At this point in history there was a certain amount of resistance to the acceptance of playing on shorter trumpets. The B-flat trumpet was (derogatorily) referred to by some as the "trumpetina" and there are stories of students literally having to leave their B-flat trumpets outside their professors’ teaching rooms at some British conservatories in the late 19th / early 20th Century.

Walter Morrow, Professor at the Royal College of Music from 1894, discussed this:

"Some cornet players have tried to play the trumpet and for certain reasons have giving [sic] it up. Feeling some qualms of conscience that the cornet does not look well in a symphony orchestra, or in the performance of an oratorio, they have adopted what is called a "trumpetina" - a sweet name. This is an instrument of the exact dimensions of a cornet - that is to say, a tube fifty-four inches long; but instead of having four bends, it only has two, and thus has something of the appearance of the trumpet, but is in reality only a cornet. It is excused by saying that it has a trumpet bore, but even this cannot make a short tube give a tone equal to the longer. I have tried it and had it tested by persons qualified to judge. It is a veritable jackdaw in peacock's feathers. A deception. Do not use it or countenance it. The cornet is an honest instrument, the other is not. Get an F valve trumpet and a slide trumpet, and practise them. A satisfactory result is attainable, and is worth working for."

- Morrow, Walter - 'The Trumpet as an Orchestral Instrument' - Proceedings of the Musical Association, 21st Sess. (1894 - 1895), pp. 133-147 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association.

This goes some way to explaining the existence of this type of B-flat trumpet and why it was disguised as an F valve trumpet. Walter Morrow would surely not have approved of this deceptive instrument and it is certainly true that the shorter trumpet cannot "give a tone equal to the longer" F valve trumpet.

However, the imitation F trumpet in the key of B-flat was an absolutely perfect choice for this piece as it enabled me to play this complicated part without transposing, while still playing on a distinctly old instrument. It offers a workable solution to an issue that existed in the early 20th Century with an original early 20th Century instrument. It also shows that trumpet players have perhaps always had a crafty side!