The mute cornett, whose mouthpiece resembles that of the cornett but is integrated into the instrument, has a very soft and tender sound. For this reason it is called a mute cornett. Four such instruments that by some miracle survived the loss of the great collections of the Kassel court are now kept in Leipzig; these instruments formed the starting point for a doctoral thesis led by Lambert Colson. It is now possible to trace the entire history of these instruments, from their manufacture by great Venetian makers, their acquisition by Moritz Von Hessen (the famous patron of the young Heinrich Schutz), the names of the musicians who played them, to the music that was composed for this mysterious cousin of the cornett. This recording will use copies of historical instruments in works composed for the Kassel court, for the most part unpublished, at the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona.
