Cornamuse
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Cornamuse.jpg/100px-Cornamuse.jpg)
The cornamuse is a double reed instrument dating from the Renaissance period. It is similar to the crumhorn in having a windcap over the reed and cylindrical bore. In Syntagma musicum II (1619), Michael Praetorius writes: "Die CornaMuse sind gleich aus/und nicht mit doppelten/sondern mit einer einfachen Röhre/gleich den Bassanelli" (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, kortholt and curtal. Praetorius did not include a woodcut of the cornamuse, but his depiction of the bassanello has a single bore and double reed. Another clue to its appearance is given in his description of the schryari: ("They...are nearly the same as the cornamuse in size and appearance".) Assertions by some modern writers about the cornamuse having a single reed stem from the misreading of "Röhre" (pipe, tube, duct, canal) as "Rohr" (reed).
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Cornamuse_text.jpg/220px-Cornamuse_text.jpg)
Since the paragraph by Praetorius is the only clear description of the cornamuse and no period specimen has been found, all reconstructions of the instrument rely on a certain amount of conjecture.
The name is not to be confused with cornemuse, which is the French word for bagpipes.
External links[]
- Double-reed instruments
- Early musical instruments
- Medieval music stubs
- Double-reed instrument stubs