Category: Additional instruments

The lituus originated in the Etruscan civilisation, which ruled most of central Italy from about 750 BC, until it was definitively taken over by Roman culture around 700 hundred years later.

The instrument consisted of a long thin tube of thinly beaten bronze, curved at the end, almost in the shape of a ‘J.’ Numerous Etruscan tomb paintings and stone reliefs demonstrate that the lituus was often played in pair with the Etruscan cornu, in ceremonies and funerals of high ranking people. It was later adopted by the Roman army, which lead to a change in its character and use.

The instrument in the Carnyx & Co collection is modelled from a life size stucco relief in the Tomba dei Rilievi, in the Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia dating from the end of the 4th century BC. It is one of two identical instruments which were reconstructed as part of the European Music Archaeology project, designed by Peter Holmes and made by John Creed, working with John Kenny as musical consultant and Murray Campbell as musical acoustics advisor.

John Kenny has performed and recorded new music for the instrument, both as a soloist and as a duo with his son Patrick Kenny in Italy, France, Germany and the UK, combining contemporary brass techniques with the principles underlying their performances and recordings on carnyx and Loughnashade horn.

The origins of the alphorn are lost in the mists of time, but we know both from fragmentary physical evidence, iconography and resonances of oral tradition written down from the 17^th century onward that they have been played in the central mountainous region of Europe for a very long time. It is reasonable to suggest that they may be “living fossils,” the last surviving echo of an ancient culture of giant horns. The Canegrate culture (13th century BC) may represent the first migratory wave of the proto-Celtic population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through the Alpine passes, penetrated and settled in the western Po valley between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como, and Cisalpine Gaul. This was a huge region corresponding to what is now most of northern Italy. inhabited by Celts during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. It is possible that the alphorn derived from the Etruscan lituus, because of their resemblance in shape, and because of the word liti, meaning Alphorn in the dialect of Obwalden is so similar. In support of this theory, we know that the Etruscans were bronze and Iron Age masters of metalwork and metal instrument making, and that there was active trading and cultural contact between the Etruscans and Celts prior to the domination of Rome. However, it must be noted that also liti may have been borrowed from 16th-18th century writings in Latin, where the word lituus could describe various wind instruments, such as the horn, the crumhorn, or the cornett.

Traditionally the Alphorn was made in one single piece, or two parts at most, of the wood of a red pine tree. The most rustic versions of the alphorn today are found in Transylvania. They are often of an individual and unusual form, which is governed by the shape of the tree branches selected to make them. Modern Alphorns are more frequently made from the wood of a spruce or fir tree, and use a wooden cup shaped mouthpiece. They are always perfectly conical and thus produce a natural harmonic series, constructed to many different base pitches, the most common being F, G, Ab, D & C.

The instrument owned by Carnyx & Co. is bass F, four metres long, made by Albrecht Pregitzer.

The karnay is a ceremonial brass trumpet two metres long and is the national instrument of Uzbekistan. The similarity of the name, the sacred/warrior nature of the instrument, its construction in beaten metal and even the playing techniques employed seem to imply a possible connection with the carnyx family. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, a Celtic diaspora rippled far and wide, as artisans, traders and soldiers of fortune sought to escape the chaos and violence of Germanic incursion. There are representations of carnyx players as far south as the Gangetic plains of India and it is conceivable that the instrument travelled along the ancient Silk Road. The karnay has strong cultural, historical and religious connotations; before touching the instrument for the very first time, the musician should put on new clothes to symbolise the start of a new journey and a new relationship. The instrument should be cleaned and polished daily. It should never be stepped over, or stored under a table or a bed, but should be kept upright. The mouthpiece should never be placed on the ground. The karnay should be held carefully, as if it was a baby. When played, the bell of the karnay should point east, to Mecca from whence Judgement Day is to be announced. Pointing the bell to the sky is symbolic of communicating one-to-one with God, and then with the people. The instrument has particular parts: the bell (kaaba), the melon-shaped large and prominent round joint (handylyak), the first section of the body (miyencha), a small round joint (kichkina handalyak), a second body section (dahana), and a mouthpiece (tarsak).

Carnyx & Co has two specially commissioned karnay in its collection.

Like the conch, humans have adapted the body parts of animals they hunted for food and worshiped them as powerful spirits. Post glacial Europe was blanketed by dense, impenetrable forest. Human beings had a fear and respect for the beasts of the forest which is echoed in myth, story and iconography to the present day. The Carnyx & Co collection includes horns of cow and European bison.

The conch is the archetype of the whole lip reed family of instruments. When humans first walked out of Africa they hugged the courses of rivers and the margins of the sea. They were hunter-gatherers, and shellfish have always been a vital part of our diet. Shells are appreciated even today for their natural beauty, and were used early on as a currency of exchange. They have also been adopted as musical instruments in many cultures where they grow large enough to be blown, or used as amplifying and distortion devices for the voice. Such shells were exported and exchanged over vast distances in the ancient world.

The Carnyx & Co collection includes:

Lobatus gigas, commonly known as the queen conch.

Lambis lambis, or spider conch.

Labiostrombus epidromis, or swan conch

Charonia tritonis, or Triton’s trumpet