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CORNET,

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 173 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CORNET, , a word having two distinct significations and two etymological histories, both, however, ultimately referable to the same Latin origin: 1. (Fr. cornette, dim. of come, from See also:Lat. corm', a See also:horn), a small See also:standard, formerly carried by a See also:troop of See also:cavalry, and similar to the pennon in See also:form, narrowing gradually to a point, The See also:term was then applied to the See also:body of cavalry which carried a;cornet. In this sense it is used in the military literature of the 16th See also:century and, less frequently, in that of the 17th. Before the See also:close of the 16th century, however, the See also:world had also come to mean a junior officer of a troop of cavalry who, like the " See also:ensign " of See also:foot, carried the See also:colour. The spelling " coronet " occurs in the 16th century, and has perhaps contributed to obscure the derivation of " See also:colonel " or " coronel." The See also:rank of .`` cornet " remained in the See also:British cavalry until the See also:general See also:adoption of the term "second See also:lieutenant." In the See also:Boer republics " See also:field-cornets " were See also:local subordinate See also:officers of the See also:commando (q.v.), the unit of the military forces. Elected for three years by the wards into which the electoral districts were divided, they had administrative as well as military duties, and acted as magistrates, inspectors of natives and See also:registration officers for their respective wards. In 1907, the , " field-cornet " See also:system was re-established in the See also:Transvaal; the new duties of the " field-cornets " are those performed by assistant magistrates, viz. See also:petty See also:jurisdiction, registration of voters, births and deaths, the carrying out of regulations as to See also:animal diseases, and See also:maintenance of roads. The " field-cornets " are appointed by See also:government for three years. 2. (Fr. cornet, Ital. cornetto, Med. Lat. cornetum, a See also:bugle, from Lat. See also:cornu, a horn), in See also:music, the name of two varieties of See also:wind See also:instruments (see below), and also of certain stops of the See also:organ. The See also:great organ " See also:solo cornet " was a mixture or See also:compound stop, having either 5, 4, or 3 ranges of pipes; occasionally it was placed on a See also:separate soundboard, when it was known as a " mounted cornet." The " See also:echo cornet " was a similar stop, but softer and enclosed in a See also:box.

In See also:

German and Dutch See also:organs the term cornet is sometimes applied to a pedal See also:reed stop. (a)CORNET or CORNETT (Fr. cornet, cornet el bouquin; Ger. Zinck; Zincken; Ital. cornetto) is the name given to a See also:family of See also:wood wind instruments, now obsolete, having a See also:cup-shaped See also:mouthpiece and a conical See also:bore without a See also:bell, and differing entirely from the See also:modern . cornet a pistons. The old cornets were of two kinds, the straight and the curved, characterized by See also:radical See also:differences in construction. There' were two very different kinds of straight cornets (Ger. gerader Zinck, Ital. cornetto diretto or recto), the one most commonly used having a detachable cup-shaped mouthpiece similar to that of the See also:trumpet, while the other was made to all See also:appearance without mouthpiece, there being not even a moulded rim at the end of the See also:tube to 3 He had previously—1n 1865—bought See also:scrip for 1oo,000 acres for $50,000, on the understanding that all profits which might accrue from the See also:sale of the See also:land should he paid to the university. break the rigid straight See also:line. Examination of the tube, however, reveals the See also:secret of the characteristic sweet See also:tone of this latter kindof cornet; unsuspected inside the See also:top of the tube is cut out of the thickness of the wood a mouthpiece, not cup-shaped, but like a See also:funnel similar to that of the See also:French horn, which merges gradually into the bore of the See also:instrument. This mode of construction, together with the narrower bore adopted, greatly influenced the timbre of the instrument, whose softer tone was thus due mainly to the substitution of the funnel for the See also:sharp See also:angle of incidence at the bottom of the cup mouthpiece known as the See also:throat (see MOUTHPIECE), where it communicates with the tube. It is this sharp angle, which in the other cornets with detachable mouthpiece, causes the See also:column of See also:air to break,. producing a shrill quality of tone, while the wider bore and slightly rough walls of the tube See also:account for the harshness. • In See also:Germany the sweet-toned cornet was known as stiller or swifter Zinck, and in See also:Italy as cornetto See also:mute (fig. I), while in See also:France the instruments with detachable mouthpiece were distinguished by the adition of et bouquin (= with mouth- piece). The curved cornet (Ger. krummer Zinck or Stadtkalb; Ital. cornetto See also:curve) could not for obvious reasons have the bore pierced through a single piece of wood; the channel for the vibrating column of air was, therefore, hollowed out of two pieces of wood, the See also:diameter increasing from the mouthpiece to the See also:lower end.

The two pieces of wood thus pre-pared were joined together with See also:

glue and covered with See also:leather, the See also:outer See also:surface of the tube being finished off in octagonal shape. The separate mouthpiece, made in-differently of wood, horn, See also:ivory or See also:metal,' analogous to that of the trumpet, was distinctly cup-shaped and fixed by a tenon to the upper extremity of the See also:pipe. The See also:primitive instrument was an animal's horn. Pipes of such See also:short length give only, besides the first or fundamental, the second and sometimes the third See also:note of the See also:harmonic See also:series. Thus a pipe that has forits funda- See also:mental A will, if the pressure of breath and tension of the lips be steadily increased, give the See also:octave A and the twelfth E. In See also:order to connect the first and second harmonics diatonically, the length of the pipe was progressively shortened by See also:boring lateral holes through the tube for the fingers to See also:cover. The successive opening of these holes furnished the instrumentalist with the different intervals of the See also:scale, six holes sufficing for this purpose: -. erm= 0- 1—'--T- 2 The fundamental was thus connected with its octave by all the degrees of a diatonic scale, which became See also:chromatic by the help of See also:cross-fingering and the greater or less tension of the lips stretched as vibrating reeds across the opening of the mouth-piece. This increased See also:compass of twenty-seven notes obtained }".See Malin See also:Mersenne, L'Harmonie universelle (See also:Paris, 1636-1637), bk. v., pp. 273-274.by cross-fingering ,is very' clearly shown in a table by Eisel.2 The fingering was completed by a seventh hole, which had for its See also:object the See also:production of the octave without the See also:necessity of closing all the holes in order to produce the second note of the harmonic series. The first See also:complete octave, thus obtained by a See also:succession of fundamental notes, was easily octaved by a stronger pressure of breath and tension of the lips across the mouthpiece, and thus the See also:ordinary limits of the compass of a Zinck or cornet could be extended to a fifteenth. Whether straight or curved it was pierced laterally with seven holes, six through the front,' and the seventh, that nearest the mouthpiece, through the back. The first three holes were usually covered with the third, second: and first fingers of the right See also:hand, the next four with the third; second and first fingers andthe thumb of the See also:left hand.

But some instrumentalists inverted the position of the hands. Virdung' shows, besides the cornetto recto, a See also:

kind of Zinck made of an animal's horn with only four holes, three in the front of the pipe and one at the back. Such an instrument as this had naturally a very limited compass, since these four holes only sufficed to produce the intermediate notes between the second and third proper tones of the harmonic scale, the lower octave comprised between the first and second remaining incomplete; by, overblowing, however, the next octave would be obtained in addition. At the beginning of the 17th century See also:Praetorius" represents the Zincken as a complete family comprising: (1) the little Zinck with the lowest note _en (2) the ordinary Zinck with the lowest note --, (3) the great Zinck, cornon or corno torte, a great cornet in the shape of an e with the lowest note E_=-' J - In France' the family was composed of the following instruments: (I) The 'dessus or See also:treble cornet with the lowest note (2) the haute-contre or See also:alto cornet with the lowest note ~.~ (3) the See also:taille or See also:tenor cornet with the lowest note -o and the besse or See also:bass or pedatle 6 cornet with the lowest note The cornets of the lowest See also:pitch were sometimes furnished with an open See also:key which, when closed, lengthened the tube and extended the compass downwards by a note. Mersenne figures a cornon with a key. During the See also:middle ages these instruments were in such favour that an important See also:part was given to them in all instrumental combinations. At See also:Dresden,' between 1647 and 1651, the Kapelle of the electoral See also:prince of See also:Saxony included two cornets, the bass being supplied by the See also:trombone. See also:Monteverde introduced two cornets in the 3rd and 4th acts of his Orfeo (1607). In France the charges for the Chapelle-Musique of the See also:kings of France for the See also:year 1619 contain two entries of the sum of 450 livres tournois, See also:salary paid to one See also:Marcel Cayty, joueur de cornet, a See also:post held by him from 1604 until at least 1631, when another cornet player, See also:Jean Daneau, is also mentioned.' In Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries, Zincken were used with trombones in the churches to accompany the chorales. There are examples of this use of the instrument in the sacred cantatas of J. S. See also:Bach, where the cornet is added to the upper See also:voice parts to strengthen them.

Johann Mattheson, conductor of the See also:

opera at .2 See Eisel's (Anon.) Musicus AfroItb aror, See also:oder der sick selbst-. informirende Musicus (See also:Erfurt, 1738), p. 93 and table vi. 6 See also:Sebastian Virdung, - Musica getutscht and auszgezogen (See also:Basel, 1511). ' See also:Michael Praetorius, - Syntag. Music., vol. ii. De Organographia (Wolfenbiittel, 1618), pp. 25 and 41, pls. 8 and 13. See Mersenne, loc. cit. 6 See Ad. MS. 30342, Brit.

Museum, fol. 145. A See also:

tract in French containing See also:pen and See also:ink sketches of musical instruments, which See also:dates from the 17th or perhaps the 18th century, and was formerly in the See also:possession of the Jesuit See also:college in Paris. Here the pedalle is the bass See also:pommer, or hautbois, and the See also:sackbut is indicated as second bass or basse-contre. As also in Mersenne, the comets are curved. ' See See also:Moritz Fiirstenau, Geschichte der Musik and See also:des Theaters am Hofe zu Dresden (Dresden, 1861-1862), p. 28. 'See MichelBrenet, " Deux-comptes de la Chapelle Musique des rois de France," Sammelband der Intern. See also:Mus. Ges., vi. 1 (See also:Leipzig, 1904), pp. 20, 21, 29; and Archives nationales (Paris), Z.

Ia. 486. From Capt. C. R. See also:

Day's of Musical Instruments, by See also:Eyre & See also:Spottiswoode. Descriptive See also:Catalogue permission of Messrs. See also:Hamburg, See also:writing on the See also:orchestra in 1713 i gives a description of the Zinck as a member of the orchestra, but in 1739,2 in his See also:work on the perfect conductor, he deplores the decrease of its popularity in See also:church music, from which it seems to be banished as useless. See also:Gluck was the last composer of importance who scored for the cornet, as for instance in Orfeo, in Paride ed Elena, in Alceste and in Armide, &c. The great See also:vogue of the curved cornet is not to be accounted for by its musical qualities, for it had a hard, hoarse, piercing See also:sound, and it failed utterly in truth of intonation; these natural defects, moreover, could only be modified with great difficulty. Mersenne's eulogium of the dessus, then more employed than the other cornets, can only be appreciated at its full value if we look upon the See also:art of cornet playing as a lost art. " The dessus," he says, " was used in the vocal concerts and to make the treble with the organ, which is ravishing when one knows how to See also:play it to perfection like the Sieur Guiclet;" and again further on, " the See also:character of its tone resembles the brilliance of a sunbeam piercing the darkness, when it is heard among the voices in churches, cathedrals or chapels."' Mersenne further observes that the See also:serpent is the true bass of the cornet, that one without the other is like body without soul.

A See also:

drawing in pen and ink of a curved cornet is given by Randle Holme in his See also:Academy of Armoury (1688); * and at the end of the description of the instrument he adds, " It is a delicate pleasant wind musick, if well played and, humoured." Giovanni Maria See also:Artusi 6 of See also:Bologna, writing at the end of the 16th century, devotes much space to the cornet, explaining in detail the three kinds of tonguing used with the instrument. By tonguing is understood a method of See also:articulation into the mouthpiece of See also:flute, cornet a'pistons or trumpet, of certain syllables which add brilliance to the tone. Artusi See also:advocates (1) for the guttural effect, ler, ler, ler, der, ler, der, ler; ter, ler, ter; ter, ter, ler; (2) for the See also:tongue effect, tere, tere, tere; (3) for the dental effect, teche, teche, teche, used by those who wish to strike terror into the See also:hearts of the hearers—an effect, however, which offends the See also:ear. A See also:clue to the popularity of the instrument during the middle ages may perhaps be found in Artusi's remark that this instrument is the most See also:apt in imitating the human voice, but that it is very difficult and fatiguing to play; the musician, he adds elsewhere, should adopt an instrument to imitate the voice as much as possible, such as the cornetto and the trombone. He mentions two players in See also:Venice, II Cavaliero del Cornetto and M. See also:Girolamo da See also:Udine, who excelled in the art of playing the cornet. Being derived from the horn of an anirnal through which lateral holes had been pierced, the curved cornet was probably the earlier, and when the instrument came to be copied in metal and in wood the straight cornet was the result of an See also:attempt to simplify the construction. The See also:evolution probably took See also:place in See also:Asia See also:Minor, where tubes with conical bore were the See also:rule, and the instrument.was thence introduced into See also:Europe. A straight Zinck, having a See also:grotesque animal's See also:head at the bell-end, and six holes visible, is pictured in a See also:miniature of the 11th century.6 What appears to be precisely the same kind of instrument, although differing widely in reality, the chaunter being reed-blown, is to be found in illuminated See also:MSS. as the chaunter of the bagpipe, as for example in a royal See also:roll of See also:Henry III. at the British Museum,7 where it occurs twice played by a See also:man on See also:stilts. The grotesque was probably added to the chaunter in See also:imitation of that on the straight Zinck. Two stille Zincken or cornetti muti are among the musical instruments represented in the triumphal procession of the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian Ls (d. 1519), designed at his command by H.

Burgmair under the superintendence of Albrecht Darer. (b) CORNET A PISTONS, CORNET, CORNOPAEAN (Fr. cornet pistons; Ger. Cornett; Ital. cornetto), are the names of a modern See also:

brass wind instrument of the same pitch as the trumpet. Being a transformation of the old post-horn, the cornet should have a conical bore of wide diameter in proportion to the length of tube, but in practice usually only a small portion of the tube is conical, i.e. from the mouthpiece to the slide of the first See also:valve and from the slide of the third valve to the bell. The tube of the cornet is doubled rou4l upon itself. The cup-shaped mouth-piece is larger than that of the trumpet; the shape of the cup in See also:conjunction with the length of the tube and the proportions i Das neu-eroffnets Orchester (Hamburg, 1713), p. 253. 2 Der vollkommene Kapellmeister (Hamburg, 1739). See Mersenne, op. cit., bk. v., p. 274. 6 Part of See also:book iii. in MS. Harleian, 2034, fol.

207b. Brit. Museum. 6 Delle imperfettioni della moderna musica (Venice, 1600), pp. 4, 5, 6 and 12b. 6 See also:

Graft. Schfnborn Bibl. Pommersfelden, See also:Cod. 2776, reproduced in E. See also:Buhle's See also:Die musikalischen Instrumente in den Miniatur-Handschriften des Mittelalters, part i. (Leipzig, 1903) pl. 6 and p.

24, where other references will be found. Royal Roll, 14 B. v. 13th century. See also See also:

Augustus See also:Hughes-Hughes, Catalogue of MS. Music in the British Museum, part iii. 8 See " Triumphzug des Kaisers Maximilians I.," Beilage sum rsten Bd. d. Jahrbuch der Samml. des Allerhochsten Kaiserhauses (See also:Vienna, 1883), part i. p. 26, and letterpress, Bd. i. pp. 154-181.of the bore determines the timbre of the instrument. The outline of the bottom of the cup, where it communicates with the bore, is of the greatest importance.9 If, as in the trumpet, it piesents angles against which the column of air breaks, it produces a brilliant tone quality. In the cornet mouthpiece there are no angles at the bottom of the cup, which curves into the bore; hence the cornet's loose, coarse quality of tone. The sound is produced by stretching the lips across the mouthpiece, and making them See also:act as See also:double reeds, set in vibration by the breath.

There are no fixed notes on the cornet as in instruments with lateral holes, or with keys; the musical scale is obtained by means of the See also:

power the performer possesses—once he has learned how to use it—of producing the notes of the harmonic series by over-blowing, i.e. by varying the tension of the lips and the pressure of breath. In the cornet this series is short, comprising only the harmonics from the 2nd to the 8th: ~_.fFl See also:fir- Harmonic series of the B y cornet _ the 7th is slightly See also:flat, a defect a s 6 r 8 — which the performer corrects, if he 1748- 3 2 uses the note at all. The intermediate notes completing the chromatic scale are obtained by means of three pistons which, on being depressed, open valves leading into supplementary wind-ways, which lengthen the See also:original tube. The pitch of the instrument is thus lowered respectively one tone, See also:half a tone, and one tone and a half. The See also:action of the See also:piston temporarily changes the key of the instrument and with it the notes of the harmonic series. Before a performer, therefore, can play a note he must know in which harmonic series it is best obtained and use the proper piston in conjunction with the requisite See also:lip tension. By means of the pistons the compass of the cornet is thus extended from Real sounds for the cornet in C. (The minimsindicatethe See also:practical J compass but the See also:extension shown a,_ -- by the crotchets is possible to all See also:good players.) The treble clef is used in notation, and in See also:England the music for the cornet is usually written as sounded, but most French and German composers See also:score for it as for a transposing instrument; for example, the music for the Bb cornet is written in a key one tone higher than that of the See also:composition. The timbre of the cornet lies somewhere between that of the horn and the trumpet, having the blaring, penetrating quality of the latter without its brilliant See also:noble sonorousness. The great favour with which the cornet meets is due to the facility with which it speaks, to the little fatigue it causes, and to the simplicity of its mechanism. We must, however, regret from the point of view of art that its success has been so great, and that it has ended in usurping in brass bands the place of the bugles, the tone colour of which is infinitely preferable as a See also:foundation for an ensemble composed entirely of brass instruments. Even the symphonic orchestra has not been secure from its intrusion, and the growing tendency in some orchestras, notably in France, to allow the cornet to supersede the trumpet, to the great detriment of tone colour, is to be deplored.

The cornet used in a See also:

rich orchestral See also:harmony is of value for completing the chords of trumpets, or to undertake diatonic and chromatic passages which on account of their rapidity cannot easily be fingered by trombones or horns. The technical possibilities of the instrument are very great, almost unrivalled in the brass wind:—notes sustained, crescendo or diminuendo; diatonic and chromatic scale and See also:arpeggio passages; leaps, shakes, and in fact all kinds of musical figures in any key, can be played with great facility on the three-valved cornet. Double tonguing-is also practicable, the articulation with the tongue of the syllables ti-ke for double, and of ti-ke-ti for triple See also:time producing a striking staccato effect. The cornet was evolved in Germany, at the beginning of the 19th century, from the post-horn, by the application of the 9 See See also:Victor Mahillon, Elements d'acoustique musicale et instrumentale (See also:Brussels, 1874), pp. 96, 97, &c., with diagrams, and See also:Friedrich Zamminer, Die Musik and die musikalischen Instrumente, &c. (See also:Giessen, 1855), p. 310, &c., with diagrams. valves (Besson & Co.). with a great many crooks for A, Ab, G, F, E, Eb and D, but from the explanation but now given, it will be readily understood that they were found unpractical for valve instruments, and all but the first two mentioned have been abandoned. The See also:history of the cornet is a See also:record of the endeavours of successive musical instrument makers to overcome this inherent defect in construction. The most ingenious and successful of these improvements are the following: (I) The six-valve-See also:independent system' of Adolphe See also:Sax, designed about 185o, by which a separate valve was used for each position, thus obviating the necessity of using combinations of pistons. This theoretically perfect system unfortunately introduced great difficulties in practice, the valves being made ascending instead of descending, and each piston cutting off a definite length of wind-way from the open tube, instead of adding to it. The system was eventually abandoned.

(2) The Besson Registre giving eight independent positions, afterwards modified as the (3) Besson compensating system transpositeur, patented in England in 1859, which was considered so successful that the See also:

idea was extensively used by other makers. (4) The Boosey automatic compensating piston, invented by D. J. Blaikley, and patented in 1878, a very ingenious See also:device whereby when two or more pistons are used simultaneously the length of the air column is automatically adjusted to the theoretical length required to ensure correct intonation. (5) Victor Mahillon's automatic regulating pistons (pistons regulateur automatique) produced about 1886, the result of independent efforts in the same direction as Blaikley, and equally ingenious and effectual? Finally we have (6) more recently the Besson enharmonic valve system (fig. 3) with three pistons and six independent tuning ' For a See also:fuller description of this system see Capt. C. R. Day, Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments (See also:London, 1891), p. 207, No. 406.

2 Id.. PP. 192-193.slides which give the seven positions independently, thus realizing in a See also:

simple effectual manner all that Sax strove to accomplish with his six pistons. The enharmonic valves give all notes theoretically true; there are in addition separate means for adjusting each of the first six lengths, for although these lengths are theoretically correct there are always certain modifying conditions connected with brass instruments which render it essential to provide means for See also:adjustment. All notes being true on this Besson cornet, they can be fingered to the greatest See also:advantage for smoothness and rapidity. (7) Rudall, See also:Carte & Co.'s cornet (fig. 4), with strictly conical bore (Klussmann's patent) throughout the open tube and additional lengths from the mouth-piece to the bell, gives a perfect intonation and is at the same time easy to See also:blow. There are no crooks to this cornet when constructed in Bb, but it may be instantaneously transposed into the key of A See also:major by means of an undetachable slide guided by a piston See also:rod. (V. M.; K.

End of Article: CORNET,

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