontally positioned piston valves with a complex linkage system. To alleviate these complexities, Kail added a third valve and switched designs to a rotary valve, though history generally attributes the addition of a third valve to C.A. Muller of Mainz in 1830. This is more than a year after the three valve system was employed on Kail's trumpet. Since the full chromatic ability of the trumpet was new, very little was written for the instrument in terms of solos and pedagogical materials. Kail took it upon himself to grow the repertoire for his students. He wrote a comprehensive method book for trumpet and flugelhorn, several brass trios, quartets on opera motifs, and some of the first solo works for trumpet with valves. The accompanying score is a transcription for modern wind band instrumentation with trumpet solo.