Basset-horn. Nominal pitch: F.

Ignazio Miraz
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Instrument

Basset horn

Instrument Family

Wind

Maker

Ignazio Miraz

Place Made

Southern Europe; Europe; Italy

Date Made

Circa 1830

Description

Technical description: dark maple (?) with ivory ferrules and brass keywork; Seven pieces: mouthpiece, composite barrel, body in three sections and globular bell, elbow-joint. Mouthpiece dark wood, full-length table, made for ligature, not stamped and almost certainly not original. Barrel with two flanged ivory ferrules. Upper section; the speaker has been given twin heads, the upper liner projects into the bore but the lower hole has been plugged. Tone-holes under keys are not lined. Middle section: angled (c 120°) socket with half-round ferrule; brass liner to finger-hole for R3. Lower section: all keys and finger-hole for R4 carried in fusiform swelling; keys for L4 and R0 have guides; heads of bascules carried in blocks; long keys have broad flat shanks; tone-holes of all keys except low C♮ lined with ivory (?); finger-hole has an ivory chimney. Elbow-joint bends c 90°; has two half-round ferrules. Bell globular, with axial ferrules, fixed tenon, and circular hole on left side strengthened by smaller ivory ferrule. The side hole could be closed with the knee or calf to produce B♮. L0: T; speaker. L1: T; A♮; A♭ (short-tailed). L2: T. L3: T; E♭/B♭ (in pillars). L4: C♯/G♯ (in pillars); E/B♮ and F♯/C♯ (both with curved touches). R0: Basset D♮ (curved touch); basset C♮ (straight touch). R1: T; A♮/B♮ trill (with broad flat shank); side F/C♮(in pillars). R2: T. R3: T; B♭/F♮ (in pillars). R4: T; side B♮/F♯ (in pillars); G♯/E♭. Keymount type: rings or blocks; 5 in pillars. Keyhead type: flat, square or trapezoidal. Overall size: Slant length (mouthpiece to bell) c 925. Bore: mouthpiece 14.8; upper section 14.2 - 14.5 at top, 14.4 at bottom; middle section 14.4 at bottom; lower section 16.5 at bottom. Top, middle and lower sections stamped (lyre) / "IGNAZIO / MIRAZ / UDINE / F"; barrel stamped (lyre) / "IGNAZIO / MIRAZ / F"; bell stamped "IGNAZIO / MIRAZ / F". Repair History: Barrel originally 89mm long; it appears to have been lengthened to 126mm by the addition of a piece of darker wood (cf. mouthpiece) with a half-round ribbed ivory ferrule. Extensive alterations to the barrel and speaker show that the instrument has been lengthened by some 37mm. It is likely that the five keys in pillars were added at the same time: if so, the instrument originally had only seven keys plus the two basset keys. Specific literature references: Rendall 1954, p.137; G.S. (1968) No. 194. Illustration references: Vol. 1 p.101 (2 views).

Notes

T.K. Dibley, 1992, August 1991; H. Fricke, July 2005.

Measurements

Slant length (mouthpiece to bell) c 925.

Collection

Rendall Collection; MIMEd

Accession Number

0090

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