Fiske Flugelhorn: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This flugelhorn was made by Isaac Fiske in Worcester, Massachusetts, around 1870-1880. It is a flugelhorn in E-Flat, made of nickel-plated brass, with 3 string-action rotary valves. While this instrument was probably sold as a cornet, its bore indicates a combination flugelhorn/cornet, but more like a flugelhorn. This flugelhorn is engraved:

Isaac Fiske (1820-1894) established his firm in 1842 in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1887, on his retirement, Fiske sold his company to G.C. Conn.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1870-1880
• maker: Fiske, Isaac
• maker: Fiske, Isaac
• Object Name: flugelhorn
• Physical Description: brass (overall material)
• Physical Description: nickel (overall material)
• Measurements: flugelhorn: 4 5/8 in x 7 in x 12 1/8 in; 11.7475 cm x 17.78 cm x 30.7975 cm
• Measurements: mouthpiece: 2 3/8 in x 1 1/16 in; 6.0325 cm x 2.69875 cm
• place made: United States: Massachusetts, Worcester
• ID Number: MI.66.459
• catalog number: 66.459
• accession number: 264379
• Credit Line: Gift of Ross E. Stones
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.