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CROMORNE

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 486 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CROMORNE , also CRUMHORNE I (Ger. Krummhorn ; Fr. tournebout), a See also:

wind See also:instrument of See also:wood in which a cylindrical ' Crumhorne need not be regarded as a corruption of the See also:German, since the two words of which it is composed were both in use in See also:medieval See also:England. Crumb = curved ; crumbe — See also:hook, See also:bend; See also:crome = a See also:staff with a hook at the end of it. See Stratmann's See also:Middle See also:English See also:Dictionary (1891), and Halliwell, Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words (See also:London, 1881). CROMORNE 485 See also:column of See also:air is set in vibration by a See also:reed. The See also:lower extremity is turned up in a See also:half-circle, and from this peculiarity it has gained the See also:French name tournebout. The reed of the cromorne, like that of the See also:bassoon, is formed by a See also:double See also:tongue of See also:cane adapted to the small end of a conical See also:brass See also:tube or crook, the large end fitting into the See also:main See also:bore of the instrument. It presents, how-ever, this difference, that it is not, like that of the bassoon, in contact with the player's lips, but is covered by a cap pierced in the upper See also:part with a raised slit against which the performer's lips See also:rest, the air being forced through the opening into the cap and setting the reed in vibration. The reed itself is therefore not subject to the pressure of the lips. The See also:compass of the instrument is in consequence limited to the See also:simple fundamental sounds produced by the successive opening of the lateral holes. The length of the cromornes is inconsiderable in proportion to the deep sounds produced by them, which arises from the fact that these See also:instruments, like all tubes of cylindrical bore provided with reeds, have the acoustic properties of the stopped pipes of an See also:organ. That is to say, theoretically they require only half the length necessary for the open pipes of an organ or for conical tubes provided with reeds, to produce notes of the same See also:pitch.

Moreover, when, to obtain an See also:

harmonic, the column of air is divided, the cromorne will not give the See also:octave, like the See also:oboe and bassoon, but the twelfth, corresponding in this peculiarity with the See also:clarinet and all stopped pipes or bourdons. In See also:order, however, to obtain an harmonic on the cromorne, the cap would have to be discarded, for a reed only overblows to give the harmonic overtones when pressed by the lips. With the See also:ordinary See also:boring of eight lateral holes the cromorne possesses a limited compass of a ninth. Sometimes, however, deeper sounds are obtained by the addition of one or more keys. By its construction the cromorne is one of the See also:oldest wind instruments; it is evidently derived from the Gr. See also:aulos 2 and the See also:Roman See also:tibia, which likewise consisted of a simple cylindrical See also:pipe of which the air column was set in vibration, at first by a double reed, and, we have See also:reason to believe, later by a single reed (see AULOS and CLARINET). The Phrygian aulos was sometimes curved (see Tib. ii. 1. 85 Phrygio tibia curva sono; See also:Virgil, Aen. xi. 737 curva choros indixit tibia Bacchi).3 Notwithstanding the successive improvements that were introduced in the manufacture of wind instruments, the cromorne scarcely ever varied in the details of its construction. Such as we see it represented in the See also:treatise by Virdung 4 we find it again about the See also:epoch of its disappearance., The cromornes existed as a See also:complete See also:family from the 15th See also:century, consisting, according to Virdung, of four instruments; See also:Praetorius, cites five—the deep See also:bass, the bass, the See also:tenor or See also:alto, the cantus or See also:soprano and the high soprano, with compass as shown. A See also:band, or, to use the expression of Praetorius, Ones r- — ne Deep Bass. Bass.

Tenor. Soprano, High Soprano. an " accort " of cromornes comprised s deep bass, 2 bass, 3 tenor, 2 cantus, I high soprano =9. See also:

Mersenne' explains the construction of the cromorne, giving careful illustrations of the instrument with and without the cap. From him we learn that these instruments were made in England, where they were played in See also:concert in sets of four, five and six. Their See also:scheme of construction and especially the reed and cap is very similar to that of the chalumeau of the musette (see BAG-PIPE), but its timbre is by 2 See A. See also:Howard, " Aulos or Tibia," Harvard Studies, iv. (See also:Boston, 1893). a See also A. A. Howard, op. cit., " Phrygian Aulos," pp. 35-38.

' Musica getutscht and auszgezogen (See also:

Basel, 1511). , See See also:Diderot and d'See also:Alembert's Encyclopedie (See also:Paris, 1751-1780), t. 5, " Lutherie," pl. ix. 6 Organographia (Wolfenbiittel, 1618). L'Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636-1637), See also:book v. pp. s..89 and 290. Cf, " Musette," pp. 282-287 and 305. Bass Tournebout. no means so pleasant. Mersenne's cromornes have ten fingerholes, Other instruments belonging by their most important See also:character-Nos. 7 and 8 being duplicates for right and See also:left-handed players. istics of cylindrical bore and double Teed to the same family as the They were probably sometimes used, as was the See also:case with the cromorne, although the bore was somewhat differently disposed, hautbois de See also:Poitou (see BAG-PIPE) ,without the cap, when an extended compass, was required. The cromornes were in very See also:general use in See also:Europe from the 14th to the 17th century, and are to be found in illustrations of pageants, as for instance in the magnificent collection of woodcuts designed by Hans Burgmair, a See also:pupil of Albrecht Darer, representing the See also:triumph of the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian," where a bass and a tenor Krumbhorn player figure in the procession among countless other musicians.

In the See also:

inventory of the See also:wardrobe, &c., belonging to See also:Henry VIII. at See also:Westminster, made during the reign of See also:Edward VI., we find eighteen crumhornes (see See also:British Museum, Harleian MS. 1419, if. 202b and 235). The cromornes did not always See also:form an See also:orchestra by them-selves, but were also used in concert with other instruments and notably with flutes and oboes, as in municipal bands and in the private bands of princes. In 1685 the orchestra of the Neue Kirche at See also:Strassburg comprised two tournebouts or cromornes, and until the middle of the 18th century these instruments formed part of the See also:court band known as " Musique de la Grande Ecurie " in the service of the French See also:kings. They are first mentioned in the accounts for the See also:year 1662, together with the tromba-marina, although the instrument was already highly esteemed in the 16th century. In that year five players of the cromorne were enrolled among the musicians of the Grande Ecurie du Roi; 2 they received a yearly See also:salary of 120 livres, which various supplementary allowances brought up to about 330 livres. In 1729 one of the cromorne players sold his See also:appointment for 4000 francs. This was a sign of the failing popularity of the instrument. The duties of the cromorne and tromba-marina players consisted in playing in the See also:great divertissements and at court f unctions and festivals in See also:honour of royal marriages, births and thanksgivings. Cromornes have become of extreme rarity and are not to be found in all collections. The Paris See also:Conservatoire possesses one large bass cromorne of the 16th century, the Kgl.

Hochschule See also:

fur Musik,3 See also:Berlin, a set of seven, and the Ambroser Sammlung, See also:Vienna, a cromorne in Eb.4 The museum of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique at See also:Brussels has the See also:good See also:fortune to possess a complete family which is said to have belonged to the See also:duke of See also:Ferrara, See also:Alphonso II. d'See also:Este, a See also:prince who reigned from 1559 to 1597. The soprano (cantus or discant) has the same compass as above, while those of the alto, the tenor (furnished with a See also:key) and the bass are as shown. ~r- Alto. Tenor. Bass. The bass (see figure), besides having two keys, is distinguished from the others by two contrivances like small bolts, which slide in grooves and See also:close the two holes that give the lowest notes of the instrument. The use of these bolts, placed at the extremity of the tournebout and out of reach of the fingers of the instrumentalist, renders necessary the assistance of a See also:person whose See also:sole See also:mission is to attend to them during the performance. E. See also:van der Straeten 6 mentions a key belonging to a large cromorne bearing the date 1537, of which he gives a large See also:drawing. A cromorne appears in a musical See also:scene with a See also:trumpet in See also:Hermann See also:Finck's Practica Musica.8 The " Platerspil," of which Virdung gives a drawing, is only a See also:kind of cromorne. It is characterized by having, instead of a cap to See also:cover the reed, a spherical See also:receiver surrounding the reed, to which the tube for insufflation is adapted. The See also:Platerspiel is also frequently classified among bagpipes. In the Cantigas di Sante Maria,' a MS. of the 13th century preserved in the See also:Escorial, See also:Madrid, two instruments of this type are represented.

One of these has two straight, parallel pipes, slightly conical; the other is frankly conical with wide bore turned up at the end. See " Triumphzug See also:

des Kaisers Maximilian I." Beilage zum II. Band des Jahrb. der Sammlungen des Allerhbchsten Kaiserhauses (Vienna, 1884-1885), pl. 20. Explanatory See also:text and part i. in Band i. of the same publication, 1883-1884. A French edition with 135 plates was also published in Vienna by A. See also:Schmidt, and in London by J. See also:Edwards (1796). See also Dr See also:August Reissmann, Illustrierte Geschichte der deutschen Musik (See also:Leipzig, 1881), where a few of the plates are reproduced. 2 See J. Ecorcheville, " Quelques documents sur la musique de la grande ecurie du roi," Sammelband d. Intern.

Musik. Ges. Jahrg. ii., Heft 4 (1901, Leipzig, London, &c.), pp. 630-632. 8 Oskar See also:

Fleischer, Fiihrer (Berlin, 1892), p. 29, Nos. 400 to 406. For an See also:illustration see See also:Captain C. R. See also:Day, Descriptive See also:Catalogue (London, 1891), pl. iv. E. and p. 99.

Histoire de la musique aux Pays-Bas avant le XIX' siecle (Brussels, 1867-1888), vol. vii. p. 336, and description, p. 333 et seq. 8 See also:

Wittenberg, 1556; reproduced by A, Reissmann, op. cit., pp. 233 and 226. Reproduced in Riaiio's Notes on See also:Early See also:Spanish See also:Music (London, 1887), pp. 119-127.are the racket bassoon and the sourdine or sordelline. The latter was introduced into the orchestra by See also:Cavaliere in his See also:opera See also:Rap- resentazione di anima e di corpo, and is described by Giudotto8 in his edition of the See also:score as " Flauti overo due tibie all' antica the not chiamiamo sordelline," a description which tallies with what has been said above concerning the aulos and tibia. (V. M. and K.

End of Article: CROMORNE

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