‘Imitate the human voice’ is a familiar exhortation to instrumentalists in the pedagogical literature of the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1584 Girolamo Dalla Casa stated that the cornett is the most excellent of all wind instruments precisely on account of its ability to imitate the human voice. But what does it mean to imitate the voice in practical terms? To what extent does the ‘vocality’ of the cornett extend beyond a simple comparison of tone quality with that of ‘a boy’s voice’ (Luigi Zenobi, c.1600) or ‘a choice eunuch’ (Roger North, 1676)? This article explores ways in which different models and understandings of vocality inform the literature and pedagogy of instrumental performance practice in the 16th and early 17th centuries. It also explores ways in which techniques connected with vocal music such as solmization and transposition practices are embodied in the design and construction of historical instruments, which often have quite different characteristics to the generic ‘modern’ cornetts more commonly played today.

中文翻译：

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称呼“选择太监”：康奈特和人声的历史模型

“模仿人类的声音”是16世纪和17世纪教育学文献中的工具论者所熟悉的一种提倡。1584年，吉罗拉莫·达拉·卡萨（Girolamo Dalla Casa）指出，由于其模仿人的声音的能力，因此，cornett是所有管乐器中最出色的。但是，实际模仿声音意味着什么？Cornett的“发声”在多大程度上超出了音质与“男孩的声音”（Luigi Zenobi，约1600年）或“选择太监”（Roger North，1676年）的简单比较？本文探讨了不同的声音模型和理解方法如何在16世纪和17世纪初为乐器演奏实践的文献和教学法提供参考。