Basset Horn in F
Simon Unglerth Slovenian
Not on view
The basset horn was a very fashionable instrument in Vienna in the last quarter of the 18th century. Mozart accentuated the unearthly sound of the instrument and used it in a very idiomatic way.
Simon Unglerth was born in 1778 and died in Laibach 14 November 1854. Between 1809 and 1813 Laibach was under French regency. As the instrument is stamped with the Habsburg Double Eagle it must have been made before 1809 or after 1813.
Five keys with diatonic extension
Overall size: 885
Bore: c-hole 15.2; f-hole 15.2.
Technical description: Boxwood with horn and brass ferrules and brass keywork. Eight pieces: mouthpiece, barrel, upper section, elbow joint, middle section for the fingers of the right hand, lower section with keys, book, and bell. Unstamped rosewood mouthpiece, grooved for cord, presumably not belonging. Keys on upper joint mounted in square wooden rings with guide lines. Levers for R0, L4, tone-hole and key for R4 mounted in a bell-shaped swelling. F♯3/C♯5 lever guided in a wooden block. Sling ring on back of lower section. Brass sleeve between lower section and book in order to strengthen the connection. Two keys on book. The oval shape of the bell indicates that the instrument had been played with the reed towards the upper lip (see Backofen, Johann Georg Heinrich, Anweisung zur Klarinette nebst einer kurzen Abhandlung über das Bassett-Horn, Leipzig 1803).
L0: T; speaker.
L1: T; throat A♮.
L2: T.
L3: T.
L4: E3/B♮4; F♯3/C♯5.
R0: D3; C3.
R1: T.
R2: T.
R3: T.
R4: T; G♯3/E♭5.
Keyhead type: flat square.
Keymount type: turned wooden rings and blocks.
Inscribed on barrel, upper section, middle section and book with Habsburg Double Eagle / "SIMON / UNGLERTH / INSTRUM.MACHER / IN LAYBACH"
Playing accessories: one reed and a short cord, not original.
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