TubaNews.com NewsBritainLast Updated (Monday, 19 May 2008 07:30)Written by Vicky Bailey Thursday, 07 December 2006 01:39
 At the height of its power the Boosey & Hawkes factory, Sonorous Works in Edgware, employed 700 people and 1000 musical instruments were produced each week. However in 2001 the London factory was closed down, and over the next four years many staff, including those from families who had been connected with the firm for several generations, lost their livelihoods. Earlier this year a French company, Buffet-Crampon, purchased the remnants of the British firm signalling the end of 150 years of Boosey instrument making history. The Horniman Museum pays tribute to this great British institution with the opening of Sound Designs: The Story of Boosey & Hawkes on Friday 17 November, 2006. The exhibition illustrates the important contribution Boosey & Hawkes and their employees made to the shaping of playing styles, the development of the brass band tradition and the sound of British orchestras. The Horniman Museum was able to acquire the prestigious Boosey & Hawkes collection of historic instruments and archives chronicling over 150 years of instrument making with generous grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund of £221,500 and £10,800 from The Art Fund. With over 8,000 objects in the Horniman Museum’s instrument collection it is now the largest in the UK and has been recognised as being of national and international importance. Sue Bowers, Heritage Lottery Fund Manager for London, said: "The acquisition of the Boosey and Hawkes Collection, funded with a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, will help visitors to learn more about its significant contribution to our musical heritage as well as giving them a greater insight into the lives of the people who actually made these precious instruments. One of the Horniman Museum's great strengths is that it is a centre of both scholarship and learning and this collection is a wonderful addition to the museum’s Music Gallery." The Boosey & Hawkes’ instrument collection was started by David James Blaikley, a pioneer of brass instrument design, who joined the company in 1859 and founded its museum. When Blaikley retired from Boosey & Hawkes in 1930 the collection had grown to over 300 items and was an essential resource for the in-house design team. After three years of research, the Horniman Museum will reveal Sound Designs: The Story of Boosey & Hawkes, which includes an eye catching glass flute dating back to 1816, a silver trumpet belonging to Queen Victoria’s head trumpeter, Thomas Harper Jr., and early designs of instruments which were at the foundation of the British Brass Band tradition. But many instrument designs in the collection will be unfamiliar to visitors to the museum: before World War II, orchestras from different countries had their own distinct sound, and often their own unique instrument designs. But as orchestras and conductors began to tour internationally a homogenous sound started to emerge. As a consequence the unique British sound and some instrument designs were lost. For Dr Bradley Strauchen, the Horniman Museum's Deputy Keeper of Musical Instruments, meeting with the former Boosey & Hawkes staff has been a crucial element for the exhibition’s research: "When I started work on this project it was about the great Boosey & Hawkes legacy and ensuring it was recorded for future generations. But as my research developed the exhibition has become a tribute to the many hundreds of people who contributed so many years to this British company. The help the instrument makers have given me has been invaluable. The Horniman Museum exhibition does not make up for the fact they have lost their livelihoods, but it does help to illustrate the important contribution they have made to such a significant element of British culture." The demise of large-scale instrument production in London and the UK is a sad loss to the music industry, but Dr Bradley Strauchen believes that smaller firms, some established by former Boosey & Hawkes staff, will protect this British tradition. "Boosey & Hawkes became such a powerful force in the music industry by systematically acquiring smaller instrument making firms in the 19th and 20th centuries. We're now seeing the industry come full circle with smaller firms establishing themselves, such as London Musical Instruments and Smith-Watkins. These companies will ensure that the great British instrument making instruments tradition is preserved for the future.” N.B Boosey & Hawkes Music Publisher is a separate company and is still in operation. Visit www.boosey.com for further information. BBBb Tuba, gilded monster bass, made by Besson, London, early 20th century  Giant tuba fact file:
This giant tuba was a London music business landmark for much of the 20th century. It was originally fitted to the wall of the Besson & Co. factory in 198 Euston Road as a shop sign. In 1948, production of Besson instruments was moved to the Boosey & Hawkes factory in Edgware. The tuba was installed on the roof of the porch at Sonorous Works and presided over the factory until its removal in the late 1990s. Along with the factory’s water tower, which was decorated to look like a military drum, the tuba is remembered by many local residents.  Giant instruments, and tubas in particular, have long held a fascination for instrument makers. As attention grabbing demonstrations of a maker’s skills, they were ideal display pieces at commercial exhibitions. Their novelty value also captured the imagination of flamboyant performers, including the musical cartoonist and tuba player Gerard Hoffnung. (Right) The tuba held pride of place for 50 years above the entrance to Sonorous Works in Edgware.  (Left) Sonorous Works was built in 1924 for Hawkes & Son and was occupied by Boosey & Hawkes until July 2001.  The Horniman Museum was given four stars by Mark Fisher in his publication Britain’s Best Museums and Galleries and was recently short listed in The Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award 2006. In 2004 the museum was awarded Museum of the Year and London Family Attraction of the Year by the Good Britain Guide, whilst its 16 acres of gardens has been awarded Green Flag status for the last 5 years. The Horniman Museum holds in total some 350,000 objects. The Horniman has three main collections: Natural History with 250,000 specimens; World Cultures (Anthropology) comprising 80,000 objects and Musical Instruments with over 8,000 instruments. In recognition of their national importance, the Anthropology and Musical Instrument collections have been awarded Designated status. Horniman Museum 100 London Road Forest Hill London SE23 3PQ Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 1872 Website: www.horniman.ac.uk
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