The cornamuse is a

double reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece and c ...

instrument dating from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

period. It is similar to the

crumhorn The crumhorn is a double reed instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance period. In modern times, particularly since the 1960s, there has been a revival of interest in early music, and crumhorns are being play ...

in having a windcap over the reed and cylindrical bore. The only evidence for the cornamuse comes from a description and a few comments by Michael Praetorius in ''Syntagma musicum'' II, published in 1619. Since the paragraph by Praetorius is the only clear description of the cornamuse and no period specimen or picture has been found, all reconstructions of the instrument rely on a certain amount of conjecture. Cornamuse text

The text in German reads "Die CornaMuse sind gleich aus/und nicht mit doppelten/sondern mit einer einfachen Röhre/gleich den Bassanelli ��aber unten zugedackt / und uff der seiten herumb etliche löcherlein / dadurch der Resonanz herausser gehet. Am klang seynd sie gar den Krumbhörnern gleich / nur dass sie stiller / lieblicher und gar sanft klingen �� (''The cornamuse are similar to/and do not have a double, but rather a single tube (bore)/like the bassanelli''.) This statement differentiates it from double bore instruments of the period like the

sordun Sordun is a family of archaic wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece se ...

kortholt The kortholt is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, used in the Renaissance period. The name comes from Low Saxon and means short (''kort'') piece of wood (''holt''). This name is mentioned in the work ''Syntagma musicum'' by Michael ...

and

curtal The dulcian is a Renaissance woodwind instrument, with a double reed and a folded conical bore. Equivalent terms include en, curtal, german: Dulzian, french: douçaine, nl, dulciaan, it, dulciana, es, bajón, and pt, baixão. The predeces ...

. Another clue to its appearance is given in Praetorius' description of the schryari: ("They...are nearly the same as the cornamuse in size and appearance".) The name is not to be confused with ''cornemuse'', which is the French word for

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

External links

Musica Antiqua Cornamuse Page

(archive) Double-reed instruments Early musical instruments {{DoubleReed-instrument-stub