Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 173
Scan 173
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
8 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 153. See the scan on archive.org.
1the natural bass to this family. The cornon was a fifth in pitch below the cornetto; it was usually shaped like S, and was considered to have a compass of 11 notes only, from d or c to d'. Others, however, treated it in the same manner as the ordinary cornetto, and made use of cross-fingering. Its tone, Prætorius tells us, was unpleasant and harsh, and therefore the use of the trombone became necessary.
3Prætorius mentions the employment of small instruments called cornettini, standing a fifth higher than the cornetto, and which had the same compass and were not unpleasant in tone. Instruments of this kind were much admired in former days, and, when well played, are capable of much effect. The cornetto is an exceedingly difficult instrument, since it leaves so much to the capability of the performer, as regards both tone and intonation. How far the cornetti were used as transposing instruments is rather doubtful; they were written for in various clefs, and were employed by Bach, and later by Gluck; the original scores of "Paride el Elena," "Orpheo," "Alceste," "Armida," have parts for them.
5These instruments during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries underwent little change. They are described at length by Mersenne (Harmonie Universelle), who evidently thought highly of them. The Venetian writer Artusi in his rare work (Della Imperfettioni della Moderna Musica, Venetia, 1600) gives a regular method for the cornetto, and much valuable advice regarding the embouchure and tongueing of the instrument; the best players he tells us were, in his time, the Cavaliere de Cornetto and Girolamo d'Uldine.
7About the end of the 16th century a canon of Auxerre, Edme Guillaume by name, experimenting upon the cornon, succeeded in producing the instrument now known as the serpent. The invention of Guillaume is described by the Abbé Lebœuf (Memoire Concernant l'Histoire Ecclésiastique et Civile d'Auxerre, Paris, 1743). The serpent is not mentioned by Prætorius, but Père Mersenne describes it in detail, ascribing to it a compass of 17 notes from E to g'. The best notes of the serpent, he tells us, were from A to g. At first made with six finger-holes only, of very small diameter, the intonation naturally left much to be desired; during the last century many improvements were made, and the application of keys became general; it thus became
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