Keyed trumpet

The keyed trumpet is a cylindrical-borebrass instrument in the trumpet family, developed from the natural trumpet in the late 18th century. It makes use of tone holes, operated by keys, to alter pitch and provide a full chromatic scale, rather than extending the length of tubing with a slide or valves. It reached its high-point in popularity c. 1800 when two important trumpet concertos were written for it by Austrian composers Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. The conical bore of its more successful sibling, the keyed bugle, was more accommodating of the acoustic compromises caused by tone holes, and the keyed trumpet was quickly supplanted by instruments that were developed after the invention of valves in the 1820s, such as the cornet à pistons and eventually the modern valved trumpet. It is rarely seen in modern performances.