Sordun
The sordun is a woodwind instrument from the Renaissance . The sound is produced by a double reed that is connected to the instrument body by a bent brass tube. The wind instrument has two parallel, cylindrical bores that are drilled into a piece of wood and connected at the lower end by an arch. This means that the length of the sound tube is twice as long as the external dimensions of the instrument. The end of the sound tube is closed on the smaller instruments. The air exits through a hole on the side.
The name Sordun goes back to Italian sordone , which is derived from sordo "quiet". This means the soft sound, which is less rich in overtones than in Rankett . In his Prattica di musica (1592), Lodovico Zacconi compares the sound with that of Cornamusen . Unlike the wind capsule instruments, however, the Sordun blows into the duodecime . A tone scale can be created through 12 finger holes, which connects the lower and the overblown register. These finger holes are covered with all ten fingers as well as with the middle links of both index fingers. A button at the bottom is used to drain the moisture.
Like other instruments of the Renaissance, the sordunes form an instrument family for different voices . Michael Praetorius describes five sizes in his Syntagma musicum (Vol. 2, 1619): Cant (B 2 - G 4 ), Tenor / Alto (Es 2 - C 4 ), G-Bass (C 2 - A 3 ), F- Bass (B 1 - G 3 ) and large bass (F 1 - D 3 ).
Only four instruments in a set are preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. They are recorded in an inventory list from 1596. Unlike the instruments described by Praetorius, the mouthpiece is attached to the side. The sound tube is extended by a shortened third hole, and the instruments have six flaps which are covered by protective sleeves. There are two bass instruments (B 1 - A 3 ) and two large bass instruments (E 1 - D 3 ).
The terminology is not always clear. Even Praetorius had difficulty Sordun and dulcian to distinguish, and called despite the various types also an instrument of Dulzian- / bassoon family as "Bass Sordun". In his Harmonie universelle (1635), Marin Mersenne describes an instrument that corresponds to the Sordun, but with six finger holes with protruding sleeves that make it easier to grasp. Mersenne calls this instrument courtaut .
Web links
- Sordun - Bass Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection (English)
- Manufactory Schloss Wernsdorf: construction of historical musical instruments with pictures of tenor sordun and bass sordun
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Glossary of Renaissance Instruments: Sordun Early Music Guild of Oregon (English)
- ↑ See the figures : on the left the section from the picture on the right.
- ^ Sordino in the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) at Wikisource. See paragraph 2: “The sordun or sordoni family are often confused with the dolcians, from which, however, they differed radically. This difference was not understood by Michael Praetorius […] ”