Introducing the Cornett

Richard Thomas introduces us to the cornett and explains how and why it became one of the most popular instruments in Europe.
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[@mopippenger7373]

If a trumpet and an oboe had a kid...

[@Must_not_say_that]

As you say, and their second kid might be a tenor recorder!

[@ArtemioVarela]

Saxophone half-brother.

[@jimcrelm9478]

It wasn't for cornett but Bach pairs a flute with a trumpet in the Brandenburg Concerto no. 2. And it works beautifully because the trumpet was so much quieter and more mellow at that time.

[@jeffwatt3410]

Yes interesting (amusing!) observation! As the presenter says, the cornettit would sometimes play in consort with not only a SACKBUT (ancestor of the modern *trombone*) but also with SHAWMS (which were indeed ancestors of the modern OBOE).

[@DanielMasmanian]

... And didn't show it much love

[@davidhynd4435]

To Monteverdi fans this is quite a familiar sound. I discovered the music of Monteverdi at fourteen or fifteen years of age. At the risk of sounding like a nut, when listening to the 1610 Vespers alone on my bed I would imagine that I could sense what the 1600s was like, and the mournful sound of cornetts along with trombones added to that sense of ancientness. Beautiful and oddly haunting.

[@jafb67]

Me too! I fell in love with Monteverdi at 21 and would listen to the Vespers over and over again! Then discovered Poppea and Orfeo. He was so incredibly ahead of his time.

[@K1z0ku]

At 1:36 I was like "hell yeah that's Monteverdi's Orfeo"

[@KorKhan89]

Lovely instrument, and a brilliant overview! I’d also be interested about learning more about the cornett’s more anacondine cousin, the serpent.

[@tomswiftyphilo2504]

obligatory joke about having one right here than you could play with :) No but seriously, as a lower brass player I remember all of these instruments as diminutive photographs in the band room of my high school but had no idea they were still in production, however small-scale. I was just imagining what it would be like if historical movies used period instruments like this. The only one I know of that does so is Eroica, which is a music-movie. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6WkaKBpq851bZI

[@TenorCantusFirmus]

Bought and own one for my personal amusement and pleasure. Getting the sound out of it is extremely rewarding.

[@instrumentalheadquarters7062]

Finally a video on it. These videos are put together so well. And there should me a updated serpent video. Maybe a lower clatinet video

[@edumusicale6234]

0:34 animal horn 1:10 small horn 1:50 cornet 2:42 cornet types 3:09 size and pitches 3:59 Mute cornet 4:25 cornet #2 5:32 Shutz's mottet 7:02 Knupfer 7:35 Adding ornaments to a melody 8:07 De Lassus unornamented 8:44 De Lassus ornamented

[@1977ajax]

The disparaging review of the instrument in the 1930s was surely due to the fact that no bugger then knew how to play it. It is fiendishly difficult, and the beginner will at some point come to think that almost any note can be produced with almost any fingering. The lovely playing here seems simple enough - but it isn't!

[@celiahanson6789]

Beautiful instrument and love the sound. I grew up hearing this instrument and when I hear it being played it brings back many memories . My father John McCann made and sold them for years.

[@richardthomas2528]

Hi. I had two of John’s instruments and they were excellent. Also, what a nice man…very generous with his time and talent.

[@willemceuleers6041]

'Suzanne un jour' is by no means a motet, the texts being secular and in French. It is a 'chanson', out of which developped the 'canzona alle francese', in short the 'canzona'. This particular example, being based on a pre-existing texted composition and later embellished, is an early form. The next stage would have been an entirely new composition in the style of 'una canzona alla francese'. Cheerio, Willem

[@rdbchase]

Take it up with Lassus.

[@scataplaft]

Wow! The sound is incredibly powerful, organic and piercing. Simply beautiful. It does sound human at times. It also has a certain "ancestral" color to it... like something played for or by the Greek gods. Lol. It doesn't sound "rudimentary" though, but rather solid in terms of pitch and resonance. Amazing instrument!

[@Kezzeract]

That mute cornett sounds lovely 😍

[@Chompchompyerded]

I learned to play this instrument in college. In its time, it was usually played off to one side of the lips, usually to the right. You will be hard pressed to find a painting or drawing in which the player is playing it straight on like a modern trumpet. We know that this is not an artifact of the person who made the painting or drawing because where there are other "brass" instruments depicted, instruments such as the sackbutt are played straight on as their modern counterparts are today. Players who started off playing a modern brass instrument often have a difficult time learning to do it out the side of their lips, and usually give up, preferring to play it straight on like a modern brass instrument. Those of us who come to it from other instruments (I was a string player) don't have nearly the difficulty learning to do it from the side of the lips.

[@sashakindel3600]

Does it sound different played to the side?

[@Chompchompyerded]

@@sashakindel3600 It doesn't. I'm not quite sure why they did it that way, especially since they were playing the sackbutt straight on. The mouthpiece they used is a bit different from the ones you see people who play them straight on use. They call it an "acorn" mouthpiece because of the shape. It looks more like an acorn than like a bell. But whereas a baroque bow makes a world of difference, the acorn mouthpiece seems to make no difference. Here is a link to a KZbin video in which one of the players is playing the cornett with an acorn mouthpiece offset to one side, while the other is playing it straight on. The player to the left is playing it the way it was originally played, while the one on the right is playing it the way the man in the above video plays it. The piece is by Giovanni Gabrielli, and do to his antiphonic style of writing you can here them playing one at a time. If you can hear a significant difference between the two, you're ear is better than mine.

[@markbennett8683]

@@sashakindel3600 The thickness of your lips makes a difference, and how loose the lip membrane is over the muscle below. Those things change along the lip, so for some players the centre is fine, but for me the corner really helps the high notes. The structure of your teeth also makes a difference. It's all highly individual.

[@Muzikman127]

@@Chompchompyerded where's the link? I'd like to hear this :)

[@Ithirahad]

I wonder if one could add a metal bell to the end of these things and thereby make them louder, but while preserving the very beautiful and mellow tone. Apart from allegedly being very difficult to play, I don't see why they shouldn't be modernized and resurrected outright!

[@sammarrese-wheeler3308]

As a trumpet player who also plays a modern trumpet-style cornet, I'd love to know the history of how the cornet transitioned from this instrument to it's modern brass version. You can definitely hear the similarities between the two.

[@rafexrafexowski4754]

It is not actually related to the modern cornet, but somehow, though many crazy developments, is ancestral to the modern tuba. The very rare bass cornett sparked the development of the serpent, a very cornett-like bass intrument which survived to the early 19th century as the low brass instrument (as it was the only one with keys). It eventually became more brass-like (still retaining keys though) and surpassed the old serpents. It was called the ophicleide (maybe not descended, but definitely created thanks to the serpent, and thus the cornett) and it later lost its multiple keys and became the tuba that we now know.

[@evancobb2554]

Now THOSE are horns

[@ArtemioVarela]

Indeed

[@SwissOnZ]

The Cornett so incredible; it’s beautiful AF.

[@victotronics]

Great sounding instrument. Wish it were easier to play.....

[@claytonr.young-music912]

I want to hear someone play some jazz on that thing.

[@elyzsabethahne2116]

Personally, I LOVE the cornett! It looks and sounds beautiful. The sound, being softer than modern brass, doesn't hurt my ears. I do also love the French horn, but because it's louder, I have to turn down the volume when I listen to recordings of it.

[@instrumentalheadquarters7062]

I would love to see a video on the lower flutes from then. Like the damore and experimental bass flutes

[@rickmarti5036]

Very interesting. As you said it blends well with voices. I love works of Schutz which include the cornett Thank you.

[@JessHull]

I had no idea this is what a cornett looked like. I always thought it was some kind of older brass instrument, like a proto-trumpet or something.

[@nadroj9082]

The Cornett/ Zink/ cornetto is this instrument in the video. If you look up a cornet (1 t), you’ll see that trumpety looking instrument.

[@damshek]

It genuinely sounds eerily similar to a human voice. You can literally hear vowels.

[@iannoonan2117]

Fantastic introduction, overview and playing - lovely warm and expressive sound

[@smellfella3894]

It’s like an exact mix of the trumpet and the flute

[@InventorZahran]

Flumpet or Trute?

[@nothing4mepls973]

Parts of that last piece have a real Chuck Mangione vibe going on. Hearing that tune Feels So Good. Screw Shwarz, he probably thinks banjos, drums, and fiddles are "white trash" too.

[@taaank54321]

Wow! Excellent video!!! Richard is my cornett teacher. Maestro Thomas!

[@richardthomas2528]

Hi! Hope all’s well…

[@taaank54321]

@@richardthomas2528 Hi! Richard, I'm fine thank you!

[@cliffordbrown1135]

Indeed! A brilliant presentation, brilliantly played. I would like to know more about Richard Thomas. I suspect he is an orchestral or brass band virtuoso. Can he be heard on the modern instrument?

[@sonologies]

Great Instrument. Can anyone give me information about the makers of this instrument?

[@richardthomas2528]

treble cornett and mute cornett by Serge Delmas, cornettino by Paolo Fanciullacci

[@simonettab.2737]

Solo una piccola precisazione per questo ottimo video: Suzanne un jour è un madrigale e non un mottetto.

[@Mark-xv5lb]

great video & great series (just watched the theorbo one, too)

[@riley3187]

Ahhh yes, the staple of British brass band

[@JaneDoe-ci3gj]

Beautiful sound! Beautifully played!🌹

[@seanmarshall7529]

nice presentation... A hint at the prononciation of Giovanni... it is pronounced Jovanni.. no "i" In italian g followed by an o or an a is hard but if followed by an e or i becomes soft.. so the e or i is a mere indication of the fact that that g is soft.

[@Iceland874]

Does anyone sell these especially the short horns? Are there any Cornett quartets on recording? My family had a recorder quartet when I was a child. Ancient and baroque instruments have a special beauty that is so refreshing and inspiring. I wish my hands weren’t so tiny. Thank you for the video.

[@adamriley6190]

keep in mind this is an expert on ancient instruments! imagine what a beginner cornetist would sound like …

[@RTGrimmer]

Thank you, OAE, for this splendid presentation. It's sort of shocking, the hubris that one would claim in 1938, with very little historical backing/knowledge, that the cornett was a "white trash" instrument. In a vacuum of facts and lack of context, I guess it's easy to claim any old bollocks, and people mostly accept it as fact. It just goes to show that before the revival of Historical Performance Practice and the advent of musical archeology, how very little we understood about "ancient" music, and how much more we have yet to discover. It gives me a thrill to think of how our perspectives may shift toward greater love and acceptance of antique instruments in the future. Please keep up the marvelous work.

[@mickeycz]

as an "ancient music" player myself (harpsichord and violin) I find the cornett extremely beautiful in sound... will perhaps secretly acquire one and learn to play

[@marije179]

In the beginning, it sounded like an oboe-flute-trumpet mix but then it reminded me of a cup muted trumpet... Very interesting instrument to say the least!

[@williamgoughmusician]

Bravo Richard, great video

[@idraote]

1.35 the attempt at playing Monteverdi's fanfare from Orfeo was valiant but, due to the nature of the natural horn and of the piece itself, doomed. I didn't know the cornett even existed. And I must say that it is impressive for sheer beauty of sound and neatness. I'm still uncertain whether I prefer the classic or the mute one. They both sounded splendidly.

[@YTaccount907]

In romania its called TARAGOT

[@robcarter6599]

Thank you SO much. I’ve been driving myself nuts trying to find this instrument! A friend had one 15 years ago. I played it, loved it, and I always regretted not buying, cause we lost touch. Now I can try and find one!

[@MrMarcvus]

What trash that writer wrote from the 20th century! The Cornett is a beautiful instrument with so much character compared to modern orchestral brass and woodwind - they have ironed any character out of all the instruments, including temperament, to make them dull and boring! Bring back the days where instruments had actual character and temperament meant that changing key actually added colour and interest to the piece of music!

[@ericbelify]

Hello! Wonderful video, thank you for posting! I’ve seen modern cornett players (and cornett players in period illustations) play the instrument from the side of their mouth. Why is this?

[@AndyZach]

Lovely instrument. I've heard it played and I've heard the name 'cornett' but I haven't connected them before this video.

[@guessundheit6494]

9:38 - Harsh words. You'd think he was talking about the harmonica.

[@claucastaneda7894]

Excellent, but theres another instrumment that actually mimics the human voice better than any other, the duduk.

[@rvail136]

Is the base cornet any relation to the American Revolutionary Serpent? It looks similar

[@millennial8441]

What a marvellous sound!

[@HenrikBergpianorganist]

In Scandinavia cow horns with finger holes were used to call for the cows when they were out in the woods. Here's a beautiful tune: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZyVoqaVmMyIm9E

[@Lucius1958]

There was also a Finnish medieval folk instrument called the _tuohitorvi_ : somewhat closer to the cornett, with a wooden body bound with bark, and a horn bell...

[@HenrikBergpianorganist]

@@Lucius1958 We have a relative of that too in Sweden, called 'näverlur'. But it's longer and without finger holes, only playing harmonics.

[@argonwheatbelly637]

It's lovely, but I hear a distinct binding of intonation. It appears to be attuned to a particular set of modes. Are there variations in fingerhole placement to facilitate mode changes without resorting to half-holing or radical embouchure adjustments?

[@Pocketfarmer1]

So are the Corbett’s that have separate mouth pieces tuneable to other instruments?

[@johnries5593]

As I recall Arthur, Prince of Wales died long before Elizabeth I was born.

[@Must_not_say_that]

--- but then memory can play tricks with age!

[@stlev99]

What a beautifully clear sound

[@opreapetru404]

bravissimo segnor

[@itamarbar9580]

Can you please make a video on the modern cornet?

[@stephenburgess5710]

Yes Cornett

[@Major00Tom]

Tocando la corneta como si no hubiera un mañana.

[@7eis]

4:10 a man plays a 70ies baseball bat

[@Screamer-tm6ly]

Teehee

[@sewind6613]

How did you get away with that at 2:18?! Thoroughly entertaining, and wonderfully educational. Thank you.

[@earthlightsmusic2743]

How does it compare to the cornetto? A member of Convivium Musicum told me about that some years ago.

[@Iceland874]

It’s beautiful. Sadly my hands are tiny but I would love to have one.

[@robloxmaniacdanceandshake7871]

very Kool🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘...Rock-on Cornett section!!!!!...

[@the_eternal_student]

Fruit woods are hardwoods; softwoods are evergreens and coniferous.

[@РафаэлаХендрикс]

It literally blows my mind, even more so than the serpent.

[@PvcPringles]

HOL UP!!! I thought horns cant have holes like woodwinds. Either that or the reed is in the mouthpiece (probably not though).

[@yvescambefort3365]

It is a pity you do not mention the name of Serge Delmas, who most probably is the maker of the instruments you were playing.

[@FishingForLife28]

Where do I get one?!

[@gregmonks]

The cornetti resoundingly defeated my attempts play them back in my university days. The fipple (mouthpiece) was supposed to have been off-set, which was something our instructor hadn't known about. I wonder if Monk rosin copies are still being made?

[@markbennett8683]

Yes they are. Search for Jeremy West Monk Workshop.

[@richardthomas2528]

Search also Ricardo Simian 3D instruments and Jamie Savan who are both making high performance printed instruments

[@amberstreetfilms]

Nice!

[@קוראי]

I looked up midevel saxophone and got this,close enough

[@ArtemioVarela]

Kind of.

[@funguy7600]

rrrrriiiiicolaaaa

[@kidmohair8151]

remind me not to be the person sitting in front and below the cornett section... I can only imagine that it would be bit damp, in a most unsettling way

[@frankiemarrerojr7827]

00:31

[@ranonampangom2185]

Lol so it's a Shofar

[@Jesuswinsbirdofmichigan]

Another 1st for this channel! Thanks for the entertaining education. Nov12/2022✝Jesus wins.SS.

[@frankiemarrerojr7827]

:31

[@jarcau_vegan]

1:49 - Imagine _"a-la-John-Lennon"_ that you are a cow, being hunted, trapped, raised or even grown for your horns, your effort, your future breed, for the milk you'll produce for your babies, for your genetically selected tasteful and overgrown flesh, for your amusing or docile character... Now imagine all of us just going on, randomly having fun about the fact that we exploit you. Unnecessarily; just for fashion, taste, tradition, entertainment... Just because _"but you are not like us"_ and _"but we like it"._ Imagine aaall the peopleee!! 🍄 · By the way, all these timbres sound incredible!! Please, go vegan 🍀

[@the_eternal_student]

The references to the popular media and the irreverent attitude are very annoying.

[@dreamer_4937]

Glorious prominence? Hardly 😂 still sounds brash and weedy.