The ensemble performing the music of the 17th century

The ensemble “Les Cornets Noirs" is made up of young musicians who came together during their studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The primary group consists of two cornets, two violins, violoncello and organ and may also, at times, include singers and other instrumentalists. The principal interest of the group is to present repertoire which features the cornet, hence the name of the ensemble. The “black cornet" gained its name due to the fact that leather was wrapped around the wooden instrument; it became a favoured solo and ensemble instrument from the middle of the sixteenth to the end of the seventeenth century, especially in Italy and Germany.

The repertoire played by “Les Cornets Noirs" is drawn largely from Italian and German composers of the seventeenth century, including Heinrich Schuetz and Claudio Monteverdi, and also music by lesser known composers such as Niccolo Corradini, Dario Castello, Johann Vierdanck and Johann Staden. The aim of the group is to present this repertoire with a lively interpretation, developed through a thorough knowledge of the important source material of that time including treatises on ornamentation, continuo playing and other performance-practise issues. The group is particularly interested - as a result of their own research – in discovering and presenting hitherto unknown repertoire from this period in order to provide a more comprehensive view of the characteristics of seventeenth century ensemble music.

“Les Cornets Noirs" were prize-winners in the ”Concours musiqua antiqua" at the Festival van Vlaanderen Bruges 2000.