The cornetto is a wooden instrument with a small trumpet-like mouthpiece and fingerholes like a recorder, and is usually covered in leather. Typically the instrument has an slight curve and an octagonal cross-section; it has six fingerholes and a thumbhole.
The name comes from the Italians; "little horn" ("corno" - horn, plus the suffix "etto" - small); it is also nowadays often referred to as "cornett" (with two t's to give a distinction from the modern brass instrument, with which it has no connection).
The repertoire for the instrument covers the Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
I was introduced to this instrument today, and will most likely be playing it in the March Concert - seeing as though I can get the tuning right!
...more about me and the cornetto to come...
5 comments:
I had to play cornetto once for a "period" concert. Alas, the instrument is a beast -- this one doesn't look as bad with the cornet-style mouthpiece, but the one I had to use had an almost horn style mouthpiece that both made the partials feel nanometers apart and made the intonation far from possible to keep. In the end, I ended up using a piccolo trumpet with a larger mouthpiece. The sound quality was surprisingly similar. I recommend it if you give up on your musicological historical performance career.
Have fun!
That looks extremely beastly! Now I wanna play one lol (souvenir for Andy...? hehe jk). Good luck with the tuning!
I thought the recorder was difficult... lol
Keep in mind, this is coming from the most non-musical person in the whole world -- once again, I am impressed. It would be a cool instrument to add to our music room. (Sorry Andy, if one comes home, Dad has dibs!)
Looks very interesting! Do you know what type of wood is used?
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