Cornett

The cornett (, ) is a lip-reed wind instrument that dates from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, popular from 1500 to 1650. Although smaller and larger sizes were made in both straight and curved forms, surviving cornetts are mostly curved, built in the treble size from in length, usually described as in G. The note sounded with all finger-holes covered is A, which can be lowered a further whole tone to G by slackening the embouchure. The name ''cornett'' comes from the Italian ''cornetto'', meaning "small horn".

It was used in performances by professional musicians for both state and liturgical music, especially accompanying choral music. It also featured in popular music in ''alta capella'' or loud wind ensembles. British organologist Anthony Baines wrote that the cornett "was praised in the very terms that were to be bestowed upon the oboe [...]: it could be sounded as loud as a trumpet and as soft as a recorder, and its tone approached that of the human voice more nearly than that of any other instrument." It was popular in Germany, where trumpet-playing was restricted to professional trumpet guild members. As well, the mute cornett variant was a quiet instrument, playing "gentle, soft and sweet."

The cornett is not to be confused with the modern cornet, a valved brass instrument with a separate origin and development. The English spelling ''cornet'', which had applied to the cornett since about 1400, was in around 1836 transferred to the ''cornet à pistons'', the predecessor of the modern cornet. Subsequently, ''cornett'' became the modern English spelling of the older instrument. Provided by Wikipedia