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{{Short description|Early wind instrument with a cup mouthpiece}}
{{For|the valved brass instrument|Cornet}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox instrument
| name           = Cornett
| image          = Three cornetts.jpg
| image_size     = 250
| alt            = 
| caption        = Three different cornetts: [[mute cornett]], curved cornett and [[tenor cornett]].
| background     = brass
| names          = 
| classification = [[Brass instrument]] [[Horn (instrument)|Horn]]
| hornbostel_sachs = 423.212
| hornbostel_sachs_desc = Lip-reed aerophone with tone holes or keys and irregular/moderately conical bore
| inventors      = 
| developed      = Since antiquity; from instruments made from animal bone or horn with finger holes, such as the [[coradoiz]]{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=124|loc="Coradoiz"}}
| timbre         = 
| volume         = 
| attack         = 
| decay          = 
| range          = <div style="text-align: center; background-color: white;">
  <score lang="lilypond">
    {
      \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }
      \clef treble \key c \major \cadenzaOn
      a1 \glissando d'''1
    }
  </score></div> The sounding range of the treble cornett{{sfn|Herbert|Myers|Wallace|2019|p=490|loc=Appendix 2: The Ranges of Labrosones}}
| pitch          = 
| related        = {{hlist
    | [[Natural trumpet]]
    | [[Oboe]]
    | [[Rozhok]]
    | [[Sackbut]]
    | [[Serpent (instrument)|Serpent]]
  }}
| musicians      = {{hlist
    | [[Bruce Dickey]]
    | Matthew Jennejonn
    | [[Arno Paduch]]
    | Jamie Savan
    | [[Edward Tarr]]
    | [[Jean Tubéry]]
    | Jeremy West
    | [[Roland Wilson (conductor)|Roland Wilson]]
  }}
| builders       = {{hlist
    | 3D Music Instruments<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ordering a cornetto |last=Simian |first=Ricardo |work=3D Music Instruments |url= https://cornetti.3dmusicinstruments.com/ordering-a-cornetto.html |access-date=11 October 2024 }}</ref>
    | Fritz Heller<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gerade Zinken |language=de |last=Heller |first=Fritz |work=Instrumentenbauer Fritz Heller |url= http://www.blasende-instrumente.net/pages/de/instrumente/gerade-zinken.php |access-date=11 October 2024 }}</ref>
    | Matthew Jennejohn<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Conversation with cornetto virtuoso Bruce Dickey |last=Hathaway |first=Daniel |work=Cleveland Classical |date=21 June 2010 |url= https://clevelandclassical.com/a-conversation-with-cornetto-virtuoso-bruce-dickey/ |access-date=11 October 2024 |quote="Well, there are about four good makers, the best of which is a fellow in Montreal, Matt Jennejohn." }}</ref>
    | [[Christopher Monk|Christopher Monk Instruments]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Christopher Monk Instruments |work=Jeremy West |url= https://www.jeremywest.co.uk/short-history.html |access-date=10 October 2024 }}</ref>
    | Grzegorz Tomaszewicz<ref>{{Cite web |title=Price List |last=Tomaszewicz |first=Grzegorz |work=GT Instruments |date=2024 |url= https://gtmusicalinstruments.com/price-list/ |access-date=11 October 2024 }}</ref>
    | Siam van der Veen<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zink Cornetto |language=nl |last=van der Veen |first=Siem |date=2024 |url= https://www.zink-cornetto.com/ |access-date=11 October 2024 }}</ref>
 | Sam Goble<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cornetts |last=Goble |first=Sam |date=2025 |url= https://www.samgoble.com/the-maker/cornetts.html |access-date=25 March 2025 }}</ref>
  }}
| articles       = 
}}
The '''cornett''' ({{langx|it|'''cornetto'''}}, {{langx|de|'''Zink'''}}) is a [[Labrosone|lip-reed]] [[wind instrument]] that dates from the [[Medieval]], [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] periods, popular from 1500 to 1650.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| url= http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/zink|title= Zink|dictionary= Dictionary.com|access-date=2012-05-26}}</ref> Although smaller and larger sizes were made in both straight and curved forms, surviving cornetts are mostly curved, built in the treble size from {{convert|51|to|63|cm|abbr=on}} in length, usually described as in G. The note sounded with all finger-holes covered is A{{sub|3}}, which can be lowered a further whole tone to G by slackening the [[embouchure]]. The name ''cornett'' comes from the Italian ''cornetto'', meaning "small horn".

It was used in performances by professional musicians for both state and liturgical music, especially accompanying choral music. It also featured in popular music in ''[[alta capella]]'' or loud wind ensembles.<ref name = "Brown">{{Cite Grove |author1-last=Brown |author1-first=Howard |author1-link=Howard Mayer Brown |author2-first=Keith |author2-last=Polk |title= Alta (i) |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.00676 |url= https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000000676 |access-date=29 October 2024 |url-access=subscription |quote=alta musique (Fr.) or 'loud music' as opposed to basse musique, 'soft music'}}</ref> British organologist [[Anthony Baines]] wrote that the cornett "was praised in the very terms that were to be bestowed upon the oboe [...]: it could be sounded as loud as a trumpet and as soft as a recorder, and its tone approached that of the human voice more nearly than that of any other instrument."<ref name=BainesWWI>{{cite book |first=Anthony |last= Baines |title= Woodwind Instruments and Their History |place= New York |publisher= W. W. Norton & Company, Inc |date=1991 |orig-date=first published 1967 |edition=3rd |pages=259–60 |isbn= 9780486268859 |url= https://archive.org/details/woodwindinstrume0000bain_d3i2}}</ref> It was popular in Germany, where trumpet-playing was restricted to professional trumpet [[guild]] members.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} As well, the mute cornett variant was a quiet instrument, playing "gentle, soft and sweet."{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=354|loc="Mute cornett"}}

The cornett is not to be confused with the modern [[cornet]], a [[brass instrument valve|valved]] brass instrument with a separate origin and development.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} The English spelling ''cornet'', which had applied to the cornett since about 1400, was in around 1836 transferred to the ''cornet à pistons'', the predecessor of the modern cornet.<ref>{{oed | cornet à piston}}</ref><ref>{{oed | cornet}}</ref> Subsequently, ''cornett'' became the modern English spelling of the older instrument.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128|loc="Cornett"; "Its correct Engl. name, 'cornet' [...] having been bestowed on a modern brass instrument, the word is nowadays customarily written 'cornett.'" }}

==Construction==

[[File:Zink-Musik.png|thumb|Cornetts in ''[[Syntagma Musicum]]'', 1619. ''Left'' to ''right'': alto straight cornet with mouthpiece (lowest note ''g''), alto mute cornett (front and back), tenor mute cornett (lowest note ''g'', key on 7th hole for ''f''), treble straight cornett with mouthpiece (lowest note ''a''), cornettino (lowest note ''e''), treble cornett (lowest note ''a''), tenor cornett (lowest note ''c'').]]

Pipes as short as the cornett are only able to play four or five notes of the [[harmonic series (music)|harmonic series]] when sounded with all finger-holes closed; these harmonics are used as part of the standard fingering within the cornett's [[Range (music)|designated range]]. Other short trumpets, including [[King Tut's Trumpet]], are capable of playing only two notes without a modern mouthpiece.<ref>{{cite journal |title= One of Tut'ankhamūn's Trumpets |author= Jeremy Montagu |journal= The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |date=1978 |volume= 64 |pages= 133–134 |publisher= Sage Publications, Ltd. |doi= 10.2307/3856451 |jstor= 3856451 |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/3856451 |quote="a ceremonial instrument capable of producing only one or two notes. The lowest note is poor in quality and carrying power ... the Egyptian military trumpet signal code was a rhythmic one on a single pitch" |url-access= subscription }}</ref>

The instrument has features of both the trumpet and a [[woodwind instrument]]. Like the trumpet, the cornett has a small cup-shaped mouthpiece, where the instrument is sounded with the player's lips.<ref name="Groveonlinecornett">{{cite Grove |title=Cornett |first1= Anthony |last1=Baines |first2=Bruce |last2=Dickey |author2-link=Bruce Dickey |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.06516 |url= https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000006516 |access-date=29 October 2024 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Like many woodwind instruments, it has fingered [[tone hole]]s (and rarely, [[Key (instrument)|keys]]) to determine the pitch by shortening the vibrating air column, although pitch can also be adjusted by varying the tension of the player's embochure.<ref name="Groveonlinecornett"/>

The cornett has six finger holes and, like the [[recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]], a single thumb hole on the opposite side. Together these allow the instrument to play a [[diatonic scale]]. A small number of cornetts were built with seven holes, and French instruments often lacked a thumbhole. By using "cross fingering" and by varying the embouchure tension, the instrument can play a [[chromatic scale]]. A player in 1738 who mastered the cross-fingering and lip tension was documented to have reached 27 notes and half notes.<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Cornet | volume= 7 |last1= Mahillon |first1= Victor-Charles |author1-link= Victor-Charles Mahillon | last2= Schlesinger |first2= Kathleen |author2-link= Kathleen Schlesinger | pages = 170&ndash;173 |short=1}}</ref> In comparison, Praetorius gave cornetts credit for achieving 15 notes, before players used techniques to expand the range.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}

The cornett has a [[conical bore]], narrow at the mouthpiece and widening towards the bell.<ref name=EB1911/> The ordinary curved treble cornett is made by splitting a length of wood, usually [[Juglans#Wood|walnut]], [[Buxus#Musical instruments|boxwood]] or other [[tonewood]]s like plum, cherry or pear. The bore is carved out and the two halves then glued back together, and the outside planed to an octagonal cross section.<ref name=EB1911/> The whole is then further bound tightly in thin black leather or parchment.{{sfn|Klaus|2013|p=76}} A small number of surviving instruments were made from one straight piece, bored on a lathe, and then bent into a curve with steam.{{sfn|Klaus|2013|p=78}} The finger holes and thumb hole are then bored in the instrument, and are slightly undercut.<ref name=BainesWWI/>

The socket for the mouthpiece at the narrow end is sometimes reinforced with a brass collar, and sometimes ornamental silver or brass [[ferrule]]s are added to reinforce each end of the instrument, especially in Austrian- or German-made cornetts.{{sfn|Klaus|2013|p=79}} The separate cup mouthpiece is usually made of horn, ivory, or bone, with a thin rim and thread-wrapped shank, which is used to tune the instrument. Because it usually lacks a (seventh) [[little finger]] hole, its lowest note is A{{sub|3}} below middle C, though G{{sub|3}} is readily obtained by adjusting the embouchure.<ref name=BainesWWI/>

Mute cornetts were usually made of boxwood. The top of the instrument is narrow; the bore is about {{convert|4|mm}} wide at the top of the instrument, with a cone-shaped mouthpiece carved into the top {{convert|13|mm}} across and {{convert|9|mm}} deep.<ref name=BainesWWI/>

{{Multiple image
  | image1 = Mouthpieces of cornetts.jpg
  | image2 = Cornett mouthpieces.jpg
  | alt1 = Mouthpieces from the side
  | alt2 = top: Mouthpieces, bottom: mute cornett
  | footer = Cornett mouthpieces (''left''); mouthpiece size compared to a 1 cent coin (''right, top''); mute cornetts have the mouthpiece carved into the body (''right, bottom'')
}}

==Cornett family==

Cornetts were built in two styles, curved and straight.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}

Most cornetts are shaped with gradual curve, greater than 90°, a single curve like a comma, or an S-curve. The instrument has a conical bore, and the outside shaped to have an octagonal cross-section. Curved cornets were traditionally black, the wood covered in thin black leather.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=137|loc="Curved cornett"}}
The cornett was, like many Renaissance and Baroque instruments, made in a family of sizes. Four extant sizes are the soprano (''[[cornettino]]''), the treble or curved cornett, the alto, the [[tenor cornett|tenor]] or ''lizard'' and the rare bass cornett, which was supplanted by the [[Serpent (instrument)|serpent]] in the 17th century.

{{Image frame
  | innerstyle = background:white;text-align:center;padding:0.5em 0 | width = 200
  | content = <score lang="lilypond">
    {
      \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }
      \clef treble \key c \major \cadenzaOn
      e'4 \finger \markup \text " sopr. "
      a4 \finger \markup \text " treble "
      g4 \finger \markup \text " alto "
      \clef bass
      d4 \finger \markup \text " tenor "
      g,4 \finger \markup \text " bass "
    }
  </score>
  | caption = The lowest note of each type of cornett<ref name=EB1911/>
}}

===Descant===

{{Main | cornettino}}

The ''[[cornettino]]'' is the descant, or sometimes "soprano" member of the cornett family.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} In ''Syntagma Musicum'', it was presented as being about {{convert|45|cm}} long and had a range from E{{sub|4}} to E{{sub|6}} in the 16th and 17th centuries.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=xi, 129|loc="Cornettino"}} In the 18th century that changed to D{{sub|4}} to D{{sub|6}}.<ref name=Galpin/>

===Treble===

The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica defined this instrument using its French name {{lang|fr|dessus}} ({{Lit.|top}}), and gave its fingered range as A{{sub|3}} to A{{sub|5}}, the lowest being one note higher than that of the alto.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref name=EB1911/> To play notes below A{{sub|3}}, players can slacken their embouchure.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}
Sibyl Marcuse did not name the normal cornett, but gave the treble's range.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} David Jarratt-Knock counted surviving instruments in museums to arrive at the treble cornett being the most commonly found cornett.{{sfn|Jarratt-Knock|2014|p=33}}

===Alto===

From the 1619 the scaled drawings in ''Syntagma Musicum'', the instrument was about {{convert|2|ft}} long.
It was built to start playing a tone lower than the treble and has a fingered range from G{{sub|3}} to G{{sub|5}}.<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/><ref name=EB1911/> With good technique the lowest note is F{{sub|3}}.
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica called this the {{lang|fr|haute-contre}} or alto cornet.<ref name=EB1911/> Baines said that the use of this variant for an alto part was "widely speculated."<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/>

===Tenor===

{{Main | tenor cornett}}

The tenor cornett (Italian: ''cornone'', French: ''basse de cornetà bouquin'', German: ''Basszink'') was the tenor instrument in the cornett family.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} About {{convert|3.5|feet}} long from the ''Syntagma Musicum'' drawing, it was "proportionally wider" (bottom compared to top) than the treble and alto were, and that changed the tenor's sound quality to be more bugle-like.<ref name=BainesWWI/>

Although the French and German names imply it was bass instrument, it is placed as a tenor instrument by organologists Sibyl Marcuse and Anthony Baines, who both point out that two examples of a "real bass" instrument exist.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Anthony |last=Baines |title=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments]] |editor-first=Stanley |editor-last=Sadie |editor-link=Stanley Sadie |entry=Cornett |pages=497–503 |publisher=[[MacMillan Publishers|MacMillan Press]] |place=New York |date=1984 |isbn=978-0-333-37878-6 }}<br/>Note: page 503 shows a photo of the bottom cornett, and says it is a tenor cornett.</ref>

The cornone was pitched about a fifth below the alto cornett, with a playing range of C{{sub|3}} to D{{sub|5}}.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=130|loc=Cornone}}
Even though tenor and bass instruments were created for the family, these came later in the instrument's development, perhaps as long as 50 years after the instrument became mainstream.<ref name=BainesWWI/> The instrument was paired with other instruments to play the lower ranges, especially trombones.<ref name=BainesWWI/>

===Bass===

There are very few surviving examples of instruments larger than the tenor cornett. One is called ''hautecontre de cornet à bouquin''.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} The other should be called ''contrebass de cornet à bouquin'' according to Marcuse and Baines, and there are only two examples of it, one in the Paris Conservatoire museum and the other in Hamburg.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/><ref name="PC-c-bouquin">{{Cite web |title=Cornet à bouquin basse |orig-date=Built {{circa|16th century}} |publication-date=1873 <!-- accession date --> |work=Musée de la Musique |publisher=Philharmonie de Paris |language=fr |id=Accession number: E.577 |url= https://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/collectionsdumusee/doc/MUSEE/0161824/cornet-a-bouquin-basse |access-date=7 October 2024 }}</ref>
These were tuned "a pitch or so below the type instrument"{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} or an octave below the cornettino.<ref>{{cite magazine |title= The cornetto, "a nerd thing"? |magazine= Muse Baroque |editor1=Viet-Linh NGUYEN |editor2= Pierre-Damien Houville|date= 13 March 2010|url= http://musebaroque.fr/cornet-a-bouquin/}}</ref> The Paris instrument is described as having "an octagonal exterior and 4 extension keys."{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref>{{cite web |website= Philharmonie de Paris Collections du Musée |title= CORNET À BOUQUIN BASSE |url= https://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0161824 |quote= Wood covered in leather. 4 iron and copper keys. Mouthpiece in ivory... Total length 983mm}}</ref> The Hamburg example has 2 extension keys.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}

<gallery>
File:Ivory Cornetto in A, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|Ivory cornetto in A, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:Ivory Cornetto in A, mouthpiece.jpg|Highly decorated cornett and mouthpiece, cornetto in A, mouthpiece at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:GER — BY — Oberbayern — München — Isarvortstadt — Museumsinsel 1 — 1. OG (Dt. Mus. · Abt. Musikinstrumente · Krummer Zink) Mattes 2022-11-27.jpg|Curved cornet. Lines of the octagonal body are visible.
File:Contrebass de cornet à bouquin.jpg|''Contrebass de cornet à bouquin'', Paris Conservatoire Museum.
File:Cornets à bouquin2.jpg|Curved cornetts from the Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris. Black cornets (wood covered with leather or black parchment) and ivory cornets.
File:Cornets à bouquin3.jpg|Possible tenor cornetts, which were sometimes called lizards. From the Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris.
</gallery>

===Straight cornett===

{{Multiple images
|image1= Corneta recta.jpg
|width1= 200
|caption1= Straight cornett, 20th century

|image2= Corneta muda.jpg
|width2= 200
|caption2= Mute cornett
|footer= 20th century 7-hole cornetts (plus thumbhole)
}}

The common treble cornett was also made as a '''straight cornett''' (German: ''gerader Zink'', ''gelber Zink'', Italian: ''cornetto diritto'' or ''cornetto bianco'')<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/> and usually light-colored, as the yellow boxwood was not covered in leather.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/>
It has conical bore and body that does not curve.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=494–495|loc="Straight cornett"}} The specific instrument differs from the mute cornett by having a removable mouthpiece.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} Surviving instruments in museums are mainly treble with a range of A{{sub|3}} to A{{sub|5}}.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=494–495|loc="Straight cornett"}}<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/>{{sfn|Jarratt-Knock|2014|p=33}} A few survive as tenor instruments, range C{{sub|3}} to D{{sub|5}}.{{sfn|Jarratt-Knock|2014|p=33}}

===Mute cornett===

{{Main | mute cornett}}

A '''mute cornett''' (French: ''cornet muet'', German: ''stiller Zink'', Italian: ''cornetto muto'') is a straight cornett with a narrower bore and integrated mouthpiece carved into the end of the instrument's body.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=354|loc="Mute cornett"}} The instrument tapers in thickness, until at the top it is about {{convert|1.3|cm}} wide.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=354|loc="Mute cornett"}} The instruments were mainly treble cornetts,{{sfn|Jarratt-Knock|2014|p=33}} tuned to the same range as the curved treble cornett, G{{sub|3}} to A{{sub|5}}.<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/> The others found in museums are soprano cornetts, also tuned like curved instruments to E{{sub|4}} to E{{sub|6}}.<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/>{{sfn|Jarratt-Knock|2014|p=33}}

This instrument's name tells something of its tonal nature. Its "gentle, soft and sweet" sound is different than the other cornetts because of its mouthpiece, and can be used in a consort of viols or recorders.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=354|loc="Mute cornett"}}<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/>
The mouthpiece is similar to that in a French horn; instead of being a cup like the other cornetts, it is a cone, about {{convert|9|mm}} deep.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=354|loc="Mute cornett"}} Inside it transitions from cone to instrumental [[bore (wind instruments)|bore]] smoothly, without "sharpness."{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=354|loc="Mute cornett"}}
On the outside, there isn't an obvious lip carved.

Praetorius drew a tenor mute cornett, with a seventh hole covered and labeled that a lower note could be reached by covering the base. In that range, the six holes with thumb hole could have delivered A{{sub|3}} to F{{sub|5}}. The extra plate would make it G{{sub|3}} to F{{sub|5}}, with the base covered F{{sub|3}} to F{{sub|5}}.

<gallery>
File:Gerard van Honthorst - Zingende fluitspeler (ca. 1623).jpg|1623 identified as a cornett.{{sfn|Jarratt-Knock|2014|p=33}} Since the mouthpiece is carved into the body, this would be a mute cornet. However, this example has a lip at the mouthpiece. 
</gallery>

==History==

===Origins===
[[File:Cornets à bouquin1.jpg|thumb|left|16th and 17th century cornetts at the Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris. From the left, back row:
<br/>*[[cornettino]], 17th century

<br/>*alto or treble cornet, 17th century

<br/>*''cornone'',  [[tenor cornett]] or ''bass de cornet à  bouquin'', 17th century{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/>

<br/>*''contrebass de cornet à  bouquin''{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/> (bass cornett), 16th century

Front row:
<br/>*tenor cornet, 17th century.<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2 February 2023|title=CORNET À BOUQUIN TÉNOR EN FORME DE SERPENT|url=https://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/0161107-cornet-a-bouquin-tenor.aspx|website=Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris}}</ref>]]

[[Aurignacian]] pipes, fashioned with four finger holes 26,000–40,000 years ago from the slender bones of bird wings or mammoth ivory, have long been considered flutes. Recovered from [[Vogelherd Cave|Vogelherdhöhle]] and other caves in the [[Swabian Jura]] in Germany, they are among the oldest musical instruments yet discovered. British [[music archaeology|music archaeologist]] Graeme Lawson found that a replica of a complete specimen played as a flute has an indistinct whispery sound, but produces the first five notes of the diatonic series in a clear, strident tone when played as an end-blown lip reed instrument. He contends that this method of playing is supported by microscopic wear patterns, the absence of a fipple or blowhole, and the well-rounded end aperture.<ref name="978-1-847-92687-6_p317-321">{{cite book |first=Graeme |last=Lawson |title=Sound Tracks: Uncovering our Musical Past |date=2024 |publisher=The Bodley Head |publication-place=London |isbn=978-1-847-92687-6|pages=317–321}}</ref>

In modern history, the cornett has been considered by musical historians to be a development of the medieval horn, such as a cow's horn.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} Francis Galpin believed the horns preceding the cornett to be goat horns.<ref name=Galpin/>

Plain horns in the shape of animal horns have been found in medieval European art as far back as the [[Utrecht Psalter]] in the 9th century. However, horns with fingerholes also began appearing in manuscript miniatures in the 10th century.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} By the 12th century, these were being carved with a six sided or 8 sided exterior.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref name=Galpin>{{cite book |first= Francis W. |last= Galpin |title= OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS Of MUSIC |date = 1911 |place= Chicago |publisher= A. C. McCLURG & CO . |pages=188–198}}</ref> In the 11th century, some of the fingerhole horns began to be made longer and thinner, beginning to take on the appearance of the cornett.<ref name=Duffin>{{cite book |title= A Performer's Guide to Medieval Music |year= 2000 |editor= Ross W. Duffin |page= 395 |publisher= Indiana University Press |isbn= 0253215331 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=z9xDFnIMRssC&dq=coradoiz&pg=PA396}}</ref>

{{Multiple images
|header= Horn, fingerhole horn, cornett
|image1=Utrechts-Psalter PSALM-149-PSALM-150 trumpet.jpg
|caption1=Utrecht Psalter, 9th century, France. [[Horn (instrument)|Horn]]s showing signs of assembly (bands around outside) into the shape of cows horns.
|width1=170

|image2= Bockhorn - SMV - X22 01.tif
|caption2=A [[Bukkehorn|bockhorn]], [[fingerhole horn]]
|width2=120

|image3= Cornett or fingerhole horn, Winchcombe Psalter (MS Ff.1.23).jpg
|caption3= Galpin identified this as a cornett.<ref name=Galpin/> 11th century Winchcombe Psalter (MS Ff.1.23)
|width3= 90

|image4= Harley Psalter folio 24v instruments.jpg
|caption4= 1000-1050 England.  From the left a fingerhole horn/trumpet, harp, fingerhole horn/trumpet, lute. [[Harley Psalter]]; art copied or inspired from earlier [[Utrecht Psalter]]. Galpin cited this manuscript as evidence of cornett in England in the 11th century<ref name=Galpin/>
|width4=183
}}

The French ''coradoiz'', rendered now as ''cor à doigts'', meant "fingerhole horn", was seen in the 13th to 15th centuries.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref name=Duffin/>

The earliest cowhorn instruments were played with one hand covering four or fewer fingerholes and the other stopping the bell to create additional tones, much like on a [[French horn]].{{sfn|Jarratt-Knock|2014|p=4}} In Northern Europe, these horns, referred to in Scandinavian languages as [[bukkehorn]]s, were made from natural animal horns.{{sfn|Klaus|2013|p=53-54}}

The name ''cornet'' was printed in English in the ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur|Morte d'Arthure]]'', completed by [[Sir Thomas Mallory]] about 1470.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Prison and Knightly Identity in Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte Darthur"|author=Davidson, Roberta|year=2004|journal=Arthuriana|volume=14|issue=2|pages=54–63|doi = 10.1353/art.2004.0066|jstor = 27870603|s2cid = 161386973}}</ref>

The cornett in its current form was developed by about 1500, as an improvement over earlier designs of fingerhole horns.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}}<ref>{{cite web| website= Early Music Muse |title= The gemshorn: a (necessarily) short history |url= https://earlymusicmuse.com/gemshorn/ |last= Pittaway| first= Ian|date= 14 July 2015 | quote= These animal horns drilled with finger holes...eventually leading to the creation of the leather-covered wooden cornett in {{circa|1500}} }}</ref>

That was the path that led to the curved cornetts; another way led to the straight cornetts. In central Europe, cornetts were made from wood turned on a [[lathe]]; the fusion of these two instrument-building traditions as the cornett advanced in melodic capability explains the coexistence of the straight and curved cornetts, with the form of the latter most likely being a skeuomorphic trait derived from animal horns.{{sfn|Jarratt-Knock|2014|p=62}}

===Ends and beginnings===

The cornett was at the height of its popularity between 1550 and 1650.{{sfn|Marcuse|1975|page=128–129|loc="Cornett"}} The instrument had declined by the 18th century.<ref name=BainesWWI/> When the instrument was needed in the 19th century, it had gone extinct.<ref name=BainesWWI/> Efforts to re-create it were not immediately successful and other instruments have been used in an attempt to replace it in classical music.<ref name=BainesWWI/> These include the soprano saxophone, trumpet and oboe.<ref name=BainesWWI/> Since the 19th century, the instrument is being made again and materials used for the body have widened to include resins.<ref>{{cite web |website= Christopher Monk Instruments |title= "G2" Resin Cornett |access-date= 8 February 2023 |url= https://www.jeremywest.co.uk/cornetts-in-ebony-resin.html}}</ref> Recorded music of the instrument can be found.

Prominent cornettists today include [[Roland Wilson (conductor)|Roland Wilson]] (ensemble [[Musica Fiata]]), [[Jean Tubéry]] (La Fenice), [[Arno Paduch]] ([[Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble]]), and [[Bruce Dickey]] ([[Concerto Palatino]]).

<gallery>
File:Musica getutscht und außgezogen 020.jpg|Page from Sebastian Virdung's 1511 book ''Musica Getutscht und Ausgezogen''. Top left corner: a curved cornett labeled ''Zincken''. Below it is a straight cornett, also ''Zincken''. Top right corner, a [[Gemshorn]]

File:Agricola, cornett and shawms.jpg|Cornett, shawms from Martin Agricola's book "Musica instrumentalis deudsch", published 1529. From left: straight cornett,  [[three-hole pipe]], [[bombard (music)|bombard]], [[shawm]].

File:Syntagma 06 VIII half.png|1620 Cornetts, by number: 5 [[tenor cornett]], 6 choral zink, 7 [[cornettino]], 8 "Gerader" zink, 9 [[mute cornett]].

File:Syntagma08.png|1620 Right page: 3 Mute cornetts, including one with a key

</gallery>

==Music for the cornett==
{{More citations needed|section|date=February 2023}}
[[File:Cornett, by Tobias Stimmer 2.jpg|thumb|[[Tobias Stimmer]] [[woodcut]] of a woman with an alto cornett, {{circa|1570–1577}}]]

===Virtuoso performance===
The cornett, among other aerophones, were commonly used for virtuosic musical performances, equivalent to performances by a lead singer or violinist.<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/> A relatively large amount of solo music for the cornett (and/or violin) survives.

[[File:Musicians from 'Procession in honour of Our Lady of Sablon in Brussels'.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Musicians from 'Procession in honour of Our Lady of Sablon in Brussels.' Early 17th-century Flemish [[alta cappella]]. From left to right: bass [[dulcian]], alto [[shawm]], treble cornett, soprano shawm, alto shawm, tenor [[sackbut]].]]

[[Giovanni Bassano]] was a virtuoso early player of the cornett, and [[Giovanni Gabrieli]] wrote much of his [[Venetian polychoral style|polychoral]], with Bassano playing it.<ref>{{cite book |last= Selfridge-Field |first= Eleanor |title= Venetian Instrumental Music, from Gabrieli to Vivaldi |place=New York |publisher= Dover Publications |date= 1994 |isbn= 0-486-28151-5 |page=15 |url= https://archive.org/details/venetianinstrume00self/page/15/mode/1up?q=Bassano}}</ref> [[Heinrich Schütz]] also used the instrument extensively, especially in his earlier work; he had studied in Venice with Gabrieli and was likely acquainted with Bassano's playing.<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Arnold |first=Denis |author-link=Denis Arnold |title=Giovanni Bassano |volume=2 |page=254 }}</ref>

The use of the instrument had declined by 1700, although the instrument was still common in Europe until the late 18th century. [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], [[Georg Philipp Telemann]] and their German contemporaries used both the cornett and cornettino in cantatas to play in unison with the soprano voices of the choir. Occasionally, these composers allocated a solo part to the cornetto (see Bach's cantata ''[[O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, BWV 118]]''). [[Alessandro Scarlatti]] used the cornetto or pairs of cornetts in a number of his operas. [[Johann Joseph Fux]] used a pair of mute cornetts in a Requiem.

It was scored for by [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]], in his opera ''[[Orfeo ed Euridice]]'' (he suggested the [[soprano trombone]] as an alternative) and features in the TV theme music ''Testament'' by [[Nigel Hess]], released in 1983.

The cornett was chosen to play ''[[colla parte]]''  (in which instrumentalists play the same notes as the vocal part) in works by [[Bach]]. These include [[Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4]] (paired with trombones)<ref>{{cite book| last = Dürr| first = Alfred| author-link = Alfred Dürr| others = Translated by [[Richard D. P. Jones]]| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m9JuwslMcq4C&pg=PA262| title = The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text | publisher = Oxford University Press| year = 2006| isbn = 978-0-19-929776-4}}</ref> and [[Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende, BWV 28]] (paired with trombones).<ref name=hof>[[Klaus Hofmann]] (2007), [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-C39c%5BBIS-SACD1641%5D.pdf Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende /Praise God! Now the Year Draws to a Close, BWV 28] (pp. 6–7), ''Bach Cantatas Website''</ref>

===Popular performance===
Music books allowed non-professional musicians to learn instruments and play together. Such books included music theory, how to read sheet music, and instructions for how to reach notes on instruments. Professional musicians performed in public spaces and as part of official pomp before the country's residents. Images of heaven reflected a musicality that showed heavenly orchestras performing before God, and instruments were brought into churches.

Public performances where the cornett might be played included the [[alta capella]] and the [[Collegium Musicum]].

<gallery>
File:Cornett fingering chart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 37.jpg|1732 Cornett fingering chart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum
File:Cornet finger chart from Grund-richtiger Unterricht der Musicalischen Kunst by Daniel Speer.jpg|Cornet finger chart from Grund-richtiger Unterricht der Musicalischen Kunst by Daniel Speer, 1697
File:Ganassi fontegara.jpg|Art from ''Opera intitulata Fontegara'' with curved cornett and straight cornett at bottom
File:Cornetts, sackbuts and shawms at the coronation of Louis XIV.jpg|Cornetts, sackbuts and shawms at the coronation of Louis XIV
File:Orlando di Lasso and the Bavarian court musicians of {{circa|1563–70}}, by Hans Mielich.jpg|Orlando di Lasso and the Bavarian court musicians of {{circa|1563–70}}, by Hans Mielich. (Back row:) Treble or alto curved cornett (2nd from right), treble or alto straight cornett (fourth from right).
File:Collegium musicum 1590.jpg|1590, [[Collegium Musicum]], Lauingen, Germany. From the left: [[viol]], flute, [[Mandore (instrument)|mandörgen]] or [[gittern]], fiddle or [[rebec]], [[shawm]], [[harp]], [[slide trumpet]] or [[clarion trumpet]], cornett, [[clavichord]].
File:Marten de Vos - In you, Lord, I have hoped.jpg|Religious celebration in Heaven
</gallery>

===Liturgical performance===
{{Multiple images

|image1=Musicians gallery from the funeral of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (sharpened image).jpg
|caption1=1611 Musicians in the gallery of a cathedral, from the funeral of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine.
|width1=200

|image2= Encomium Musices 1590.jpg
|caption2= Cornets and sackbuts used in liturgical setting, with choir.
|width2=200

|image3= Carlos II de Espana recibe la sagrada forma (detalle), por Claudio Coello018.jpg
|caption3= Scene in a Spanish church, detail of ''[[Charles II of Spain|Charles II]] adores the Holy Eucharist''
|width3=110

}}

Like the [[Serpent (instrument)|serpent]], another fingerhole horn that was paired with it, the cornett was used to reinforce the human voice, accompanying choral music. The cornett was deemed to be similar to the voice of a [[boy soprano]], a part found in English liturgical music which the cornett accompanied.<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/> Not only English, for [[Mersenne]] speaks of the cornett being "heard with the choir voices in the cathedrals or chapels."<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/>

Historically, two cornetts were frequently used in consort with three [[sackbut]]s, often to double a church choir, into the 18th century.<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/> This was particularly popular in [[Venice|Venetian]] churches such as the [[San Marco di Venezia|Basilica San Marco]], where extensive instrumental accompaniment was encouraged, particularly in use with [[antiphonal]] choirs.

==Playing the cornett==

[[File:Hra-na-cink-evangkostel-v-Miroslavi2011.jpg|thumb|left|The cornetto, played by Ben Skála]]
The cornett's pitches are controlled using a combination of the player's lips and fingerholes. The lips change pitch through different tensions. The fingerholes alter the length of the sound column.

Cornetts are made with a mouthpiece, similar to that on brass instruments, but very small. Unlike the brass mouthpieces, players don't press the instrument to the center of their mouths, as on a trumpet.<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/> Rather the technique to produce sound is to hold the instrument to the side of the mouth, where the player's lips are thinner.<ref name="Cornett-GroveDMI-1984"/> Players stretch their lips to tighten them, with help from cheek muscles.<ref>{{cite book |title= Colour Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments |first= Alexander |last= Buchner |translator= Simon Pellar |publisher= Hamlyn |place=London |date= 1980 |isbn= 0-600-36421-6 |page= 101}}</ref>

{{Multiple images
|align=right
|image1= Jurgalič Jože, Groblje 26 "pastir" (67 let), nekdaj črednik, trobi na kravji rog 1952 (2).jpg
|caption1= Slovak shepherd playing a cow's horn, the horn pressed to the side of his mouth.
|width1= 150

|image2= Рожечники обрез.jpg
|caption2= Russian [[rozhok]] horns, with fingerholes and played from the side of the mouth.
|width2=150
}}
The technique is not unique to cornets, but has also been used for the traditional animal-horn horns, such as the shofur<ref>{{cite web |website= ajudaica.com/ |title= Shofar guide |url= https://www.ajudaica.com/jewish-guides/shofar |quote= Many experts use the side of their mouth to blow the Shofar, in order to get the right sound.}}</ref> and Slovak shepherd's horn, as well as for folk horns such as the Russian [[rozhok]].

[[Girolamo Dalla Casa|Girolamo dalla Casa]] wrote about how the coronet should sound when played, and in doing so revealed other ways it could sound as well. He felt that the instrument was meant to imitate the human voice, saying,  "The cornetto is the most excellent of the wind instruments since it imitates the human voice better than the other instruments." He warned that improperly played,  it would sound "horn-like or muted."<ref name=Rosenberg/>

To play it properly, he said that player's must focus on the tone (with lips not spread apart and loose, or too tight and shrill). He felt tonguing was important to the sound, with energy but not too aggressive. Finally he felt that divisions or diminutions should be used,  but sparingly and well. He said that cornettists should focus on making their playing sound like the human voice.<ref name=Rosenberg/>

===Learning to play===
Books with cornett instruction included ''Grund-richtiger Unterricht der Musicalischen Kunst'' (''Fundamentally correct instruction in the musical arts'') by [[Daniel Speer]], 1697<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/> and ''Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum'' (''Museum of theoretical-practical music'') by [[Joseph Friedrich Bernhard Caspar Majer]], 1732.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maier|first=Joseph F. |title= Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum |others=München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek |place= Schwäbisch Hall |date= 1732 |url= https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10527435?page=63 |quote= Applicatio zum Zinken}}</ref> Books written for other instruments were also applicable to the cornett. Among these were [[Silvestro Ganassi dal Fontego|Ganassi 
dal Fontego]] (''Opera intitulata Fontegara'', 1535) and Bismantova (''Compendio musicale'', 1677).<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/> These books covered the recorder, but the instructions on "tonguing" with "force and speed" has application to the cornett,<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/> which was pictured on the ''Fontegara'' title page illustration.

Besides tonguing, books taught students to improvise. Students learning cornet music were encouraged to play in the "diminuative", looking at sheet music and adapting it by creating runs of fast notes to replace long slow notes in written works.<ref name=Groveonlinecornett/>

The book (''Il Vero Modo Di Diminuir'', 1584) by cornett virtoso [[Girolamo Dalla Casa]]  focused on tone, tonguing and [[Division (music)|divisions]] to make the cornett sound like the human voice.<ref>Dickey, Bruce. 1982. "The Decline of the Cornett: Most Excellent of Wind Instruments". Musick 4, no. 1 (September):23–32. p. 26.</ref><ref name=Rosenberg>{{cite journal |author= Girolamo dalla Casa detto da U dene |translator= Jesse Rosenberg |title= Il Vero Modo Di Diminuir |date= 1584 |page= 112 |journal= Historic Brass Society Journal |url= https://www.uco.edu/cfad/files/music/casa-vero-modo.pdf |archive-date= 2022-12-04 |access-date= 2023-02-18 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221204224716/https://www.uco.edu/cfad/files/music/casa-vero-modo.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

==The cornett and historically informed performance==
As a result of the recent [[historically informed performance]] movement the cornett has been rediscovered, and modern works for the instrument have been written.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kite-Powell |first=Jeffery |author-link=Jeffery T. Kite-Powell |title=A performer's guide to seventeenth-century music |date=2012 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253357069 |editor1-last=Carter |editor1-first=Stewart |edition=2nd |location=Bloomington |pages=100–118 |chapter=6: Cornett and Sackbut |editor2-last=Kite-Powell |editor2-first=Jeffery}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

{{refbegin}}
{{ubli
| {{Cite Q|editor1-last=Herbert |editor1-first=Trevor |editor2-last=Myers |editor2-first=Arnold |editor3-last=Wallace |editor3-first=John |date=2019 |publication-place=unset |Q114571908}}
| {{cite thesis |last=Jarratt-Knock |first=David |date=2014 |title=The 'cornett': Diversity of form, function and usage as portrayed in organological and iconographical sources, c.1500–c.1800 |degree=MMus |institution=Birmingham University |url= https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/5329/2/JarrattKnock14MMus.pdf |access-date=22 June 2020}}
| {{Cite Q|last=Klaus |first=Sabine Katharina |date=2013|Q116447957}}
| {{Cite Q|last=Marcuse |first=Sibyl |date=1975 |Q113270677}}
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
{{Commons category|Cornetts}}
* [[:fr:Cornet à bouquin|The French Wikipedia cornett page shows photos of two existing specimens of the bass cornett]]
* [https://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/09102/23900ED8070852C9E803DCB053C70E26C9B377ED.html A third bass cornett in the collection of the Musée de la Musique, Paris]
* [https://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrument/zink A page about the cornett]
* [http://www.jeremywest.co.uk/christopher-monk-instruments.html Christopher Monk Instruments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716192056/http://www.jeremywest.co.uk/christopher-monk-instruments.html |date=2014-07-16 }}, one of the more well-known modern makers of cornetts

Extant cornetts at [[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/ho_52.96.1.htm Ivory Cornetto, 1570–80, Germany]
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/musical_instruments/tenor_cornetto_in_d/objectview.aspx?page=1&sort=0&sortdir=asc&keyword=cornet*&fp=1&dd1=18&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=18&OID=180014422&vT=1 Tenor Cornetto, 17th century, France]

===Modern performance===
*[https://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrument/zink Online sound recordings of modern performance, by ''Antiqua'']
*[http://www.arpeggiata.com/ensemble L'Arpeggiata]{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} with Christina Pluhar as conductor, (winner of the 2010 Dutch Edison) makes use of one or two cornetts
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090414191738/http://www.lincolnwaites.com/index2.shtml City of Lincoln Waites] ''(The Mayor of Lincoln's own Band of Musick)''
*[http://www.concertopalatino.com/ Concerto Palatino], a leading ensemble centered on the cornetto and trombone and directed by Bruce Dickey and Charles Toet.
* [http://www.ecse.co.uk/ The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble], a performance group that makes use of the cornett
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100430072901/http://www.ensemblelafenice.com/index_fr_01.html Ensemble La Fenice], A French period performance group directed by cornettist Jean Tubery.
*[http://www.hmsc.co.uk/ His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts] (est. 1982), the pre-eminent, internationally renowned British cornett and sackbut ensemble.
*[[Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble]], a performance group directed by the German cornetto player Arno Paduch
*[http://www.iquint.co.uk/ QuintEssential – Sackbut and Cornett ensemble] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513182238/http://iquint.co.uk/ |date=2013-05-13 }}

{{Trumpets}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Baroque instruments]]
[[Category:Early musical instruments]]
[[Category:Horns]]
[[Category:Renaissance instruments]]