equisite lip tension. By means of the pistons the
compass of the cornet is thus extended from [graphic] to [graphic].

[Illustration: Real sounds for the cornet in C.

(The minims indicate the practical compass but the extension shown by
the crotchets is possible to all good players.)]

The treble clef is used in notation, and in England the music for the
cornet is usually written as sounded, but most French and German
composers score for it as for a transposing instrument; for example, the
music for the B[flat] cornet is written in a key one tone higher than
that of the composition.

The _timbre_ of the cornet lies somewhere between that of the horn and
the trumpet, having the blaring, penetrating quality of the latter
without its brilliant noble sonorousness. The great favour with which
the cornet meets is due to the facility with which it speaks, to the
little fatigue it causes, and to the simplicity of its mechanism. We
must, however, regret from the point of view of art that its success has
been so great, and that it has ended in usurping in brass bands the
place of the bugles, the tone colour of which is infinitely preferable
as a foundation for an ensemble composed entirely of brass instruments.
Even the symphonic orchestra has not been secure from its intrusion, and
the growing tendency in some orchestras, notably in France, to allow the
cornet to supersede the trumpet, to the great detriment of tone colour,
is to be deplored. The cornet used in a rich orchestral harmony is of
value for completing the chords of trumpets, or to undertake diatonic
and chromatic passages which on account of their rapidity cannot easily
be fingered by trombones or horns. The technical possibilities of the
instrument are very great, almost unrivalled in the brass wind:--notes
sustained, crescendo or diminuendo; diatonic and chromatic scale and
arpeggio passages; leaps, shakes, and in fact all kinds of musical
figures in any key, can be played with great facility on the
three-valved cornet. Double tonguing is also practicable, the
articulation with the tongue of the syllables _ti-ke_ for double, and of
_ti-ke-ti_ for triple time producing a striking staccato effect.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--B[flat] Cornet with enharmonic valves (Besson &
Co.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--B[flat] Cornet with strictly conical bore
throughout, Klussmann's patent (Rudall, Carte & Co.)]

The cornet was evolved in Germany, at the beginning of the 19th