Trumpet

This natural trumpet attracts attention through its curled tube and its decoration. According to the engraved signature on the bell, it was made by Johann Wilhelm Haas (1649-1723) in 1694. However, the leaping hare looking backwards was the mark of his son Wolf Wilhelm (1681-1760), who never signed his instruments with his own name, but with that of his father, the founder of the family business; the year 1694 nevertheless points again to the father. Such contradictions are not unusual in the attribution of instruments of the Haas family.

Closer examination of the instrument reveals later adjustments, certain parts of the tubes showing clear evidence of modern machining. The imitation precious stones are probably also of later date.

The form is reminiscent of the curled trumpets of Schnitzer, a well-known sixteenth- and seventeenth-century family of instrument makers, and indicates that, with this instrument, Haas is following the line of an older tradition. The curled form makes the instrument shorter than a traditional natural trumpet, and this can ease the playing position.