Renesaissance wind instruments with a double reed, part 2
The present article is the second part of the cycle aimed at collecting and arranging information about the Renaissance wind instruments with a double reed. The author discusses their history, structure, use, ranges, styles and secrets of their playing technique. An addition to the text are the illustrations presenting construction details and circumstances in which these instruments were used. In the previous issue of “Notes Muzyczny” Agnieszka Szwajgier presented instruments with an “open reed”, such as the shawm, rackett, dulcian or bassanello. In this part she presents instruments whose reed is protected with a so-called “cap”: crumhorn, cornamuse, kortholt or Rauschpfeife. The air is blown through a small hole in the arch of the instrument and a wooden capsule protecting the reed against damage allows it to freely vibrate. These instruments had a small tone range (within a ninth or a tenth), and the lack of contact with the reed made it impossible for performers to shape tone colour or influence the dynamics. That is why with time the instruments were no longer used and became replaced by instruments with a wider range and much greater capacities, such as baroque oboe or chalumeau. The author also touches on the issue of the compromise between the preserved proportions and size of instru- ments and the fact that modern-time performers count on comfort and convenience in playing, which entails a number of facilitations in the instruments’ construction, using plastic reeds, playing in equal temperament or having extra levers which extend the range of an instrument by a second or a third.