Here is something different for those who want something different. I never know what I’m going to find in my in-basket. This is a French musette de cour, popular with French aristocrats from 1620 to about 1760. This particular Musette has a double chanter, which appeared around 1670. Some believe the musette to be the forerunner of the Northumbrian pipes. Apparently they are tremendously complicated to play. Double-reeds were inserted into the canister and tuned by means of the slides. The chanter also contained a double-reed. The musette was an instrument of the French aristocracy and generally constructed of the finest materials from around the globe. This particular instrument is constructed almost entirely of ivory. Following the French Revolution the instrument more or less vanished, only to be revised in more recent times.
As this is well outside of my realm of knowledge, I passed this on to those more knowledgeable. I did search out a few youtube video’s just to get a sense of the sound and music. Very interesting.
