Edit Page
↤ Back to index

Cornet French (Primary)

Corneta Spanish

Cornett German


Description:

In its quintessential form, the Cornet is a wide-scaled compound stop without breaks, containing a third-sounding rank, often of short (treble) compass. Like so many other organ stops, it has its origins in attempts to imitate another instrument, in this case the Renaissance instrument known as cornet or zink, which was blown in the manner of a brass instrument, but made of wood, and furnished with finger-holes. Early organ-builders used both reed stops and compound flue stops in their attempts to imitate the instrument. The classical stop is not related to the modern orchestral instrument called cornet (see Orchestral Cornet), although the Cornet of the theatre organ is a 4' Tuba or Trumpet. Here we will deal only with the compound flue stop. For reed forms, see Zink. There are alternate meanings for the word Corneta. The name Cornett, as a synonym for Cornet, appears only in passing in Audsley's entry for Echoflöte. It is otherwise described as a synonym for Zink.


Variants:


Examples:

Osiris contains about 600 examples of Cornet as a mixture, over a third of which have V ranks; about 120 examples of Cornett as a mixture, over a third of which have V ranks; and about 90 examples of Corneta as a mixture.

Cornet D [sic], Hoofdwerk; Vrouwkerk, Antwerpen, Belgium; Brebos 1565-67. This is the earliest known example of Cornet as a mixture. Cornet D [sic], Hoofdwerk; St. Jacobskerk, Antwerpen, Belgium; Willem 1589.
Corneta IV (8, 12, 15, 17), manual; Evora Cathedral, unknown 1562. Corneta V, Organo Mayor (right); Santa María, Montblanc, Barcelona, Spain; unknown c1700.
Cornett VI, Pedal; St. Michael, Vienna, Austria; Sieber 1714. This is the earliest known example of Cornett as a mixture. Cornett III, Manual, small organ; Dom, Freiberg, Germany; Silbermann 1718-19.
This page was last last built on June 24, 2020
Original site compiled by Edward L. Stauff. For educational use only.