Medieval lituus

The Lituus (Latin ) is an originally Etruscan brass instrument, which was used by the Romans to the 4th century. The name comes from the Office characters Lituus, a bent rod. The instrument had a long, cone-shaped, more or less curved tube, which resulted in an upturned bell, and was made in the lost wax process of bronze. Sometimes it had a horn from an animal horn. The sound is bright and penetrating. Found using the instrument especially in the military, where it was used in the manner of a signal instrument. Other areas of use were festivities and the cult of the dead.

After Ignatz Franz Xaver Kürzinger the word denotes a trumpet or a horn. Johann Sebastian Bach's Litui in both versions ( 1736/37 or 1746/47 ) of its Motet BWV 118 O Jesu Christ, mine life light one. The use of the word Lituus in Baroque sources is uneven. It could refer to Krummhorn, shawm, hunting horn, French horn, zinc and perhaps trumpet. A research report of the Schola Cantorum Basilensis argues that we are dealing with a kind of Alphorn in Bach.