Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 84
Scan 84
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
14 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 64. See the scan on archive.org.
1IV.
3CLASS—REED INSTRUMENTS.
5FAMILY: Double reeds, (α) with conical bore.
7INSTRUMENTS in which the sound is produced by means of a double reed vibrating between the lips, and set in motion by a current of air, are of great antiquity. The origin of the double reed is decidedly prehistoric, and in Eastern countries it is known to have existed from very remote ages. The double reed is found in China and Japan, as well as in India, Arabia, and other Mohamedan countries. It is mentioned in the Sanskrit musical treatises, and traces of its use may be found among the sculptures and paintings of the ancient Assyrians. Its employment among the ancient Greeks is no less certain; it was at a very early period adopted into Italy, probably by the Tarentines; and from Italy it very possibly became generally used throughout Europe.
9At first applied to pipes of short length, and almost invariably of conical bore, the double reed became gradually applied to instruments of better make and more accurate intonation, and the reed instruments used during the latter days of the Greek supremacy were of very fine workmanship. There are, fortunately, several fine examples of these ancient instruments in different museums which show this to have been the case.
11To trace the gradual development of instruments of the double reed family through successive ages is beyond the scope of this Catalogue; suffice it to say that for a long time the principal instrument makers were Italians, and the art of instrument making had as early as the 13th century risen to a very high standard.
13The reeds used in these early times were generally rather hard and difficult to manage. To render them more manageable they were placed in a sort of case, called pirouette, which covered the lower part of the reed; and this, when the lips were pressed against it, assured that the reed was inserted the proper distance into the mouth. The use of the pirouette was not, however, universal, and probably depended to a great extent upon the capability of the player. And it is curious
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