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SERPENT (Lat. serpens, creeping, from...

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 675 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SERPENT (See also:Lat. serpens, creeping, from serpere; cf. "reptile " from repere, Gr.4 ml-eta) , a synonym for reptile or snake (see REPTILE, and See also:SNAKES), now generally used only of dangerous varieties, or metaphorically. See also SERPENT -See also:WORSHIP below. In See also:music the serpent (Fr. serpent, Ger. Serpent, Schlangenrohr, Ital. serpentone) is an obsolete See also:bass See also:wind See also:instrument derived from the old wooden cornets (Zinken), and the progenitor of the bass-See also:horn, See also:Russian See also:bassoon and See also:ophicleide. The serpent is composed of two pieces of See also:wood, hollowed out and cut to the desired shape. They are so joined together by gluing as to See also:form a conical See also:tube of wide calibre with a See also:diameter varying from a little over See also:half an See also:inch at the crook to nearly 4 in. at the wider end. The tube is covered with See also:leather to ensure solidity. The upper extremity ends with a See also:bent See also:brass tube or crook, to which the See also:cup-shaped See also:mouthpiece is attached; the See also:lower end does not expand to form a See also:bell, a peculiarity the serpent shared with the cornets. The tube is pierced laterally with six holes, the first three of which are covered with the fingers of the right See also:hand and the others with those of the See also:left. When all the holes are thus closed the instrument will produce the following sounds, of which the first is the fundamental and the See also:rest the See also:harmonic See also:series founded thereon: ;=8 Each of the holes on being successively opened gives the same series of harmonics on a new. fundamental, thus producing a See also:chromatic See also:compass of three octaves by means of six holes only. The holes are curiously disposed along the tube for convenience in reaching them with the fingers; in consequence they are of very small diameter, and this affects the intonation and timbre of the instrument adversely.

With the application of keys to the serpent, which made it possible to See also:

place the holes approximately in the correct theoretical position, whereby the diameter of the holes was also made proportional to that of the tube, this defect was remedied and the timbre improved. The serpent was, according to See also:Abbe Lebceuf,' the outcome of experiments made on the cornon, the bass See also:cornet or Zinke, by Edme See also:Guillaume, See also:canon of See also:Auxerre, in 1590. The invention at once proved a success, and the new bass became a valuable addition to See also:church concerted music, more especially in See also:France, in spite of the serpent's harsh, unpleasant See also:tone. See also:Mersenne (1636) describes and figures the serpent of his See also:day in detail, but it was evidently unknown to See also:Praetorius (1618). During the 18th See also:century the construction of the instrument underwent many improvements, the tendency being to make the unwieldy windings more compact. At the beginning of the 19th century the open holes had been discarded, and as many as fourteen or seventeen keys disposed conveniently along the tube. See also:Gerber, in his Lexikon (1790), states that in 178o a musician of See also:Lille, named Regibo, making further experiments on the serpent, produced a bass horn, giving it the shape of the bassoon for greater portability; and Frichot, a See also:French refugee in See also:London, introduced a variant of brass which rapidly won favour under the name of " bass horn " or " basson russe " in See also:English military bands. On being introduced on the See also:continent of See also:Europe, this instrument was received into See also:general use and gave a fresh impetus to experiments with basses for military bands, which resulted first in the ophicleide (q.v.) and ultimately in the valuable invention of the See also:piston or See also:valve. Further See also:information as to the technique and construction of the serpent may be gained from See also:Joseph See also:Frohlich's excellent See also:treatise 1 See Memoire concernant l'histoire ecclesiastique et civile d'Auxerre (See also:Paris, 1848), ii. 189.on all the See also:instruments of the See also:orchestra in his day (See also:Bonn, 181I), where clear and accurate See also:practical drawings of the instruments are given. (K.

End of Article: SERPENT (Lat. serpens, creeping, from serpere; cf. "reptile " from repere, Gr.4 ml-eta)

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