Kortholt

Instrument

kortholt being played click on image for kortholt sound (179 kb wav) 
or here for same in mp3 format

Deriving its name from kurz Holz (short wood), this instrument was the one where the reed-cap principle was applied to the cylindrical double bore to give a soft low buzzy sound. Praetorius admitted to being puzzled by the disparity in pitch between the kortholt he had seen and the equivalent size of another instrument. This was because the kortholt was a double-bore instrument. Because of this doubling back of the pipe inside the instrument, the fingering system is unusual. Similar to the krumhorn, it cannot overblow to produce an upper register.

kortholt mouth piece Musica Antiqua's collection includes a Moeck kortholt.

 

 

 

 

Additional Resources:

  • The Kortholt
  • Kortholt - from Early Music in Schools - Sounds
  • M. Praetorius: Syntagma musicum ii, iii (Wolfenbuttel, 1618/r1958)
  • M. Mersenne: Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636/r1963)
  • G. Kinsky: 'Doppelrohrblatt-Instrumente mit Windkapsel', AMw, vii (1925), 253
  • F. Lesure: 'Le Traite des instruments de musique de Pierre Trichet', AnnB, iii (1955), 368
  • B. R. Boydell: The Crumhorn and other Renaissance Windcap Instruments (Buren, 1982)

kortholt end kortholt