Sordino
Encyclopedia
Sordino, with alternative forms sordono and sordun, etc., is an Italian
term somewhat promiscuously applied by various writers:
To these must also be added the surdellina or sordellina, a kind of musette invented (see bagpipe) in Naples
in the 17th century, and evidently named after class 2.
of the adjective sordo ("deaf", "dull in sound"), from Latin surdus. The alternative forms given above would have as plurals sordini, sordoni, sorduni. The French version of the word is feminine, and is sometimes used in music notation also: sourdine, plural sourdines. Other languages' versions are also feminine: Spanish has sordina, plural sordinas; Portuguese has surdina, plural surdinas.
or dampers used with stringed instruments, such as the violin
, and the dampers of the piano
and related keyboard instruments, are all well known, and described in articles for the instruments themselves. As a certain amount of misconception exists concerning the sordini (Fr. sourdines, Ger. Dämpfer),although very rare, wooden reeded mouthpeices were used from the 16th century with the trumpet
and later with the horn, they may be briefly described. It would appear that the art has almost been lost of making wooden mutes for trumpets and French horns, which should affect the timbre only, giving it a certain veiled mysterious quality similar to that of the Ions beaches or handstopped notes, but affecting the pitch not at all. We read that when it is necessary to produce this peculiar timbre on the valvehorn, as for instance in Richard Wagner
's Rheingold
, the rise of a semitone
in pitch caused by the introduction of the mute or the hand into the bell of the horn must be compensated by means of the second piston which lowers the pitch a semi-tone.
If the sordino used early in the 17th century had had this effect of raising the pitch, the fact would have been stated by such writers as Mersenne and Michael Praetorius
; it would, moreover, have rendered the mute useless with instruments on which no sort of compensation was possible. H. Domnich and J. Fröhlich, however, describe the sordino which leaves the pitch unaffected: it consisted of a hollow cone of wood or cardboard, truncated at the apex to allow the air to pass through and escape through a hole in the base. The bore of the instrument thus continued through the cone of the mute was the essential point, and the proportions to be maintained between the diameters of the two bores were also, no doubt, of importance. Domnich expressly states that it was when Hampel substituted a plug of cotton-wool (therefore solid and providing no central passage for the air) for the mute, that he found the pitch of the horn raised a semi-tone. Domnich's evidence is of value, for hidther was a horn-player contemporary with Hampel, and he himself was the intimate friend and colleague of Giovanni Punto
, Hampel's most celebrated pupil.
, is yet practically of the same pitch, which is astonishing since the bore is only double once upon itself as in the fagotto. The kort likewise is of the same size as the bass sordun, and yet in pitch it is but a tenor.
The following description of the construction and acoustic properties of the sordoni will clear up the mystery. The body consisted of a cylinder of wood in which were cut two parallel channels of narrow cylindrical bore, communicating with each other at the bottom through a bend, but not with ambient air. At the top of the cylinder was fitted a double-reed mouthpiece giving access to the column of air at one end of the bore, while the other was vented through a small hole in the side, similar to the finger-holes; in the tenor, bass and contra members of the family, the reed was attached to a curved brass crook similar to that of the fagotto. So far the description would almost apply to the dolcian also, but in the latter there is the radical difference that the bore of the channels is conical, so that it has the acoustic properties of the open pipe. The sordun, however, having a cylindrical bore, has the acoustic properties of the stopped pipe, i.e. the sound waves are twice the length of the pipe, so that to produce a sound of any given pitch, for instance for C, the bore need only be half the length, i.e. 4 ft. long. Overblowing, on the sordoni, moreover, produced as first harmonic
(the only one required for reed-blown instruments in order to produce the diatonic scale for the second octave) not the octave
, but the twelfth, or number 3 of the series. This accounts for the fact that instruments of the fagotto and dolcian type require but six or seven holes to give the diatonic scale throughout the compass, whereas the sordoni require 11 or 12 holes. Praetorius states that those figured by him have 12 open holes, and that some specimens have in addition two keys; a hole is also bored through the bottom of the instrument to allow the moisture condensed from the breath to be shaken out. The 12 holes are stopped by means of fingers and thumbs and by the ball of the hand or the fleshy underpart of the joints of the fingers.
Two sourdines belonging to the Museum of the Brussels Conservatoire, said to be facsimile
s of some instruments belonging to the emperor Maximilian I
's band, are reproduced in Captain U. R. Day's Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments (London, 1891). They differ slightly in construction from the Italian instruments described by Praetorius. The straight crook is set in the side of the instrument, almost at right angles, the top of the cylinder is surmounted by a cap, and there are but 6 open holes, the rest being covered by brass keys in wooden boxes. The pitch of these instruments lies within a semi-tone of that of the contra-bass and bass of Praetorius.
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
term somewhat promiscuously applied by various writers:
- to contrivances for damping or muting wind, string and percussion instruments (sordino);
- to a family of archaic wind instrumentWind instrumentA wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...
s blown by means of a double reed (sordone or sordun, etc.); and - to a string instrumentString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
.
To these must also be added the surdellina or sordellina, a kind of musette invented (see bagpipe) in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
in the 17th century, and evidently named after class 2.
Variant forms of the word
The primary Italian word in use in these specialised terms is a feminine noun: sordina, with plural sordine; but in international musical terminology a masculine form is much more common: sordino, with plural sordini. The Italian word is derived as a feminine diminutiveDiminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
of the adjective sordo ("deaf", "dull in sound"), from Latin surdus. The alternative forms given above would have as plurals sordini, sordoni, sorduni. The French version of the word is feminine, and is sometimes used in music notation also: sourdine, plural sourdines. Other languages' versions are also feminine: Spanish has sordina, plural sordinas; Portuguese has surdina, plural surdinas.
Dampening musical instruments
The mutesMute (music)
A mute is a device fitted to a musical instrument to alter the sound produced: by affecting the timbre, reducing the volume, or most commonly both.- Musical directions for muting :...
or dampers used with stringed instruments, such as the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, and the dampers of the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and related keyboard instruments, are all well known, and described in articles for the instruments themselves. As a certain amount of misconception exists concerning the sordini (Fr. sourdines, Ger. Dämpfer),although very rare, wooden reeded mouthpeices were used from the 16th century with the trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
and later with the horn, they may be briefly described. It would appear that the art has almost been lost of making wooden mutes for trumpets and French horns, which should affect the timbre only, giving it a certain veiled mysterious quality similar to that of the Ions beaches or handstopped notes, but affecting the pitch not at all. We read that when it is necessary to produce this peculiar timbre on the valvehorn, as for instance in Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Rheingold
Rheingold
Rheingold may refer to:* Rheingold, mystic treasure mentioned in the Nibelungenlied* Das Rheingold,a 1869 opera by Richard Wagner, based on the mystic treasure* Rheingold , 2003* Rheingold...
, the rise of a semitone
Semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....
in pitch caused by the introduction of the mute or the hand into the bell of the horn must be compensated by means of the second piston which lowers the pitch a semi-tone.
If the sordino used early in the 17th century had had this effect of raising the pitch, the fact would have been stated by such writers as Mersenne and Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...
; it would, moreover, have rendered the mute useless with instruments on which no sort of compensation was possible. H. Domnich and J. Fröhlich, however, describe the sordino which leaves the pitch unaffected: it consisted of a hollow cone of wood or cardboard, truncated at the apex to allow the air to pass through and escape through a hole in the base. The bore of the instrument thus continued through the cone of the mute was the essential point, and the proportions to be maintained between the diameters of the two bores were also, no doubt, of importance. Domnich expressly states that it was when Hampel substituted a plug of cotton-wool (therefore solid and providing no central passage for the air) for the mute, that he found the pitch of the horn raised a semi-tone. Domnich's evidence is of value, for hidther was a horn-player contemporary with Hampel, and he himself was the intimate friend and colleague of Giovanni Punto
Giovanni Punto
Giovanni Punto was a Czech horn player and a pioneer of the hand-stopping technique which allows natural horns to play a greater number of notes.He was an international celebrity in the 18th and early 19th centuries, known in London,...
, Hampel's most celebrated pupil.
Ancient instruments
The sordun or sordoni family are often confused with the dolcians (Fr. courtaud, Eng. single curtail or single curtal, Ger. Kort or Kortholt), from which, however, they differed radically. This difference was not understood by Praetorius, who acknowledges his mystification. The contra-bass sordun, he says, hardly half the length of the contra-fagottoContrabassoon
The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
, is yet practically of the same pitch, which is astonishing since the bore is only double once upon itself as in the fagotto. The kort likewise is of the same size as the bass sordun, and yet in pitch it is but a tenor.
The following description of the construction and acoustic properties of the sordoni will clear up the mystery. The body consisted of a cylinder of wood in which were cut two parallel channels of narrow cylindrical bore, communicating with each other at the bottom through a bend, but not with ambient air. At the top of the cylinder was fitted a double-reed mouthpiece giving access to the column of air at one end of the bore, while the other was vented through a small hole in the side, similar to the finger-holes; in the tenor, bass and contra members of the family, the reed was attached to a curved brass crook similar to that of the fagotto. So far the description would almost apply to the dolcian also, but in the latter there is the radical difference that the bore of the channels is conical, so that it has the acoustic properties of the open pipe. The sordun, however, having a cylindrical bore, has the acoustic properties of the stopped pipe, i.e. the sound waves are twice the length of the pipe, so that to produce a sound of any given pitch, for instance for C, the bore need only be half the length, i.e. 4 ft. long. Overblowing, on the sordoni, moreover, produced as first harmonic
Harmonic
A harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, i.e. if the fundamental frequency is f, the harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, . . . etc. The harmonics have the property that they are all periodic at the fundamental...
(the only one required for reed-blown instruments in order to produce the diatonic scale for the second octave) not the octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
, but the twelfth, or number 3 of the series. This accounts for the fact that instruments of the fagotto and dolcian type require but six or seven holes to give the diatonic scale throughout the compass, whereas the sordoni require 11 or 12 holes. Praetorius states that those figured by him have 12 open holes, and that some specimens have in addition two keys; a hole is also bored through the bottom of the instrument to allow the moisture condensed from the breath to be shaken out. The 12 holes are stopped by means of fingers and thumbs and by the ball of the hand or the fleshy underpart of the joints of the fingers.
Two sourdines belonging to the Museum of the Brussels Conservatoire, said to be facsimile
Facsimile
A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...
s of some instruments belonging to the emperor Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
's band, are reproduced in Captain U. R. Day's Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments (London, 1891). They differ slightly in construction from the Italian instruments described by Praetorius. The straight crook is set in the side of the instrument, almost at right angles, the top of the cylinder is surmounted by a cap, and there are but 6 open holes, the rest being covered by brass keys in wooden boxes. The pitch of these instruments lies within a semi-tone of that of the contra-bass and bass of Praetorius.