Bassanelli

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The Bassanelli was a Medieval and/or Renaissance double reed woodwind instrument which was described in 1619 by Michael Praetorius in his Syntagma Musicum thusly:

"Bassanelli derive their name from the master who created them, Johann Bassano, an illustrious Venitian musician and composer. The bore of bassanelli is straight and opens at the bottom; and these instruments only have one key. They are blown by direct contact with the reeds, exactly as are curtals, pommers, and bassets, and are nearly the same as these instruments in timbre, but much softer. The cant, which is the littlest of the bassanelli, is notably excellent to hear on the tenor part in ensembles in which all types and sets of instruments are used, for its tuning is rather accurate, and is similar to flutes in the execution of a tenor part. With good reeds, bassanelli can be made to play rather high. Like shawms, they have seven fingerholes, with a key on the lowest. In the rear, however, there is no hole to be found. They are pitched a fourth lower than chamber pitch, for their lowest size is the bass in F, but in chamber pitch this is understood as the 8 foot C."

As there are no surviving examples of bassanelli, there is some disagreement concerning its construction, i.e., cylindrical versus conical bore.

[edit] External links

• Bassanelli in Syntagma Musicum