< Previousfeaturing Boston baked beans and pie for dessert before Satur- day evening choir rehearsal. That connection led to the publi- cation of his Christmas Cantata by King. As Pinkham recalled in an article in The Boston Globe, “In I was still not very well known as a composer… I had been choir director in North Easton, and the wife of the late music publisher Robert King was a member of the choir. I invited them to the ‘Christ- mas Cantata’ in Jordan Hall, and he offered to publish it.”5 The Christmas Cantata became Pinkham’s most-performed piece6 and King’s biggest money maker. While a student at Boston Univer- sity, King formed brass choirs, most notably his Boston Brass Quartet. Repertoire at first consisted of King’s transcriptions of music originally written for other instruments. The Boston Brass Quartet performed at women’s clubs, concert halls, and school band concerts around New England. A Boston Evening Transcript review of his October , , Steinert Hall concert mentioned that music was written specif- ically for brass during the Renaissance, something King had not realized.7 The news sent him to the Boston Public Library and the library at Harvard, where he was enrolled as a graduate student. With time and effort, his research uncovered material suitable for his ensembles, expanding their repertoire beyond mere transcriptions. Music written by contemporary com- posers later added a third dimension to his Music for Brass (MfB) series. King viewed the brass quartet as a better vehicle for chamber music than the brass quintet. In a brass quintet, he preferred the use of bass trombone over tuba, as he thought the bottom and the top should have the same bore type. Publishing Creeps In, Teaching Fades Out When music teachers started asking for copies of his arrangements after hearing his Boston Brass Quartet, King slowly got into publishing. By he had his Master of Musical Arts degree in composition from Harvard, and in , the Robert King Music Company was formed. At the time, no one else was publishing music exclusively for brass ensemble, aside from band music. Meanwhile, King was working on his doctorate in composition at Harvard. He lacked only an exam- ination in Italian and an oral exam to complete the degree when World War II intervened. King was the bandleader for the st Infantry Division, see- ing action in the Pacific Theater. While he was in the Army from to , his wife and father kept the business going. After the war, completing a doctoral degree no longer seemed worth the trouble. He later published his doctoral dis- sertation, a musical composition titled 7 Conversation Pieces. When King returned from the war, he immediately accepted a position as assistant professor of music at Boston University. Campus politics did not suit him, so when the Easton Schools 38 ITG Journal / January 2021 © 2021 International Trumpet Guild “King viewed the brass quartet as a better vehicle for chamber music than the brass quintet.” Student brass quintet, Robert King in center rear, early 1930s© 2021 International Trumpet Guild January 2021 / ITG Journal 39 Superintendent Gilbert C. Mann asked King to recommend someone to run the music program in the school system, he was interested himself. He held the position from to , when the publishing business had become strong enough to support the family. After leaving the school system, King kept as low a profile as he could manage. Run from the house at 7 Canton Street, the business was virtually invisible. Because it was a mail-order operation, it generated no traffic. The room at the east end of the house was the office and later also housed file cabinets of other publishers’ music for brass. The printing press, industri- al-sized paper cutter, folding machine, and saddle-stitch stapler were in the back shed. The inventory of his Music for Brass titles was stored in the cellar, and a dark room was installed there as well. The paper, mill ends, was delivered in boxes of large sheets and stored in the barn. Except when a semi-trailer backed into the driveway to deliver those out-sized boxes of paper, nothing visible to neighbors or passers-by suggested that a business was being run out of the home. King had a sense of propriety that honored the residential history of his grand- mother’s house and neighborhood. Publisher and Retailer of Music for Brass King’s propensity to fly under the radar manifested itself in other ways, perhaps a result of wanting to have complete con- trol and no interference. Just as the nature or even the exis- tence of his mail-order business was virtually unknown in town, his policy of not advertising kept the business a secret from everyone but the initiated. He depended on word of mouth to attract new customers. He had a lock on a niche market. All orders arriving in the morning mail were filled in time to go out that evening. His same-day turn-around service was “Except when a semi-trailer backed into the driveway to deliver those out-sized boxes of paper, nothing visible to neighbors or passers-by suggested that a business was being run out of the home.” Boston Brass Quartet advertisement featuring a photo of King, ca. 1934, underwritten by Carl Fischer, Inc., of Boston Robert King, ca. 194040 ITG Journal / January 2021 © 2021 International Trumpet Guild much appreciated by his customers. Eventually, overseas sales were signifi- cant. Japan and Australia emerged as big markets for brass music. King liked to brag that his business was a “one-man operation.” Techni- cally it was true for many years, but it gave the family’s contributions— particularly my mother’s—short shrift. Sally kept the books and did the billing and anything else that needed attention. By the time we were in junior high school, my sister Nancy and I were pressed into service, folding, assembling, and stapling music after school for (and later ) cents an hour. For a number of years, Mary Ras- mussen, who later published Brass Quarterly and received the Historic Brass Society’s Christopher Monk Award, wrote the “Historical Notes” for King’s Music for Brass series. On Robert and Sally King, 1942 (L – R): Robert King, Roger Voisin, and Maurice André. The photo was probably taken in 1985 when André soloed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.© 2021 International Trumpet Guild January 2021 / ITG Journal 41 one occasion, she sent him this note: “Curses! I forgot the bibliography!” King then proceeded to print one copy of the piece just for her. At the end of the “Historical Notes,” he inserted, “Curses! I forgot the bibliography!” It had the desired effect. She wrote back, “I’ll sue!” He then sent her a copy as it was actually published, innocently asking what’s the problem? King professed to dislike walk-in trade and vig- orously discouraged customers from visiting in person. His was a mail-order operation not set up for browsing, and he prided himself on providing same-day turn-around service. Time was very much of the essence. Yet, despite his groans when- “King professed to dislike walk- in trade and vigorously discour- aged customers from visiting in person. Yet, despite his groans whenever a car pulled into the driveway, he clearly loved to talk shop with brass players.” King spent many hours over many years in this Stickley-style rocking chair at 7 Canton Street, making camera-ready copy of his publications and eventually wearing out one of the rockers, which was replaced. A large board served as his lap desk. Original photo taken by Stephen Gryc, 1974 Battisti, Frank L. “The King of Brass Music.” The Instrumentalist, February . Berger, Arthur. “Talent Discovered in a Brass Quartet.” Boston Evening Transcript, October , . Canan, Marietta. “The Pioneer of Today’s Easton School Bands.” Reminiscences. Vol. . Easton, MA: Easton Historical Society, . Chaffin, William L. The History of the Town of Easton Massachusetts. Cambridge, MA: John Wilson and Son, . Copeland, Jennie F. Every Day but Sunday. 4th ed. Mansfield, MA: Mansfield Historical Society and Blue Mustang Press, . Drake, Louis Stoughton. The Drake Family in England and America 1360 – 1895 and the Descendants of Thomas Drake of Weymouth, Mass. 1635 – 1691. Boston: privately printed, . Dyer, Richard. “Daniel Pinkham’s ‘retirement’ lets him look forward to music.” The Boston Sunday Globe, February , . Dyer, Richard. “Remembering King.” The Boston Globe, December , . Everett, Thomas G. “An Interview with Robert King.” The Brass World, November , . Glover, Stephen L. “Robert King: Brass Music Advocate and Publishing Icon.” ITG Journal , no. (June ): – . Johnson, Keith. “An Interview with Robert King.” ITG Journal , no. (September ): – . King, Judith D. “From Iron to Brass: The Story behind the Robert D. and Sally G. King Trust.” Reminiscences. Vol. . Easton, MA: Easton Historical Society and Museum, . King, Robert. “some thoughts on music publishing.” The Composer, Summer . Mathez, Jean-Pierre. “Robert Davis King.” Brass Bulletin --. “Music Supervisors Resign; Mr. King Going to B.U. Staff.” Wakefield [Massachusetts] Daily Item, . “Robert Davis King, , a musician and musicologist; taught at BU.” Obituaries column, The Boston Globe, December , . “Robert Davis King, , resident of Easton and renowned brass musician.” Obituaries column, The [Brockton] Enterprise, December , . Yeo, Douglas. “A Tribute to Robert King ( – ).” Historic Brass Society Newsletter, Summer . S OURCES FOR F URTHER R EADING42 ITG Journal / January 2021 © 2021 International Trumpet Guild ever a car pulled into the driveway, he clearly loved to talk shop with brass players. Early on, King bought a big roll of kraft paper on a cast-iron dispenser, planning to use it to wrap packages of music. But he soon developed a system of using a piece of scrap cardboard cut to size that he positioned under the music. It was then wrapped in newspaper and in turn covered with kraft paper—but not the kraft paper from the impressive cast-iron dispenser. Instead, he would carefully tear grocery bags apart at the seams (cutting the paper caused unnecessary waste), yielding a nice flat piece of paper, just the right size—and free. When King died, there sat the original roll of paper, hardly touched. As time went on, the technology employed to print the music became more sophisticated. Years later, he told inter- viewer Thomas G. Everett that at first, he used a black-line method of print- ing which, he said, was an “onionskin process.”8 I remember a big, hulking blueprint machine in a back room of the house in the s. The next step up was offset printing. At first, he hired a printer in South Easton, but soon he bought an A.B. Dick offset press of his own, installed it in the back shed, and learned to run it. He put in a darkroom so he could make the metal plates for the printing press himself. King was capable of every step of the music publishing business as composer, autographer, printer, pub- lisher, dealer, and retailer. Three of his own compositions were among his publications. As autographer, he wrote out by hand all of the musical scores and parts that he published, transforming them into camera-ready copy. His hand-drawn work was very close in quality to engraving, the stan- dard practice in music publishing. He ran his own printing presses, was a dealer of other publishers’ brass music, and sold to dealers and directly to the customer. King often said that the two most valuable courses he ever took were mechanical drawing and physics. He used mechanical drawing techniques to make the camera-ready musical scores and parts. His company made use of his musical training, mechani- cal ability, and business acumen. He dedicated his life to its success. The big music publishers in New York just shook their heads. He didn’t advertise; in fifty years he never raised a price on his own publications (a point of particular pride); he insisted on a check accompanying each retail order; and when he found himself interrupted by calls coming in with orders, he switched to an unlisted phone number. He claimed that if cus- tomers were so disorganized that they didn’t have time to use the mail, they would be just as disor- ganized in paying him for the music. He liked outsmarting the “boys in New York” by succeeding while break- ing all of their rules for success. As the years went by, other publish- ers began publishing music for brass. Robert King Music Company sold their music alongside his own publica- tions. The business kept growing. A retired post office clerk was hired to wrap packages. King’s annual catalog Brass Players’ Guide to the Literature (later shortened to Brass Players’ Guide) became a bible for “He liked outsmarting the ‘boys in New York’ by suc- ceeding while breaking all of their rules for success.” Robert King receiving his honorary doctorate at New England Conservatory of Music, 1994© 2021 International Trumpet Guild January 2021 / ITG Journal 43 brass players the world over. In addition to a catalog, it served as a comprehensive bibliography of all the brass music currently in print. It eventually grew to over , titles. The Brass Players’ Guide was the first published online as well as print, and the edition was the last pub- lished in hard copy. By the early s, the business had grown too large to run from the house. The sales portion was moved into the basement below a barbershop on Main Street in North Easton. Three employees were hired to process orders. King hired his old friend, Robert Corley, as manager of the retail operation. King had known trombone player Bob Corley and his broth- er John since college days. John played trumpet. In the summer, St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston would hold a Sunday service out- doors on the plaza in front of the church. In the ’s and ’s, a brass quartet consisting of King on his baritone horn, the two Corley brothers, and a second trumpet play- er provided the music. The congregation stood on the side- walk in front of the church and across Boylston Street on the Bos - ton Common. The whole family would drive into Boston with King. While the quartet practiced, the rest of us amused ourselves with feeding the pigeons on the Boston Common and riding the swan boats in the Boston Public Garden. In , King sold the retail sales business to his daughter Nancy un - der the name Robert King Music Sales, and she ran it until . At that point, it was sold to the music- publishing house Alphonse Leduc, also a family-run music business, based in France. In January , Robert King sold the publishing arm to Leduc as well. He and Nancy chose Leduc because of their high regard for the Leducs and their family-owned company with which they had done business for decades. Robert King became a member of the Board of Overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (bso) in . In retirement, he compiled an extensive year-by-year analysis of the personnel and repertory of the bso with the aim of aiding future researchers. His Primary Study of the The house at 7 Canton Street, North Easton, Massachusetts, as it appeared at the time of Robert Davis King’s birth there in 1914. Robert King Music Company was run from this house for decades. The signing of the contract papers on the sun porch of 7 Canton Street, 1987. The Kings sold the publishing and retail halves of the company to the French company Editions Alphonse Leduc in 1987. (L – R): Seated—Basil Crichton (Francois Leduc’s cousin and co-owner of Leduc), Robert King, François Leduc, and Nancy King; Standing—a Leduc attorney and Sally King44 ITG Journal / January 2021 © 2021 International Trumpet Guild Personnel and Repertory of the Boston Symphony is in the collec- tion of the Library of Congress. The Afterlife For many years, Leduc ran both businesses in the former Covenant Congregational Church on Main Street in North Easton. In , Robert King Music Sales became Alphonse Leduc-Robert King, Inc., North American distributor Edi- tions Musicales Alphonse Leduc. In , Alphonse Leduc-Robert King, Inc. was absorbed into The Music Sales Group, one of the world’s largest inde- pendent music publishers. The Music Sales Group is head- quartered in London, England. Soon after, Robert King Music Sales was moved from North Easton, Massachusetts, where it had operated since , to Pembroke, Massachusetts. In , the Pembroke office was closed and the rkingmu- sic.com website was shut down. Visitors to the website were directed to Hal Leonard Corpora- tion, where his publications are now available. As the Pembroke office was closing, Kimber- ly Frattosio, a long-time employee of Robert King Music Sales, rescued from the trash many posters, catalogs, and other materials relating to Robert King and his company that Leduc had used at trade shows. She felt that the cata- logs and display items had historical value and belonged in Easton. She donated the materials to the Easton Historical Society and Museum shortly after the Pembroke office closed. Thanks to her, these items were preserved. Robert King died in , and Sally King died in . The archives of the Robert King Music Company were donated to the Music Department of the Boston Public Library in . To our surprise, the library even took the cast iron dispenser with its unused roll of kraft paper. The materials at the library, as well as the display items and catalogs donated to the Eas- ton Historical Society and Museum, are avail- able to researchers. About the author: Judith D. King and her sis- ter Nancy are Robert and Sally King’s daugh- ters. Judith met her husband, composer Stephen M. Gryc, while working on her mas- ter’s degree in library science at the University of Michigan. Had she known that the course in music librarianship was only offered in her first semester, she might have become a music librarian. Judith was a reference librarian in Michigan libraries before the family moved to Connecticut in . Judith held the position of reference librarian at several Hartford-area libraries, including eighteen years as English and American Literature Specialist at Hartford Public Library. She retired in . Endnotes 1. Robert D. King, unpublished note written in preparation for accepting his honorary doc- torate from the New England Conservatory of Music, . 2.William L. Chaffin, History of the Town of Easton, Massa- chusetts (Cambridge, MA: John Wilson and Son Universi- ty Press, ), . 3.Jennie Copeland, Every Day but Sunday, th ed. (Mans- field, MA: Mansfield Historical Society and Blue Mustang Press, ), – . 4.Thomas G. Everett, “An Interview with Robert King,” Brass World , no. (November , ), . 5.Richard Dyer, “Daniel Pinkham’s ‘retirement’ lets him look forward to music,” The Boston Sunday Globe , Febru- ary , . 6.Ibid. 7.Arthur Berger, “Talent Discovered in a Brass Quartet,” Boston Evening Transcript, October , . 8.Everett, . When Leduc took over, the retail operation was moved down the block to the former Covenant Congregational Church on Main Street in North Easton, a few doors away from the basement space that Robert King rented, below an insurance company and a barber shop. The business stayed at this location until Leduc, including its Robert King subsidiary, was sold in 2014. The new owner, The Music Sales Group, moved the King retail operation to Pembroke, Massachusetts, where it stayed until the business was closed in 2018.© 2021 International Trumpet Guild January 2021 / ITG Journal 45 H ISTORICAL I NSTRUMENTS W INDOW S ABINE K. K LAUS , C OLUMN E DITOR Ideas and suggestions for the Historical Instruments Window should be directed to: Sabine K. Klaus, Historic Instruments Window column editor; historicinstruments@trumpetguild.org Pocket cornet in B-flat, A, and C by Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy & Cie., Paris, ca. – , no serial number. Engraved on the bell J.T.L / HORS CONCOURS / PARIS / 1878 - 1889 - 1900 / 1 REQTE / JEROME THIBOUVILLE-LAMY / 10 CHAR- TERHOUSE STREET E.C. / LONDON / MADE IN PARIS . Brass, silver-plated. Two contemporary silver-plat- ed brass mouthpieces, one with a grooved throat, stamped MBOUCHURE [sic] RAYEE GUILBAUT . Originally sold to play in high pitch (Old Philharmonic pitch a1 = Hz) with a B-flat shank, an A crook, and a C attachment, it now has a slide, shank, crook, and C attachment for modern pitch. Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy ( – ) registered the trademark J.T.L. with lyre and aureole in after opening a factory for brasswind instruments in Paris-Grenelle in . Thibouville-Lamy was a maker and distributor of all kinds of musical instruments, in addition to brass, manufactured in large factories in Mirecourt (strings) and La Couture (woodwinds) in France. From , Thibouville-Lamy entertained a branch in London at Charterhouse Street (Holborn Circus). Pocket cornets, sometimes called “parlour cornets,” were popular from about to , especially for domestic music making. Although of a similar tube length to the modern B-flat trumpet, pock- et cornets were compactly wrapped, up to four times around, and advertised for women, children, and tourists. In England, they were said to be small enough to be taken underground in a miner’s lunch- box. The minimal bell flare is common and contributes further to the small size. This pocket cornet was previously owned by Robert Jenner, emeritus principal trumpeter of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from to and one of the uk’s most distinguished players. The instrument was restored by McQueens of Manchester in and by Smith Brass Services of Bolton (Greater Manchester) in . It is now in the care of Colin Bloch, London, uk, who submitted this article and its photographs.T he International Trumpet Guild is proud to announce the renaming of our annual ITG Confer- ence Competition as “The Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition.” Through the generosity of the Dob- son Family of Corpus Christi, Texas, and the cooperation of Niki Anthony, CancerBlows, and The Ryan Anthony Founda- tion, ITG is not only naming the competition in Ryan’s honor, but also increasing the stature of the competition with a greatly expanded prize struc- ture in every category, including travel support to the conference for finalists. The winners, when possible, may also be invited to participate in a CancerBlows event. Ryan Anthony had a multi-faceted, illustrious career as a trumpeter, which included time with the Canadian Brass and as principal trumpet of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In every musical setting, including important musical competi- tions, what set Ryan apart was his joyful spirit. He put his soul into his music at all times, but even more so as he conducted his long fight with multiple myeloma. Bringing musicians together from around the world, through his work with Can- cerBlows and The Ryan Anthony Foundation, Ryan showed us the way to persevere, be strong, share, take joy in making music together, and in doing so, be a healing force for ourselves and the world. Having these competitions named in his memory reminds us all that the ultimate competition is with ourselves and that we can be generous and kind to one another as we make each other better. We shall compete joyfully and keep Ryan’s spirit alive. Remember, Music = Hope. For full details on The Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition, including rules, contest repertoire, and applica- tion procedures, see the ITG Competitions web page (https://trumpetguild.org/events/competitions). The applica- tion deadline for is February 1. ITG P RESENTS : T HE R YAN A NTHONY M EMORIAL T RUMPET C OMPETITION BY M ARY T HORNTON 46 ITG Journal / January 2021 © 2021 International Trumpet Guild FA6 “Music = Hope” Four Divisions: Orchestral Excerpts, Wind Band Excerpts, Solo, and Jazz First Prize in each division: , Second Prize in each division:, Third Prize in each division:, Two Youth Divisions: Junior and Senior First Prize in each division: Second Prize in each division: Third Prize in each division: Travel support for eighteen finalists: up to each T HE R YAN A NTHONY M EMORIAL T RUMPET C OMPETITION Photo credit: Jeremy Lock Facing page, Photo credit: Michael Anderson, performingartsphotos.comNext >