Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 117
Scan 117
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
11 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 97. See the scan on archive.org.
1England, where it was no uncommon thing to find pieces written for these instruments in four, five, or even six parts. From the fact of the bell being turned up at the end, the cromorne was known in France as tournebout. And from the numerous representations of these instruments, contained in old works upon pageantry, their popularity and general use all over Europe is evident.
3The racket, or cavelas, was a sort of bassoon, the bore of which was pierced in a sort of zig-zag fashion, in order to shorten the outside length of the instrument. The racket is described by Praetorius, who mentions the existence of a whole family of these singular instruments, and gives engravings of them all. Their compasses were, he states, as follows:—
5Contra-basses. Bass. Baryton. Discant.
68vo. lower
8This instrument is described also by Mersenne, who calls it cavelat, a word signifying "a sausage." The larger varieties of them appear to have been furnished with keys, and specimens thus constructed are to be seen in the museum of the Conservatoire at Paris. Their intonation must necessarily have left much to be desired; indeed, it is difficult to understand how they could have been played at all. During the last century an interesting attempt to reconstruct the racket was made, but with no success, by the celebrated instrument maker, Stanesby. Sir John Hawkins (History of Music, vol. iv., p. 139) thus describes the circumstance:—"Stanesby, who was a diligent peruser both of Mersenne and Kircher, and in the making of instruments adhered as closely to the directions of the former as possible, constructed a short bassoon or cavelat for the late Earl of Abercorn, then Lord Paisley, and a disciple of Dr. Pepusch, but it did not answer expectations; by reason of its closeness, the interior parts imbibed, and retained, the moisture of the breath, the ducts dilated, and broke. In short, the whole blew up."
10The sourdine had, like the racket, a cylindrical bore, but the wind-passage had but one bend, and the intonation was consequently better. A family of these instruments is described by Praetorius, who
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