The mute cornett was an important variant of the treble

Clef

A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff...

 cornett

Cornett

The cornett, cornetto or zink is an early wind instrument, dating from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It was used in what are now called alta capellas or wind ensembles. It is not to be confused with the trumpet-like instrument cornet.-Construction:There are three basic types of...

 and it was used in compositions by European composers in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. A significant number of mute cornetts have survived and are preserved in various European museums. Modern makers of cornetts produce mute cornetts and the numbers of recordings of music featuring this instrument has increased in recent years.

Construction

Unlike the regular curved cornett

Cornett

The cornett, cornetto or zink is an early wind instrument, dating from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It was used in what are now called alta capellas or wind ensembles. It is not to be confused with the trumpet-like instrument cornet.-Construction:There are three basic types of...

, cornettino

Cornettino

The cornettino was the descant instrument of the cornetto family. Cornettini usually featured a primary scale of C or D major, with middle C or the adjacent D the pedal note of the instrument. The regular cornett was the 'treble' instrument of the family....

 and tenor cornett

Tenor cornett

The tenor cornett or lizard was a common musical instrument in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. This instrument was normally built in C and the pedal note of the majority of tenor cornetts was the C below middle C. A number of surviving instruments feature a key to secure the lowest note...

, the mute cornett is made from a single piece of wood, bored out and given finger holes. The mouthpiece

Mouthpiece (brass)

On brass instruments the mouthpiece is the part of the instrument which is placed upon the player's lips. The purpose of the mouthpiece is a resonator, which passes vibration from the lips to the column of air contained within the instrument, giving rise to the standing wave pattern of vibration in...

 is integral with the instrument and forms a smooth cup shape at the top of the instrument. The cross section of the mouthpiece shows that is closer in structure to the mouthpiece of a French horn, this fixture eliminates the slight "brassiness" of the regular cornett and imparts the characteristic timbre associated with this instrument. Mute cornetts were not covered in leather, like the other forms of cornett.

History

Like all cornetts, the mute cornett was developed from the medieval cow horn with finger holes. The mute cornett seems to have come into prominence in the 16th century, although it certainly existed in the 15th century. Lists of instrumentations in performances of music, particularly the Florentine Intermedii sometimes mention the use of mute cornetts. Lassus conducted performances of instrumental and vocal music in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, and drescriptions of these concerts mention the use of mute cornetts. We have a painting of Lassus directing his musicians and singers in Munich from a spinet and both a regular cornett and a mute cornett are clearly visible. Mute cornetts were produced by makers in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 in the 16th century and these instruments seem to have been exported to various cities in Europe.
The mute cornett was popular in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 around 1600, although the instrument was rarely specifically named by composers in their works. In Northern Europe

Northern Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...

, composers were more precise and the mute cornett was specified by 17th century composers like Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...

, Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...

 and Johann Heinrich Schmelzer

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer was an Austrian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. Almost nothing is known about his early years, but he seems to have arrived in Vienna during the 1630s, and remained composer and musician at the Habsburg court for the rest of his life...

. In the early 18th century, the mute cornett must have become an increasingly rare instrument, however, Johann Joseph Fux composed a Requiem

Requiem

A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...

 in 1720 which specified 2 mute cornetts.

Tessitura

Mute cornetts were generally built in G or F, the same as treble cornetts. However, from the experience of the author of this article, it is a little harder to coax high notes from mute cornetts and the c two ledger lines above the treble stave appears to be the highest practical note for the mute cornett. Most music for the mute cornett seems to have been written in the C soprano or C alto clefs and is generally of a slightly lower tessitura than that of the regular treble cornett. However, the mute cornett is a genuine soprano instrument and one of its primary functions appears to have been playing colla parte with the soprano voices of vocal choirs.

Pitch

Like all the members of the cornett family, mute cornetts were generally pitched around a' = 466 Hz, the so-called Chor-ton or Kornett-ton pitch, which was about one tone higher than the common pitch of other string and wind instruments in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Timbre

Praetorius described the sound of the mute cornett as "Still und lieblich" ("soft and lovely") and modern professional performers have amply demonstrated these qualities. The sound of the mute cornett is more "flute-like" than the regular cornett and far less incisive. The mute cornett's piano is very soft indeed and it may be used in consorts of soft instruments like recorders, flutes, viols and lutes. In Michael Praetorius's Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica of 1619, three mute cornetts are specified in choir I of the motet, Erhalt uns Herr bei deinen Wort, however, Praetorius suggests that the mute cornetts may be replaced by transverse flutes (i.e. "Fiffari").

Variants

Two specimens of mute cornettini have survived, however, it seems that such instruments were very rare.

Nomenclature

The mute cornett is known as the cornetto muto or cornetto sordino in Italian, stiller Zink in German and cornet muet or cornet sourdine.