Serpent

The serpent belongs to the family of horns with finger holes and is played with a bowl-shaped mouthpiece. The tube, which is of considerable length, is shaped into serpent-like coils so that the player can reach the finger holes. The name of the instrument is derived from this zoomorphic design. The body of the serpent is built in several segments that are hollowed out and subsequently glued together. The surface is then covered with black leather to ensure that the connections of the segments are airtight. In the instrument shown here, the blowing-end of the tube terminates in a serpent’s head. A brass tube, to which the mouthpiece is connected, is inserted into the head. Both this tube and the present ivory mouthpiece are not original. The instrument comes from the Ambras collection which already contained several serpents in the 16th century. The instrument is first explicitly mentioned in an inventory of 1725. (rh)

Lit.: Beatrix Darmstädter: Die Zinken und der Serpent der Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente, Sammlungskataloge des Kunsthistorischen Museums, Bd. 7, Bergkirchen 2011, S. 228-234