New York
John F. Stratton / Concerto

Silver plated over brass
ca. 1895-1912
Wind Instruments – Brasswinds – Euphoniums

Engraving on bell:  John F. Stratton / Concerto / New, York (surrounded by leaf etching)

This John F. Stratton euphonium in Bb is silver plated on brass.  It has 3-piston valves with fancy etched ferrules and brace escutcheons. Stratton (1832-1912) was an experienced musician playing trombone, violin and serving as a band/orchestra conductor.  He also trained as a machinist and opened his first music store in Hartford, New Hampshire in 1859. Later he partnered with J. H. Foote as ‘Stratton & Foote’ in New York.  Then in 1866 he established band instrument factories in Germany.  By 1889 he sold his Germany factories and worked solely in New York, in partnership with his son Frank A. Stratton as ‘Stratton & Son,’ but split up by 1895.  The engraving on this horn indicates this euphonium was mostly likely made after 1895 and before his death in 1912. According to “The New Langwill Index’, Stratton enjoyed the reputation of being able to make any part of every instrument he sold. – Eliason  

The Euphonium is pitched an octave below the trumpet and is actually a tenor tuba and has the same pitch range as the Serpent and Ophicleide. The bore of the Euphonium is more conical than the baritone horn.  The euphonium was invented in 1843 by Sommer of Weimar and is derived from the valved bugle (flugelhorn) and cornet.

Resource:  “Stratton, John Franklin,” The New Langwill Index: A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors”, 1993, William Waterhouse – Tony Bingham, London