As I was doing some research on rothophones this morning, I happened across this interesting photo on the Czech Wikipedia. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen this particular grouping of roths before.
Author: Vitmalinovsky Source: cs.wikipedia.org
These horns are on display at the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels. From left to right they are alto, tenor, baritone, and bass rothophones.
Rothophones were invented by Ferdinando Roth in 1908. The Eb baritone rothophone was first presented at the International Music Congress in Rome in 1911.
The Italian company F.A.M. Bottali from Milan, and Orsi—another Italian musical instrument manufacturer—are 2 other names commonly associated with rothophone production.
These double reed relatives of the sarrusophone never really caught on. Today we can still occasionally find examples of these rare woodwinds up for sale, however oftentimes they have had a hard life. For example, this poor baritone roth was banged up in an attic for before someone rescued it and placed it on eBay.
If you would like to buy a brand new rothophone, the Orsi company will reportedly make any instrument for you upon request. Presumably this would include rothophones. You could always drop them an email, and see if that brand new rothophone of your dreams is just a phone call—and a few thousand dollars—away.
