Monk Cornetto in C

Description

Monk Cornetto in C

This Monk Cornetto in C was made by Christopher Monk from black resin and comes with a metal acorn style mouthpiece.
It is in very good condition having seen very little use since it was made some 30 years ago.

The cornett, cornetto, or zink is an early wind instrument that dates from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, popular from 1500 to 1650.

It was used in a variety of musical forms, including performances by professional musicians, state music and liturgical music. It accompanied choral music. It also featured in popular music in what are now called alta capellas or loud wind ensembles.The cornett was characterized as “loud as a trumpet and soft as a recorder. It was popular in Germany, where guild laws made it illegal for residents to play trumpets. As well, the mute cornett variant was a quiet instrument, playing “gentle, soft and sweet.”

The instrument has features of both the trumpet and the flute. Like the trumpet, the cornett has a mouthpiece or cup, where the instrument is sounded with the player’s lips. Like the flute, it has fingerholes and sometimes keys to determine pitch; pitch can also be changed on low notes by the tension of the player’s lips. The cornett was built in two styles, straight and curved. It was also built in a variety of sizes from highest cornettino downward through alto cornett, cornone tenor cornett, and bass cornett. It is not to be confused with the modern cornet. The spelling cornet which had applied to the instrument in this article since about 1400 A.D. was transferred to a brass-tubed trumpet in the early 20th century, and cornett became the modern spelling of this instrument. The most common is the curved cornett, also called treble cornett or alto cornett.