Alto cornetto
Maker
John R. McCann
Date1998
Place MadeSandy, Utah, United States, North America
Serial No.none
SignedStamped below thumbhole: JMC (monogram)MarkingsStamped below signature: Ichthys (Christian fish symbol)
DescriptionLowest note with all tone holes closed: g, f with closed extension key.
American cherry wood, two halves, leather covered, silver ferrules, brass keywork; s-shaped; octagonal, upper section with carved diamonds; four bindings (receiver, end of diamonds, between the fingerhole triads, and at bell end), furthermore an octagonal German silver ring beneath the leather cover at the receiver end; leather impressed with longitudinal lines, cross lines at bindings, and impressed tree and double-flame ornaments. Six fingerholes, thumbhole, open-standing double-wing key with brass cover.
Reproduction of a seventeenth century s-shaped cornetto in Venetian style. Although described in inventories, few originals of this size survive. The same range could also be covered by the regular curved cornetto (with lowest note a) by lipping down the lowest note, a technique described by Michael Praetorius.
DimensionsHeight: 779 mm
Tube length: 805 mm
Bore diameter (initial, monomum): 10.5 mm, 8.7 mm
Bell diameter (internal): 33.5 mm
Thumbhole position (from receiver): 259 mm
Fingerhole position (from receiver): 300 mm, 343 mm, 387 mm, 448 mm, 492 mm, 538 mm
Keyhole position (from receiver): ca. 615 mm
Hole diameter range: 7.9-8.3 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1998 from John R. McCann, Sandy, Utah.
Published ReferencesKlaus, Sabine Katharina. Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 2: Ways to Expand the Harmonic Series (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2013), pp. 67, 254.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07328
On View
Not on view
1600 ca.
