Martin Koenig, *1815, †? In 1844 Koenig, the cornet soloist in Jullien´s famous orchestra, composed the Post Horn Galop. He based the tune on the posting calls used to announce the arrival of the mail. It comes over astonishingly well from the 115th of eight-inch, four-air Langdorff Serial No. 13013 – and with more powerful bass support from the 98 teeth of 18 ½“, twelve-air, Nicole Serial No. 31897. Koenig also composed four Bird of Paradise Waltzes, 1843-1845, and his Jenny Lind waltz, 1847. (Bulleid, Technology, p. 240) By Marie Tilley published on March 2, 2021: https://www.music-scores.com/blog/koenig/ (seen on March 19, 2022) Herman Koenig was born in Germany in 1815. After leaving his homeland and travelling to London he became famous as a cornet soloist. We have a few versions of his Post Horn Galop for you to try out. He was also a successful composer, publisher, music educator and heavily involved in designing cornets, specifically the Koenig Cornet. (Marie Tilley) Koenig was part of Louis Jullien’s famous Drury Lane Orchestra in the early 1840s. (Marie Tilley) In 1853 Louis Jullien handpicked twenty-seven musicians including Koenig to form an orchestra to tour the United States. This was the first major tour of a European Orchestra in the New World. They incorporated a further one hundred American musicians during their travels. (Marie Tilley) Herman also became involved in instrument making and collaborated with the instrument dealer Pask to form Pask & Koenig. In 1855 he became highly involved in designing, developing, and marketing the Koenig Cornet in F for the French instrument-maker Antoine Courtois. Over the next couple of years, he was busy developing two further cornets for Courtois. (Marie Tilley) Only a few of his compositions exist today, his most famous being the Post Horn Galop. Herman was the soloist when he premiered the piece at a winter concert in Covent Garden in 1844. The Galop is still played today at hunt balls and wedding receptions, marking the ending of the event. (Marie Tilley)
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