Wieprecht, Wilhelm Friedrich

1802-1872

An inventor of musical instruments; born in Ascherleben. With Moritz, an instrument-maker, he invented the bass-tuba in 1835; in 1839, in conjunction with Skorra, the bathyphon, a bass-clarinet; the piangendo, for brass instruments; and improved the contrabass bassoon. He also claimed to have been the inventor of bugle horns with valves but Sax proved his invention of the saxhorn to be of earlier date than that of Wieprecht's. Wieprecht was famous in Dresden and Leipsic as a trombone player, in Berlin as first violinist in the Court Orchestra, and finally as director general of all the Russian military bands, which post he held until his death in Berlin.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z