Cornett

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

It was used in a variety of situations, 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. Anthony Baines notes that the cornett "[...] was praised in the very terms that were to be bestowed upon the oboe [...]: it could be sounded as loud as a trumpet and as soft as a recorder, and its tone approached that of the human voice more nearly than that of any other instrument." 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. Instrument-makers built cornetts in two styles, straight and curved. They also produced a variety of sizes from highest ''cornettino'' downward through alto cornett, ''cornone'' tenor cornett, and bass cornett. The cornett 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 (formerly known as a ''cornet à pistons'') from about 1836, and ''cornett'' became the modern spelling of the older instrument. The most common form is the ''curved cornett'', also called ''treble cornett'' or ''alto cornett''. Provided by Wikipedia