Václav František Červený (27 September 1819 – 19 January 1896) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

brass instrument A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by Sympathetic resonance, sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. The term ''labrosone'', from Latin elements meani ...

maker and inventor. He became the principal manufacturer of such instruments in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

Inventions

Červený was a prolific inventor, rivalling his Belgian contemporary

Adolphe Sax Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (; 6 November 1814 – 7 February 1894) was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba, and redesigne ...

in output and recognition. Many of his inventions were widely copied despite his

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s, especially in France. One of his significant inventions was a process for drawing a conical-bore tube from solid brass, which he used to create several instruments with widely flaring conical bores. The ''Cornon'', patented in 1844 as a substitute for the

french horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind instrument, wind and percussion instruments. The conducting, conductor of a ...

s, inspired the later

Wagner tuba The Wagner tuba is a four-valve brass instrument commissioned by and named after Richard Wagner. It combines technical features of both standard tubas and French horns, though despite its name, the Wagner tuba is more similar to the latter, and ...

. Other instrument patents include the ''Serpentbombardon'' (a valved bass

ophicleide The ophicleide ( ) is a family of conical-bore keyed brass instruments invented in early 19th-century France to extend the keyed bugle into the lower range. Of these, the bass ophicleide in eight-foot (8′) C or 9′ B took root over the cour ...

), ''Armee-Posaune'' (a family of upright marching

valve trombone The valve trombone is a brass instrument in the trombone family that has a set of valves to vary the pitch instead of (or in addition to) a slide. Although it has been built in sizes from alto to contrabass, it is the tenor valve trombone pitched ...

s in four sizes from alto to contrabass), and the circular-wrapped ''Kornett-Instrumente'' for performing

salon music Salon music was a popular music genre in Europe during the 19th century. It was usually written for solo piano in the Romantic music, romantic style, and is often performed by the composer at events known as "Salon (gathering), Salons". Salon compo ...

, notably taken up by Tsar Alexander III of Russia, who was an amateur musician. He is attributed with building the first contrabass

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

in 18′ B♭, and patented the ''Kaiserbass'' in 1884. Many of Červený's conical bore instruments influenced the development of later instruments such as the tuba,

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

, and modern marching band instruments. Glocken-Accordion engraving 1883

Červený also patented percussion instrument inventions, including the ''Votiv-timpani'' and the ''Glocken-Akkordion'' (a form of

altar bell In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism, an altar bell (also Mass bell, sacring bell, Sacryn bell, saints' bell, sance-bell, or sanctus bell) is typically a small hand-held bell or set of bells. The primary reason ...

). After his death, his firm introduced in 1908 a line of highly compact () instruments, in particular

s pitched in 12′ F and 18′ B♭ wrapped about the size of a modern

tenor horn The Tenor horn (British English; Alto horn in American English, Althorn in Germany; occasionally referred to as E horn) is a brass instrument in the saxhorn family and is usually pitched in E. It has a bore that is mostly conical, like the flu ...

, and revived in the 21st century by Wessex as "travel tubas".

The Červený company

Červený established his workshop with four employees in Königgrätz in 1842. After establishing an additional factory in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

in 1867 it grew to over 100 workers by 1880. By then a family business known since 1876 as (V. F. Červený & Sons), it was a prolific operation supplying thousands of instruments annually to the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, as well as the royal household after receiving the ( Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment) distinction in 1884. After Červený's death, the company became part of the nationalized instrument manufacturing cooperative

Amati Amati (, ) is the last name of a family of Italian violin makers who lived at Cremona from about 1538 to 1740. Their importance is considered equal to those of the Bergonzi, Guarneri, and Stradivari families. Today, violins created by Nico ...

in 1948. It was subsequently re-privatised in 1993 using its ''Červený'' name after the

dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...

Honours

Červený's reputation as the leading brass maker in Austria-Hungary was widely acknowledged during his lifetime, receiving medals at universal exhibitions in Paris (in 1855, 1867, and the gold medal in

1889 Events January * January 1 ** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada. ** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in the Dakotas ...

) and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and honours from several European heads of state.

References

Bibliography

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Inventions

The Červený company

Honours

References

Bibliography

Further reading