Music Encyclopedia

Solomon, John

 

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Solomon, John.
(b London, 2 Aug 1856; d London, 1 Feb 1953). English trumpeter. He studied the cornet from boyhood and in 1870 entered the RAM, where, under the professorship of the younger Thomas Harper, the use of the slide trumpet was compulsory (although Solomon, among others, regularly used the cornet for theatre engagements). He began playing first trumpet (on the cornet, with occasional use of the slide trumpet) in the provinces in 1873 and in London (at St James’s Hall) in 1876, and quickly rose to eminence. He played first trumpet at the first of the Queen’s Hall Promenade Concerts in 1895, was a founder of the LSO, and with the gradual retirement of Walter Morrow towards 1910 was left undisputed master of his field. In 1936 he performed in public for the last time, in St Paul’s Cathedral, at the age of 80. He was professor at the RAM from 1894 to 1938, and at Trinity College of Music. He also conducted many bands in the London area.

Solomon’s career was during an unsettled time in the structural history of his instrument, and he was concerned in several important innovations, including the use of the long A trumpet for oratorio performances and the adoption of Mahillon’s F valve trumpet about 1900. In these he followed Morrow, but their positions were reversed when Solomon was quicker than Morrow to perceive and demonstrate the advantages of the modern B trumpet; from about 1905 Solomon urged its adoption in place of the F, thereby helping to bring about that which Morrow had failed fully to achieve through the use of the F trumpet, namely suppression of the cornet as a substitute for the trumpet in symphony orchestras. He wrote Twelve Etudes for B cornet.

ANTHONY C. BAINES/EDWARD H. TARR