krumm·horn or crum·horn  (krŭm'hôrn')  n. A wind instrument of the Renaissance with a curving tube and a double reed. [German : krumm, crooked (from Middle High German krump, krum, from Old High German krump) + Horn, horn; see alpenhorn.] |
krummhorn
(from Middle English crump: "crooked"), double-reed wind instrument that flourished between the 15th century and about 1650. It consists of a small boxwood pipe of cylindrical bore, curved upward at the lower end and pierced with finger holes like those of a recorder. Its reed is enclosed in a wooden cap with a blowing orifice in the top. The tone is reedy and nasal. Crumhorns were built in families, from great bass to sopranino, each instrument having a compass of a ninth. Their manufacture was resumed in the 20th century.
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