Ranges of some early music instruments

I’ve been given the following list of instruments to provide scores for playing pieces by Giovanni Gabrieli and his contemporaries. Can anyone tell me the ranges?

The comfortable range and the challenging range would be brilliant.

Cornett
Soprano shawm
Alto shawm
Alto dulcian
Tenor dulcian
Bass dulcian
Alto sackbut
Tenor sackbut
Bass sackbut

If anyone has a Dorico file set up with these instruments that would be amazing.

The conductor is not very experienced in early music but has to allocate parts to the different instruments. He can ask the players, but maybe I can guide him initially.

Thanks for the help!
Chris

Sorry, I don’t know the answer, but may I ask which sample library you plan to use for play back? I’m rekindling my interest in early music and wonder if there is something out there - thanks.

I have this one, Miroire it’s very nice I think, which is why I have it. Haven’t been needing to use it much unfortunately. I have another but can’t remember it just at the moment, (not near my computer).
There are a few around.

Rinascimento Fluffy audio is another.

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I think you hit “Solution” by mistake. Unfortunately I only asked another question.

Did I mark “Solution” somehow? If so I didn’t mean to - and can’t see how to undo it!

Thanks for the recommendations, @arco! They sound promising.

Chris, have you asked on the Facebook Historical Performance Research group? There will almost certainly be people who know the ranges of these, and if you’re lucky, there’ll be an argument about it.

Wikipedia does have a lovely image from a 1600 treatise for sackbuts:

… though A then may be B flat now…

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Thanks, Ben.
Hmmm. Facebook. I’ve never joined, and don’t think I will. But that’s another discussion!

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That gives me the opportunity to write “asking for a friend”…!

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Awesome! (I wanted to write Aw!, but it wouldn’t accept a post with fewer than 5 characters.)

@Chris_Davey you have not yet had any replies to your question. Although some (many?) of us here have tried AI, and found very disappointing results, but might this be worth a try? since it presumably references some kind of source to answer the question.
I actually tried it for your answer, but loathe to post the instrument ranges here as you can simply do it yourself.
:slight_smile: Just a (weird) idea.

Actually, there are different kinds of all these instruments around, so the conductor has to check with the players in advance in any case. Nevertheless, some instruments are commonly used. There are fingering charts on the web, so I suggest to check these. Some manufacturers are here in Germany, so it’s worth searching for “Grifftabelle” with the appropriate translation:
Cornett = Zink, Soprano shawm = Sopranschalmei (beware there is/was a modern Schalmei in use in the GDR, not to be confused with the historic one), Alto shawm = Altschalmei, Alto dulcian = Alt-Dulzian, Tenor dulcian = Tenor-Dulzian, Bass dulcian = Bass-Dulzian, Alto sackbut = Altposaune (more precise: Alt-Barockposaune), Tenor sackbut = Tenorposaune (Tenor-Barockposaune), Bass sackbut = Bassposaune (Bass-Barockposaune)

Here are some fingering charts with ranges:
https://www.moeck.com/de/blockfloeten/zubehoer-service/grifftabellen/

For sackbuts, see Sackbut - Wikipedia and https://omeka-s.grinnell.edu/s/MusicalInstruments/item/942 .The range depends on the player, as with all brass instruments

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