Crumhorn

[3] Three Italian terms for the instrument, apart from the equivalent cromorno,[citation needed] are storto, cornamuto torto, and piva torta.

[4] Crumhorns make a strong buzzing sound, but quieter than their conical-bore relatives the rauschpfeife and shawm.

Crumhorns are built in imitation of the vocal quartet with soprano, alto, tenor and bass as a family, as was true of most instruments of the Renaissance.

Modern instruments are pitched in C and F (Renaissance altos were usually pitched in g, continuing the distance of a fifth between sizes): There are some pieces specifying crumhorns in two manuscript sets of partbooks prepared for the Prussian court band, including an anonymous setting of "D’Andernach auff dem Reine".

Johann Hermann Schein included a Padouana für 4 Krummhörner for crumhorns in his collection Banchetto Musicale (1617), and Thomas Stoltzer wrote in a letter that he had composed his setting of Psalm 37, "Erzürne dich nicht" (1526), such that the lower six of the seven parts could be played on crumhorns.

[3] Michael Praetorius suggested the use of crumhorns in some of his sacred vocal works as a possible alternative to trombones, dulcians and other instruments.