Brass instruments of the 19th and early 20th centuries between long-term conservation and use in historically informed performance practice

The presented project has a clearly defined object of research, namely the brass instruments used in a Parisian theatre orchestra in May 1913 for the world première of Igor Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps. Taking this as our starting point, one of the main goals is to examine the corrosion phenomena in historical instruments currently being used, and to present an appropriate set of recommendations for their conservation and usage. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between several institutions: the Collection Centre of the Swiss National Museum, the Paul Scherer Institute, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, the University of Cagliari, the Bern University of the Arts and the Burri Collection. Among the 9 working packages of the project, 4 are dedicated to the development of a non-destructive methodology based on different analytical technics to assess the corrosion state of a corpus of 16 historical brass instruments (late 19th and early 20th centuries). Our main focus is the investigation of corrosion developed inside the instruments. In order to achieve this goal the project is structured upon the following tasks: - Determine the chemical composition of the brass instrument alloys (μ-XRF), characterising the mineralogy of corrosion products (Raman spectroscopy); characterise and quantify the surface composition (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) [1]. - Perform a comprehensive visual inspection inside the tubes by endoscope; - Apply electrochemical methods (potential and polarisation resistance –Rp- measure-ments) inside the instruments at specific locations (tuning slides, lead-pipe, etc.) [2]; - Obtain “cartographies” of the distribution of corrosion products inside the instruments by neutron imaging and X-Ray tomography. 16 brass instruments are daily played by the musicians. One group will be played according to specific preventive conservation guidelines; the second group will be played using common practice. All instruments are analysed by non-destructive methods at different times to evaluate the evolution of their corrosion condition. The comparison shall allow assessing the efficiency of the applied guidelines of preventive conservation. A concert using these instruments is planned at the end of the project. [1] F. Cocco, M. Fantanzzi, B. Elsener, A. Rossi, this conference [2] B. Elsener, M. Alter, T. Lombardo, M. Ledergerber, M. Wöhrle, F. Cocco, M. Fantauzzi, A. Rossi, this conference