What follows is first the opening and then a link to the rest of an article I wrote in 2011 as part of the preface to the catalog of cornetti in the music instrument collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The article is a survey of the history of the cornetto through its repertoire and technique. Though the article is now fifteen years old, I feel most of it holds up quite well. I have always felt, though, that its publication in that museum catalog, however important, was only reaching a niche audience. Below you can read the first two paragraphs, which frame the subject, and then click on a link to download a pdf of the entire article if it interests you.
Far buon stromento:
A Survey of the Technique and Repertoire of the Cornetto in its Golden Age
The cornetto was always considered a difficult instrument to play. Even at its height in the late 16th century, playing it well (far buon stromento) seems to have required more effort than with other instruments. During its final phase nearly every writer who speaks of the cornetto mentions its extreme difficulty and the fact that few play it well. As an instrument of professional musicians, it thrived for more than 200 years, from the beginning of the 16thcentury to the middle of the 18th. Before 1500 it was mostly a folk instrument on the periphery of musical culture; after 1700 it was mostly a band instrument, often played badly by town musicians – a decline which lasted until well into the 19th century. Its downfall was undoubtedly related to its difficulty: once it was no longer fashionable, its technique, passed down from master to student, could not be sustained. Without a formidable technique, it was an atrocious instrument, as late descriptions make clear.[i
In what follows, we will look at the music played by these historical cornettists, the ensembles in which they played, and the techniques and musical practices which defined their set of skills. For the most part, we will examine the two hundred years during which the instrument flourished, ignoring the early history among animal horns, and the humble denouement among town musicians.
