The 19th century was a period of radical change for all musical instruments but none more so than for the brass family. The application of precision engineering enabled the old natural instruments (the horn and the trumpet) to join the trombone in the ranks of the fully chromatic. The invention of the valve was to revolutionize brass technique and to open up a whole new world of melodic possibilities for brass instruments. New instruments were now capable of competing with woodwind and strings with their enhanced melodic and expressive capabilities. However much of the legacy of these early chromatic brass pioneers has been lost to us.

Passion des Cuivres a quintet from Berlin, Germany that was with us at the 2006 Vintage Band Music Festival, performs music of this time with as much adherence to contemporary practices as possible. The ensemble's choice of instruments is: two cornets (from French, British and German provenance; doubling natural trumpet and narrow-bore valve trumpet when necessary), single F horn, narrow-bore trombone and ophicleide. The ophicleide is  the only keyed member of the quintet.