Henri Selmer "Vuillermoz" (1935)

This French horn was manufactured by the prestigious firm Henri Selmer Paris. It is a textbook example of the historic "Vuillermoz" model, a rare compensating double horn that showcases the pinnacle of French mid-century brass engineering. The instrument is characterized by its highly unusual ascending third valve mechanism, an innovative system originally developed in the 1930s by the prominent French horn virtuoso Louis Vuillermoz. This design proved highly influential in the French school of horn playing and was later refined in the 1960s by another legendary French player, Lucien Thévet, who went on to develop his own signature model.

Cross-referencing the low serial number 917 with historical Selmer factory ledgers places the birth of this specific horn precisely in late 1934 or early 1935, right at the dawn of the model's production era. This makes it an incredibly early and valuable technological milestone for the collection, capturing the original Vuillermoz concept in its purest form directly from the famous Place Dancourt workshop in Paris.

When this vintage horn first arrived in my collection, it was in completely unplayable condition. It suffered from frozen valves, broken solder joints, an air leak, numerous dents, a severely creased bell, and decades of accumulated dirt. Following an intensive cleaning process and carefully taping over the breach to restore compression, I have managed to make the instrument functional enough to extract a few notes. While it is far from ready for a real musical performance, it successfully stands as a beautifully preserved piece of French brass-playing history.