An Introduction to the Crumhorn Repertoire

Author(s): Bernard Thomas

Source: Early Music, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Jul., 1973), pp. 142-146
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3126062
Accessed: 22-11-2015 20:12 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Early Music.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015 20:12:40 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

An

introduction

to

the

crumhorn

repertoire

BERNARD THOMAS

There are quite a few people around today who have

bought crumhorns and learnt to play them to some
sort ofstandard, buthave difficulty in finding suitable
music, chiefly because of the limited range of the
instruments. This article aims to define the repertoire
of the crumhorn in general terms, and to try and sort
out what types of music actually might have been
played on these instruments.
It is worth pointing out, however, two important
differences between the crumhorn of the Renaissance
and the reproductions we use today, inasmuch as
they affect the repertoire. The first of these is the
actual sound of the instrument. All modern reproductions (with the possible exception of those by
Rainer Weber, which I am told are more authentic,
though I have unfortunately been unable to get hold
of any,myself) tend to produce a rather thin buzzing
sound with little resonance; this is probably due to
(a) plastic reeds, (b) very small bell flare compared to
the originals, (c) very small finger holes, and (d) a
bore that is slightly too narrow all the way down. The
originals that I have played (in Berlin and Vienna)
produce a much clearer, stronger and more resonant
sound, with much less buzzing about it - in short,
they sound like musical instruments, rather than the
failing buzzers of a sick intercom system. Thus the inadequacies of modern instruments combined with
the inability of many players to tongue smoothly
when required has led to the concept of the crumhorn as a 'funny' instrument (I have never been able
to see the joke myself). Consequently many 'early
musicians' (musicians with alarm clocks?) regard the
crumhorn as only suitable for dance music and what
one might call 16th century patter-songs like
Janequin's 'I1 estoit une fillette' (which in fact could
not have been played on crumhorns without several
alterations). An analysis of the few surviving pieces
that do specify crumhorns shows this picture to be
anachronistic to say the least: these works range
from a fairly complicated instrumental piece in basse
dansestyle to German Tenorliedand sacred works. So
it is clear that the crumhorn, if less frequently used

than other instruments, was regarded as a serious

instrument capable of playing solemn motet-like
pieces as well as dance music, and was only limited
by its range.
This brings me to the second important difference
between the renaissance crumhorn and its 20th
century counterpart- the actual pitch of the various
sizes, at least in relation to each other. It seems fairly
certain that the alto instrument (or diskant, as it
seems to have been called) was in g, not in f. Neither
Virdung nor Agricola mentions a higher instrument
in the text, and it seems fairly certain that the
standard ensemble (at least during the first half of the
16th century, and possibly considerably later)
consisted of alto in g, two tenors in c, and bass in F.
Praetorius does mention a soprano (exilient) though
it seems to have been fairly rare. On the other end of
the scale extended basses (with sliders allowing one
extra note that had to be pre-set - e.g. D or C on an
F instrument) and even extended great-basses in C
have survived: this somewhat primitive extension
system may seem strange to us, but in fact there are
many 16th century pieces in which the bass part has a
range of about an octave plus one other (lower) note,
often turning up just at the main cadences.
A predominance of the lower sizes among the
surviving instruments together with the relative
scarcity of a crumhorn that could go above a' would
suggest that some downward transposition might
have been common practice, and this is borne out by
the surviving pieces that do specify crumhorns.
Before going into this question of transposition it
might be as well to list all the pieces that are known
to be associated with the instrument:
1 Schein included a pavan 'a 4 Krumhorn' at the
end of his BanchettoMusicale of 1626.
2 A six-part madrigal Guardan almo pastore was

performed as part of a dramatic entertainment with

music by Corteccia in 1539: according to the
surviving description it was first sung, then repeated
with crumhorns doubling the voices.
3 Thomas Stolzer composed a six-part psalm

142
This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015 20:12:40 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

dichnicht,at the instruction of a royal

setting, Erzimrne
patron in 1526: a letter survives in which the
composer mentions that he has written the work with
crumhorns in mind.
4 MS 1872 of the Kongelige Biblioteket in
Copenhagen (which was in fact written for a royal
wind-band, and which specifies some other
instruments as well) contains three pieces headed
an anonymous five'Krumbhdrner':(a) T'Andernaken,
part setting of a Dutch popular tune in which all the
parts are within the range of crumhorns, (b) ich klag
den tag und alle stund for a mixture of crumhorns and

trombones (the manuscript does not indicate which

instrument should play which part), and (c) Hor
largire,probably also intended for a mixture of crumhorns and trombones also, as only three of the six
parts are within the range (crumhorns only are
mentioned in the manuscript).
5 MS 1873 from the same library (associated with
the same band as 1872) contains three motets for
which crumhorns are specified; unfortunately none
of these pieces is complete.
Apart from their intrinsic interest, there are two
important points about these pieces. One is that they
cover many different types of music - a stylized
dance, an instrumental setting of a popular tune, a
fairly elaborate six-part chanson of about 1540, a
German Tenorlied,an Italian madrigal and several
sacred pieces. This alone would be enough to dispel
the myth of the crumhorn as a comic figure. The
other point is that in several of the pieces (for
instance Ich klag den tag) a transposition down a
fourth is necessary before crumhorns can be used. I
would suggest that transposition by this interval in
order to bring music within the range of crumhorns
must have been a fairly common practice, at least
during the first half of the 16th century. Certainly
much four-part music of around 1530 works very
well this way. For a piece to fit transposed down a
fourth the ranges of the parts must be written:
superius, c'-d", tenor and contratenor, f-g', bass,
B flat to c' (with occasional optional G or F). Parts
with these ranges are normally written in the following clefs in the original:
/

superius

"v

tenor

contratenor
bass

,
b,

Normally this transposition will only work with

pieces that have B flats in them: pieces without flats,
but fairly frequent sharps (e.g. in a minor) tend to
work better down a fifth. Many chansons of the socalled 'Parisian' type work well this way. For
instance, three of the chansons published as suitable
for recorders or flutes in 1533 by Pierre Attaingnant
(for modern edition see bibliography) will fit,
Claudin's De vous servir, Vermont's Les yeulx bendez,

and Jacotin's Voyant souffrir.In fact a fairly high

proportion of the chansons of this type that have the
bass part written in the baritone clef in the original (F
on the middle line) will work quite well.
Many of the dances from the earlier Attaingnant
collections are eminently suitable for this treatment.
For instance in the Neuf basses danses deux branles . . ,

(published in a modern edition under the title Pariser

Tanzbuch) the following numbers will work
(numbering according to modern edition, different
from the original): 2, 5-7, 10, 12, 13, 18, 22, 32-35,
40, 42-49, 51. The same publisher's Second livre
(1547) contains the following numbers to which the
same applies: 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14-18, 20-22, 27, 32, 38,
45, 46. The dance collection that contains the largest
number of pieces suitable for crumhorns is Susato's
1551 book. Curiously enough the majority of the
dances in this collection are already written a fourth
lower than the pitch one would normally expect to
find them in: for instance the Bergerette D'ont vient
cela appears in d, while the galliard on the same
chanson in Attaingnant's Neuf bassesdansesas well as
most arrangements of the chanson itself are in g. It is
possible that Susato deliberately printed his dances
down a fourth with crumhorns in mind, as the fact
that his shop sign in Antwerp was the crumhorn
might suggest that he could have had a special
interest in the instrument. Not all the dances are
written in the low key, however,, and the following
dances will need the usual transposition: Entredufol,
Den IIII. ronde, Den V. ronde. Wo bistu, Den VI. ronde,
den VIII ronde. Mille ducas en vostre bource, Saltarelle.

Not all the pieces in Susato are suitable for crumhorns - the following are out of range however they
are transposed: Reprise C'est une dure despartie,
Bergerette, Danse du Roy, Lejoly boys, Mon desir, Reprise
Le cueur est bon, Reprise C'est a grant tort, Den iersten
ronde. Pourquoy, Den II ronde. Mon amy, Den III ronde,
Den hoboecken dans, Den V Allemaingne, Den VII
Allemaingne, Recoupe, Pavane Si par souffrir, 4. Gaillarde,

Galliarde11-15. All the other pieces in the collection,

thirty-nine in all, will work perfectly well on
crumhorns as written.
143

This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015 20:12:40 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Italian dance music of the 16th century is if anything more suitable for crumhorns than French:
much of it is extremely simple harmonically and
melodically. Most of the dances in Bendusi's Opera
Nova de Balli (1553) work perfectly well on the
standard ATTB combination, though in most cases
they need downward transposition by a fifth rather
than a fourth as many of them are written out in A
rather than G. A large proportion of Italian dances
in manuscript sources (for instance those in British
Museum, Royal App. 59-62, some of which turn up
in the Hessen collections of 1555) are also eminently
suitable. Unfortunately very little of this music is
available in modern editions at the moment: nine
pieces have been published in a somewhat dubious
edition for recorders (see bibliography).
In the later dance collections the number of pieces
that will work on crumhorns even if transposed
down a fourth or any other interval decreases: this is
largely because the top part tends to go up to higher
notes of the basic scale, for instance f" in the key of g,
as against the earlier dances in which the superius
very often goes up to the fifth and then down again.
In Claude Gervaise's Sixi'eme Livre, published by
Attaingnant in 1555, only ten pieces work out of a
total of 50, nos. 1, 4, 5, 9, 13, 21, 31, 32, 36, 50. In
the same arranger's Troisi'emeLivre (1557) only seven
pieces will work, nos. 5, 7, 9, 17, 18, 39, 41. In
Etienne du Tertre's Septi'eme Livre (1557) none of
the dances will respond to any transposition scheme.
Apart from the difference in the modal structure of
the melodies that I have already mentioned, an
important reason why these later pieces do not work
as do the earlier ones lies in a change in the spacing
of the parts: those of around 1530, like the chansons
of that time, tend to have two equal inner parts,
while in the later ones there is normally a gap
between these two parts (even if they are written in
the same clefs). The question of whether these midcentury dances could have been played on crumhorns depends entirely on exactly when the soprano
crumhorn appeared and on how much it was used
when it did arrive. As there is a long gap in
documentation between Agricola and Praetorius it is
impossible to say with any pretence at accuracy when
the basic ATTB family was extended upwards (or
downwards, for that matter). It seems likely that
during the second half of the 16th century the violin
family must have begun to take on an increasingly.
important role in dance music as an indoor alternative to the outdoor shawm band. There is some
documentary and iconographic evidence for this, but

it is also reflected in the music. A few of the branles

in Etienne du Tertre's Septieme Livre (1557) and some
of the pieces in Giorgio Mainerio's II Primo Libro de
Balli (1578) show signs of being particularly suitable
for strings. By the time Terpsichore(1612) appeared,
fiddlers must have had something of a monopoly in
indoor ensemble dance music: certainly all the
dances in Praetorius' collection sound well on
strings, and many are unsuitable for any other
instruments. An analysis of all the dances in this
volume reveals only a handful that could conceivably
be played on crumhorns. No suite of branles will
work complete at a single transposition, which does
rather suggest that crumhorns should not be used in
these dances at all.
With German music of the 16th century it is really
quite surprising how little there is that will work on a
crumhorn consort: in the whole repertoire of the
Tenorlied there are very few pieces in which all parts
are within the range, however they are transposed.
The only ones that do work are the very simple
homophonic pieces like Senfl's Mit Fleiss und Mi?h
(Samtliche Werken, IV, no. 19) or the same composer's
Patientiam muss ich han (IV, 64): such pieces are very
much the exception in the repertoire of the Tenorlied,
which typically has fairly lively and wide-ranging
'free' parts that set off the simple tune in the tenor.
The same problem exists with German sacred music
of the time: this too tends to be fairly elaborate
rhythmically, with frequent octave leaps that bring
the range of most parts well over a ninth. The

specificationin the IchklagdenTagsettingin Copen-

is
und posaun',
1872, 'krummhirner
hagen
extremely interesting in this context: the three parts

in this piece that are within the compass of crum-

horns are cantis-firmus parts, presumably leaving the

more elaborate 'free' parts to the trombones. This
may come as a surprise to us, as the sackbut tends to
be associated in our minds with slow-moving parts
rather than busy rhythmic writing. However, setting
aside the question of the sackbuts, the fact that we
are left with the crumhorns playing the tune is most
interesting, and suggests an important use of the
instrument. This type of instrumentation need not be
limited to German music - the six-part French
piece from the same source, Hor largire, is similar in
that the only parts that will fit on crumhorns are the
fairly simple top part and the two inner parts with
what appears to be a borrowed melody in imitation.
Incidentally it is worth mentioning that we are once
more up against the inadequacies of most modern
instruments - the thin buzzing sound of these makes

144

This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015 20:12:40 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

a poor cantusfirmus instrument, while the more

resonant, singing sound of the originals would be
perfectly satisfactory.Assuming for the moment that
one can get hold of decent instruments (or at least
doctor the over-nasal ones) one can usefully apply
this sort of instrumentation to many other pieces that
are similar to these two works, that is to other
Tenorlieder(for example those of Senfl, Hofhaimer
and Finck)- especially those in five or six parts with
more than one cantus-firmus part - and to six-part
chansons of the 1540s (for instance, those by
Gombert, Crequillon, etc.). The same applies to
sacred music of the same period that is similar in
texture and style.
To go back ,to my list of 'original crumhorn
music', itzis worth noting that the Italian madrigal
Guardan almo pastore was performed with crumhorns

doubling voices, partly because this suggests that one

is justified in performing other madrigals this way,
and partly for what it says about both the singing
styles of the time and the actual sound of the old
instruments: it is hard to imagine this combination
being effective today. In fact if one can get hold of
crumhorns that sound anything like the old ones and
singers who are capable of singing in a manner that
is compatible with these instruments, the
combination can be most effective. This can of
course be applied to church music: there is some
evidence that these instruments were used in
churches, especially in Germany.
In this article I have only been able to mention
specifically a small proportion of the music that is
suitable for crumhorns. I have to some extent
concentrated on music of the first half of the 16th
century, partly because I feel it is in many ways more
suited to the instruments, and partly because the
translation of Praetorius on the crumhorn in this
issue is fairly detailed. Rather than enlarge on late
16th century music I think it might be more useful to
summarize the conditions that make good crumhorn
music:
1 At least four parts - there are practically no
three-part pieces (apart from a few Italian songs of a
popular type) that will work on crumhorns.
2 Parts that are fairly close together: a large gap
between the top two parts in particular usually
means that a work is unsuitable for crumhorns,
because the necessary downward transposition will
either prove impossible anyway or result in a muddy
texture from the lower parts.
3 The compass of the top part, which normally
has the leading note in most 16th century music

should have the tonic note somewhere in the middle

of its range (e.g. g' when the compass is c'-d") otherwise important leading notes will be impossible (e.g.
C sharp on a C instrument).
4 Pieces with few sharps or flats and few
modulations.
5 Vocal music (and arrangements of vocal pieces
including dances) rather than idiomatic instrumental
music: most instrumental fantasies, etc., have ranges
of considerably more than a ninth. The point is that
a ninth is about the best range for the average untrained voice.
I would like to end by emphasizing that, contrary
to what certain brochures may state, the crumhorn
was not 'one of the most popular wind instruments of
the Renaissance'. It is quite clear from surviving
pictures, inventories and descriptions of particular
performances that the main wind instruments were
the cornetts and sackbuts for general purpose use
and the shawms for outdoor use. Even recorders
must have been used more often than crumhorns. I
hope I have shown that these instruments must have
been used for a fairly wide range of music, but I
would suggest *that they were played occasionally
only. The fact that the modern instruments have
increased the compass to an eleventh is a mixed
blessing, as the extra notes are usually unstable
intonationwise and hardly ever pleasant to listen to.

Bibliography
MODERN EDITIONS OF MUSIC FOR
CRUMHORNS
I. Music with originalspecificationfor crumhorns

1 Schein Pavan in BanchettoMusicale(volume 9 in the

new complete edition published by Barenreiter BA 4499)
2 Anon (MS Copenhagen 1872), T'Andernaken,
for
five crumhorns ATTBB (London Pro Musica
Edition, RB1).
3 Thomas Stolzer, Erzirne dich nicht (in volume VI
of Das Chorwerk,
published by M6seler Verlag).

4 Corteccia's madrigal Guardan almo pastore is found

in Ghisi, Feste musicali delle Firenze Medicea (14801589), 1939.

II. Modern editions of musicfor crumhornswithout original

specification
1 Moeck publish a series under the title Der

Blaserchor intended for various types of wind

instruments including crumhorns. Alternatives are
provided where notes out of the range appear, but
145

This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015 20:12:40 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

note that the range assumed is that of an eleventh soprano crumhorns are assumed to have top fu I
have been unable to get a complete list - the following five volumes have been added to:
Volume 1 Tinze des 16.Jahrhundertzu vierStimmen
(selection from Phalese's 1583 book), SATB.
Volume 2 Francesco Bendusi, Operanova de balli
(selections), SATB.
Volume 3 Pierre Attaingnant: Second livre de
Danceries(selections), SATB.
Volume 4 Pierre Attaingnant: Quart& Cinqui'esme
Livrede Danceries(selections), SATB.
Volume 5 Tidnze
des 16Jahrhunderts
zu vierStimmen
(selections from Phalkse's 1571 book), SATB.

III. Volumesof musicmentionedin thetextas beingsuitable

butnotpublishedspecifically
for crumhorns,
for them.
1 Pierre Attaingnant, PariserTanzbuch,1530 (=Neuf
bassesdancesdeux branles. . . ), for four instruments.
Two volumes (Schott, 3758-9).
2 Pierre Attaingnant, Secondlivre de Danceries,1547
(volume 9 of the series Le Pupitre published by
Heugel).
3 Claude Gervaise, Sixi'emeLivre de Danceries,1555
(London Pro Musica Edition, AD6).
4 Claude, Gervaise, Troisi'eme
Livrede Danceries,1557
(London Pro Musica Edition, AD3).
5 Etienne du Tertre, Septi'eme
Livrede Danceries,1557
(London Pro Musica Edition, AD7).
6 Tielman Susato, Het derde musyckboexken, 1551
2 London Pro Musica Edition publish a series of
(Schott, 2435-6).
music designed for various early wind instruments
7 Nine SixteenthCenturyDancesarranged for recorders
including crumhorns. The range assumed is the
from pieces in British Museum Royal App. 59-62
authentic one of a ninth, though the modern alto in
(Schott, Arch 1-2).
F is assumed. So far, apart from the T'Andernaken
8 Six SpanishDances(in fact, Italian dances from the
setting mentioned above, two other volumes have
same source as above), arranged for recorders
appeared:
(Alfred Lengnick).
RB2 SevenDoubleCanons,for four instruments or
9 Pierre Attaingnant, FourteenChansons(1533) for
voices, SATB.
four voices or recorders (London Pro Musica
RB3 Josquin des Pres, La Spagna,for five instruEdition, PC1).
ments, ATTBB.
Twofurtherarticleson the crumhorn
by David Munrow
3 Crumhorn-consort
and MichaelMorrowhave beenpromisedfor theJanuary
Anthology,volume1 (Musica Rara).
The range assumed in this collection is a tenth for
1974 issue. Theseare planned to coversurvivingoriginal
evidenceof the originalsoundsand technique,
instruments,
soprano, alto, and tenor crumhorns, but basses are
as wellas theirgeneralhistory,useand technique
expected to go up to b flat.
today.

146

This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015 20:12:40 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions