cornetto

Updated: May 25, 2025

Strings, hautboys, and bassoons formed the groundwork of the orchestra. If distinctive colouring or sonority were required, the composer used flutes, horns, harps, and trumpets, while to gain an effect of a special nature, he would call in the assistance of lutes and mandolins, or archaic instruments such as the viola da gamba, violetta marina, cornetto and theorbo.

R. A. (Richard Alexander) Streatfeild - The Opera : A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory.