“One of the most striking improvements recently in Early Music instrumental playing has been in the brass department”. The magazine Music & Musicians said this of the performing group His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts following a concert at the London Banqueting House in Whitehall. The Christopher Monk workshops are proud to have been at the forefront of this development since the first stages of early music’s revival on original instruments in the 1950’s.
Christopher Monk was amongst the first to make reconstructions of the cornett (or cornetto), the highly regarded virtuoso wind instrument whose top players commanded higher fees than any others in the early seventeenth century. Monk made the instrument easily available to enthusiasts by manufacturing reliable reconstructions in resin which were (and continue to be) excellent instruments for getting started. He put cornetts in the hands of the late David Munrow and, largely through Munrow’s Early Music Consort of London, the cornetto began to regain its former popularity. It is now played at amateur and professional levels across the world from New Zealand to New York, heard with increasing frequency at major music festivals and enjoys excellent and increasing representation on recordings.
Following Christopher Monk’s death in 1991, the instrument-making workshops were taken over by Jeremy West, one of the world’s leading cornett players. By then not only were the Monk workshops making cornetts, but also mute cornetts, tenor cornetts and the whole serpent family from the soprano (known affectionately as the worm) to the great bass (or anaconda), along with all their mouthpieces. The workshops were relocated from rural England to new premises in London, and in partnership with craftsman Keith Rogers, instrument manufacture continued to thrive tradition for many years.
The resin cornett, an instrument which inspired and encouraged many players to get started, was undoubtedly Christopher Monk’s most important single contribution to the world of early music. They continue to be made in the same way today and form the backbone of the workshop's output, several thousand examples being in circulation worldwide. The resin instrument is very good not only for beginners but is also good enough for professional use.
Christopher Monk is universally regarded as the impulse behind the revival of the cornett today. It is largely as a result of his work, which began in the early 1950’s, that so much cornetto playing is to be heard in concerts and recordings today. By constructing instruments in resin, based on 17th Century originals, and making them easily available as well as affordable, Christopher opened up a whole world of interest to anybody who cared to dabble. He also made instruments in wood, covering the whole family of cornetts and serpents, and these instruments were distributed worldwide; his name became synonymous with early music brass. His enthusiasm for these instruments was contagious; his influence encouraged many young players, some of whom went on to become today’s leading professionals. Following Christopher’s death in 1991, the Historic Brass Society established the Christopher Monk Prize in his memory for outstanding contribution to the field of early music brass on original instruments.
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Jeremy West ~ link to biography on this website
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Keith Rogers (1943 - 2008) was not only a superb craftsman but also had the benefit of holding a first class honours degree in music! Although a first class degree is not essential to hold down a job at the Christopher Monk workshops, it is nevertheless a useful training for getting around the multitude of problems which full-time work with curious and lesser-known instruments turns up. After a career in teaching, culminating in his position as Director of Music in two leading Northern Ireland grammar schools, Keith joined the Christopher Monk workshops in April 1992. Here, building on his skills and experience as a recorder maker, he worked in close collaboration with Jeremy West, exploring the world of cornetts and serpents, expanding his knowledge of the instruments and their peculiar ways, as well as adapting his instrument-making skills and research interests. The partnership which he formed with Jeremy in 1994 continued as the backbone of the workshop up to his death in 2008.
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Nicholas Perry is a cornett, wind and brass player as well as a highly skilled craftsman. At Christopher Monk Instruments he continues the fine work of the late Keith Rogers (see above) in making the serpents and tenor cornetts. But, in addition to this, he is irreplacemable as consultant on the design and manufacture of all the instruments, and their mouthpieces, in our catalogue. Nicholas does all the leatherwork on our cornetts as well as the brasswork on the serpents.
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Kathryn Rogers is Keith's widow and she continues to make the resin cornetts, from mixing the component chemicals through to their preparation for leathering, in our Norkolk workshops.