Being on a larger
scale, the sarrusophones are louder than the corresponding instruments
of the oboe family. There are six sarrusophones, from the sopranino in
E flat to the contra-bass in B flat; and to replace the contra-bassoon
in the orchestra there is a lower contrabass sarrusophone made in C,
the compass of which is from the double bass octave B flat to the
higher G in the bass clef.
Before leaving the double reed wind instruments, a few words should be
said of a family of instruments in the sixteenth century as important
as the schalmeys, pommers, and bombards, but long since extinct. This
was the cromorne, a wooden instrument with cylindrical column of air;
the name is considered to remain in the cremona stop of the organ. The
lower end is turned up like a shepherd's crook reversed, from whence
the French name "tournebout." Cromorne is the German "krummhorn;"
there is no English equivalent known.
The tone, as in all the reed instruments of the period, was strong and
often bleating. The double reed was inclosed in a _pirouette_, or cup,
and the keys of the tenor or bass, just the same as with similar
flutes and bombards, were hidden by a barrel-shaped cover, pierced
with small openings, apparently intended to modify the too searching
tone as well as to protect the touch pieces which moved the keys.
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