E.A. Couturier
| E.A. Couturier | |
|---|---|
EA Couturier as pictured above his endorsement in the Frank Holton Company's Summer 1909 Harmony Hints
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ernst Albert Couturier |
| Also known as | EA Couturier |
| Born |
September 30, 1869 Poughkeepsie, New York, United States |
| Died | February 28, 1950 (aged 80) Wingdale, New York, United States |
| Genres | Concert Band |
| Occupation(s) | Cornetist, inventor |
| Instruments | Cornet |
| Years active | 1883 - 1940 |
| Labels | Edison |
| Notable instruments | |
| Couturier Model Holton Cornet & Couturier Conical Bore family of brass instruments | |
Ernst Albert Couturier (September 30, 1869 in Poughkeepsie – February 28, 1950 in Wingdale) was best known as a cornet player who toured as a "virtuoso" performer on the concert programs of bands of the day. He promoted the Holton Band Instrument Company for a decade in that capacity before applying his own unique inventions to the production of his own line of brass band instruments between 1918 and 1923.
E.A. Couturier was born September 30, 1869 in Poughkeepsie, New York to a family with three other children. At the age of fourteen, he began playing the cornet. He entered the New England Conservatory of Music in 1885, but withdrew and took a job repairing watches in his uncle’s shop. He began playing professionally in various bands in the 1880s and in 1890 began composing for band. In 1892, he became director of his first band and, in 1907, took a job at Frank Holton Company as a promoter of their instruments. He received his first patent (U.S. patent 1,073,593) on September 23, 1913 for a more conical bore cornet. In 1916 he opened his own manufacturing concern with two other partners to produce brass band instruments. That firm failed after Couturier lost his eyesight in 1923, was bought by Lyon and Healy, and ceased operations in 1929. Couturier suffered a mental breakdown and died on February 28, 1950 in the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in Wingdale, New York.
Couturier began as a student of piano and violin, choosing cornet in 1883. By 1885, he was playing well enough to be accepted to the New England Conservatory. He was a student of Theodor Hoch, a proponent of placing all pressure on the lower lip, for four years. In the 1880s he began playing professionally in bands such as the Twenty-first Regiment Band, the Eastman Business College Band, Innes Band, and the Gilmore band. At age 17, he was able to play Herbert L. Clarke's Variations on Carnival of Venice, which is noted as a virtuoso piece with seemingly insurmountable technical difficulties, and developed a six octave range. In 1902, he made his first tour as a feature act soloist playing a Conn Wonder cornet across several Midwestern states. In 1906, he toured Europe where he also demonstrated multiphonics, the production of more than one note at the same time on an airophone, which according to The American History and Encyclopedia of Music is not possible on cornet. The Frank Holton Company then hired Couturier to perform on, consult in the development of, and promote Holton cornets. The Holton New Model cornet was sold under the name "Couturier New Model" in the 1910s. Business matters distracted from Couturier's playing for several years, but after the loss of his own company in 1923, he began playing again in Los Angeles until 1929 when he returned to Mt. Vernon New York.
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