BRAZEN HARMONY

"They have in Paris a society called the Calco-Philharmonic, composed (if we may judge by the nature) of the lovers of brazen harmony. There is a composer among them M. BELLON, who actually writes symphonies for brass instruments. This exceptional sort of symphony should place him high among the class of musical innovators and originators."
Dwight's Journal of Music, Volumes 7, John Sullivan Dwight,1856

The earliest compositions for ensembles that resembile the "modern" brass quintet (two trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba) are thought to be the twelve quintets of Jean François Bellon (1795–1869). The compositions were first performed at the Société Calco-Philharmonique in Paris in 1854 by Jean-Jacques Edmond Dubois (bugle or flugelhorn in E flat), Louis-Afred Boulcourt (cornet a pistons), Donatien Urbin (horn), Edouard Dantonnet (trombone) and Charles-Philippe Alfred Lahou (ophicleide).