families,—the Zinken, and the trombe and tromboni. The Zink or cornetto had a wooden tube pierced by sounding holes, and was constructed in different sizes. The larger species was, at the close of the sixteenth century, transformed into the Serpent, which had a bell of brass. This instrument is still in use in some Italian military bands. The Zinken were extant in the hands of the "town musicians" even into the eighteenth century. Akin to them are the simple Alpine Horn and the Lur of Norway.

In the Middle Ages the trumpet was generally made of brass, and the tube was at first unbent. The principle of sliding tubes for the purpose of procuring additional tones to the natural ones of an instrument was of ancient origin. It was applied to trumpets as well as to trombones, a practice still in force in England. The obvious advantage of this device was that a complete chromatic scale could be obtained, impossible for all other brass instruments at a time when crooks and valves were unknown. The earlier name for the trombone, i.e. bass trumpet, was sackbut, but the original appellation, buccina, has been perpetuated in the German Bosaun, now Posaune.

In the sixteenth century, the tromba, synonym for clarino, trummet, together with the three genres of trombones as used by the subsequent great classicists, was already perfected as a sliding-tube instrument. Or one might include both instruments under one heading by speaking of the tromba as a treble trombone. However, in order to obtain more efficient high brass instruments, constant experiments were made. The earlier improvements had obviated the clumsy length of brass instruments by bending and rebending their tubes. Then followed the application to the brass of the finger-hole system of the wooden Zinken. Finally, in the eighteenth century, the introduction of removable crooks improved the trombe as far as quality of tone is concerned. But the highest point of evolution was arrived at early in the nineteenth century, when the perfection of the chromatic valve principle revolutionized not only the mechanism but also the manner of writing for trumpets as well as for horns and bugles.

As has been intimated above, the history of the French horn is short. There is but a slight analogy between it and the cor de chasse of the Middle Ages, an instrument that possessed but few tones. The genuine French horn made its appearance in the first half of the seventeenth century, and the stages of its development may be regarded as centennial. In the eighteenth century was added the crook principle, in the nineteenth, the valve system. These improvements were attendant upon those made upon trumpets. Like the trumpet, the "natural" horn was conducive to purity of tone, the chromatic horn to greater practicability without material loss of purity.

The family of bugles belong more properly to the subject of military bands, but a word is due to their evolution on account of the orchestral importance of one of their members—the bass tuba. The bugle-horn, also known as the sax-horn, is constructed on acoustic principles diametrically opposed to those of the trombe family in that the bore is wider and the tube shorter, whereby the principle of obtaining harmonics is reversed.

The date of Beethoven's birth signalized the first application of key mechanism to wood instruments. Simultaneously, experiments were made upon the now obsolete brass Zinken. The new instrument was called bugle à clefs, and was the forerunner of a group of different sized opheicleides, of which the lowest supplanted the sixteenth century Serpent. Subsequently the opheicleide itself was superseded by the bass tuba, a more noble instrument of the same general family.

V.

The evolution of instruments of percussion requires but brief mention. Sound-producing apparatus devoid of definite pitch belongs to the initial attempts of primitive men to assist vocal expression of emotional feeling, to accompany religious orgies, or to encourage their warriors on the march. The modern orchestra includes the best of these primitive species, transformed into perfected types of genuine artistic value, and has also drawn into requisition various instruments originating in countries that are far apart. Most commonly used are the bass-drum, the cymbals, and the triangle. The family of drums further includes the long side-drum and the small military drum. With the cymbals and triangle belong the tam-tam or Chinese gong, the Oriental and Spanish tambourine, the Spanish and Neapolitan castanets, and the Turkish crescent or bell-rattle. The use of all such instruments is, of course, the exception rather than the rule. Their mission is primarily to suggest "local" coloring or to emphasize rhythm for dancing.

Instruments of percussion possessing definite and variable pitch are represented primarily by the kettle-drums, which are constant and indispensable members of the orchestra. The early Hackbrett or dulcimer might also be classed under this heading, which further includes the various sets of bells, such as the carillon or Glockenspiel of Chinese origin, together with the Stahlspiel or Lyra, and the Xylophone.

This sketch demonstrates the fact that the early evolution of instruments went hand in hand with that of music in general and is subject to identical hypotheses. With the dawn of secular music, the development of instrumental construction and mechanism is focused upon the sixteenth century, with emphasis upon the anterior practice of employing complete homogeneous groups.

In order to cover the entire ground, this survey of the development of musical instruments has necessarily transgressed the bounds of the sixteenth century perspective. And since we are about to recontinue a critical review of the orchestra as inherited by Monteverde, it will be well to remember that in his day the only orchestral instruments in the modern sense of the word were violins and viols, harps, flutes, pommers, cornetti, trumpets, trombones. In combination with these, lutes, guitars, organs, the clavichord and the harpsichord were still employed.

(Summary on page 26.)

CHAPTER IV.
BEGINNINGS OF ORCHESTRATION.

I.

Claudio Monteverde[1] (1567-1643) is justly styled the founder of the modern orchestra; but although modern orchestral organization owes its substratum of solidity and balance of tone to him, only indirectly was he led to attain this end, for his paramount objective was artistic expression. Naturally, the employment of artistically grouped instruments appealed to him as the most flexible conveyance for expressive thought. Again, Monteverde was instinctively a dramatic writer, so that as a matter of course the histrionic efforts of the Florentine experimentalists attracted him. Finally, when Monteverde entered upon his dramatic career after having already become celebrated as a writer of madrigals and of other vocal forms, pure choral music as perfected by Palestrina and Lasso was at its zenith, and instrumentation in its elementary state was inseparable from the drama,—it being understood that the early attempts at oratorio in the