The cornet is the “soft brother” of the trumpet. It appeared in France in the 1820s — the conical bore yields a rounded, “pillowy” timbre, unlike the bright, focused voice of the trumpet.
The cornet was the favorite instrument of 19th-century wind and military bands. Much concert literature was written for it: Jean-Baptiste Arban's virtuoso variations on The Carnival of Venice. In early jazz the cornet was the leading instrument of New Orleans bands (Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, the young Louis Armstrong); in the 1920s the cornetist Bix Beiderbecke made his name on the Chicago scene. Today the cornet is most often found in brass bands and school orchestras.
