SAM 230
Treble cornett in G with a mouthpiece. Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente – Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Bassano (16th or 17th century)
The cornett
The model instrument originates from a castle in Italy and is now part of Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente – Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. According to doubled makers mark, it was made by the famous Bassano family in the 16th or 17th century. The instrument is relatively short and has a slender bore design, favoring the top register resonance and the original pitch of the mezzo punto instrument. This makes it likely dedicated to instrumental music. Although SAM 230 has a specifically large 3rd tone hole with severe undercutting, it is a stable and well-designed instrument. It is speculated that the mouthpiece, mounted on the cornett, may not be the original one, but in reality, it works well. On my reproduction, I replicate hand-embossed ornaments found on the original instrument.
My reproduction of SAM230
Detail on replicated hand-embossed ornaments
Original SAM230 by Bassano
from Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente – Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The mouthpiece
It is debated by Friend Robert Overton whether this mouthpiece, mounted to this day on SAM 230 cornett, is truly an original Bassano design. However, it has a perfect length for the original cornett and it also works well with the instrument. The mouthpiece was originally made of a horn. It has a shallow cup and sharp transition to the cylindrical throat with a slight backbore at the end. The shallow cup combined with an abrupt transition to the throat brings up hi-end partials. This produces a very bright and crispy timbre, which comes with a slight airy swirling hiss. There is also a comparative hypothesis on the familiarity of the ivory mouthpiece and cornett 52.96.1 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the SAM230 set.
Below you can see a spectral view on tone d2 played on my reproduction of SAM 230 in a=465hz with the SAM 230 mouthpiece. The partials in the upper mid-range (highlighted with the magenta color) a more significant compared to what we might typically see with modern mouthpieces, adding crispy and ringing quality to the timbre. Partials in the presence range (purple color) are disturbed by an airy sound characteristic of the mouthpiece.
The cornett and mouthpiece are available in original design based on measurements from the catalog Die Zinken und der Serpent der Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente, published by Kunsthistorisches museum in Vienna. For the mouthpiece, there is an option to change the design base on the request, for instance different rim widths, stem diameters, and taper. Available materials are buffalo horn and synthetic ivory – elforyn®.
If you have questions or you are interested in the cornett or the mouthpiece, I will be happy to answer.