Charles Kretzschmann Trombone Whisk In Strasbourg

The whelk is a slide trombone which has been given the form of a polychrome zoomorphic flag, with an open monster mouth, often with a thin sliver of moving metal acting as a tongue, and vibrating under the effect of the breath. Exclusively designed for military music corps, it was used in France from the late eighteenth century until around 1830. At the time of the Revolution, this instrument serves as bass, in the serious register, as snakes. This whelk was made in the workshop of the Kretzschmann factor in Strasbourg between 1812 and 1848.