Rackett

The rankett, also written Ranckett or racket, is a woodwind instrument of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

The Renaissancerankett

When Renaissancerankett projecting from a round wooden block of pear or maple top, a vertical turret out, the vertical double-reed sits on the. This design resembles externally the towers of the city walls of Seville. The cylindrical inner bore of the instrument is wound nine times inside the instrument so that the relatively small instruments sound in an extremely low pitch. In the game, the hands are opposite and is used not only with the fingertips, but also with deeper finger joints. The Renaissancerankett is blown directly, the approach with inflated cheeks and freely vibrating reed in the oral cavity or the use of wind capsules are not used. To relieve the lips but often does a pirouette ( pirouette ) are used. The tool is horizontal, inclined slightly downward blowing. The sound is the Renaissancerankett rougher and stronger than the dulcian or later emerging bassoon. Like most reed instruments of the Renaissance have Renaissancerankette only over a small dynamic range, Blasdruckänderungen primarily serve the intonation.

In the 20th century Renaissancerankette were reconstructed for a while, where the quantities Tenor F- d0, Basset B1- g0, Bass F1 - d0 and great bass B2 -G were built.

The Barockrankett

The Barockrankett differs significantly from Renaissancerankett. It corresponds to what relates to the tube end and the crook, a bassoon, which is strongly compressed by the inherited from Renaissancerankett inner bore. However, the internal bore is performed, in contrast to Renaissancerankett conical, wherein the cone by design has a very low slope. It is striking that the Barockrankett at the other end of the tube is blown. The " tower " now represents the end of the tube, so the bell, while the crook of the " handling " protrudes obliquely. The inner bore of the instrument is wound ten times on the inside of the instrument. Because of the Anblasrohres Barockrankett can (also tins or sausage bassoon French = cervelaf ) held vertically in the game or placed on a table. The Barockrankett is sound rougher and stronger than the baroque bassoon used at the same time. Compared to the baroque bassoon rankett has a lower range, so that (eg Pepusch ) General bass parts for the rankett can be distinguished from those for bassoon.

Since the mid-20th century Barockrankette be built again. The range of these instruments ranges from B1 -d1, that is in the range of a bassoon.

History of the Ranketts

Both Renaissancerankett and Barockrankett have only a very short history. Due to the above advantages, these handy instruments may have been very popular. At Schloss Ambras in Innsbruck, there are even two Miniaturrankette ivory. Also from Ambras Castle comes a set of five Tartölten, also referred to as Drachenschalmeyen, Ranke tablets in the shape of dragons. The Ambras instruments are issued in the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments / Vienna. The Elfenbeinrankette have a very delicate sound, described by Michael Praetorius as " even silent, almost like you bloweth by Kam". At the end of the Baroque period the rankett was replaced by the bassoon, whose softer tone was given at this time of preference.

Barockrankette be found in several museums and a considerable volume, such as in the Berlin collection of musical instruments, a built around 1700 by W. Wijne from Nijmegen.