English Style Military Serpent with Three Keys. Christopher Monk Workshop.
The general consensus holds that the serpent was invented by Canon Edme Guilluame in Auexerre, France in 1590, though some believe it evolved from the Italian bass cornetto in the 16th Century. The instrument was usually made of wood wrapped in leather and had a brass style mouthpiece and six finger holes in two groups of three where the player’s fingers could reach. Though related to the cornetto family it does not have a hole for the player’s thumb as this could not be placed far enough from the other finger holes to be of any help. The serpent was originally used as a church instrument to reinforce choirs of monks as they sang plainchant., and it was not in common use as an ensemble instrument until the 18th Century when it was sometimes added to military wind bands. In the mid-19th Century it made appearances in some early Romantic works, including Rienzi by Wagner.
As was the case for most of the brass instruments in the 18th and 19th Centuries, makers constantly sought means to make the instruments able to play successfully in more keys and to deal with the increasing harmonic complexity of music as the 19th Century approached. For the serpent this meant adding keys. The instrument pictured is a copy of a 19th Century English military serpent by F. Pretty. It is typical of English military serpents, being more compactly folded, reinforced with brass stays and with a brass bell garland. It was built by the Christopher Monk Workshop, founded by pioneering serpentist and instrument builder Christopher Monk.
In the 19th Century serpents with keys were sometimes folded with two parallel pipes like a bassoon, producing an instrument which was not far from the ophicleide, the next branch of the low brass family tree. The intriguing serpent has never entirely died out, however. In the 20th Century it appeared in film scores by Bernard Hermann and some episodes of the British science-fiction series, Doctor Who. Inquisitive modern performers still explore the unique sound of this instrument. For examples of modern performers who specialize in the serpent and to obtain their recordings, go to;
www. michel-godard.fr
www. Yeodoug.com