The recent 2-week Lunar New Year celebration, and the fireworks, dance performances and other festivities being held to usher it in, celebrates the next in the 12-year cycle of animal zodiac signs. This year, it’s the Year of the Snake. Just like ancient Greek mythology assigns special attributes to those born under changing monthly signs, the Chinese zodiac also assigns personality attributes to its yearly representative animals. Those born in the Year of the Snake are seen as everything from charismatic to intelligent to artistic.
And all that reminded me about the snake instrument, or as it’s more commonly known, the serpent.
The serpent, which gets its name from its great resemblance to a large snake, is considered a predecessor of the tuba. Most musicologists agree that the serpent was likely invented by a French monk, Edme Guillaume, in 1590. They believe the low-pitched instrument was created to augment the sound of men’s voices, and most likely those of singing monks.
The instrument’s 6-foot “S” shape allows it to be placed close to the body of the performer, and puts the finger holes and cup-shaped mouthpiece within easy reach. I always considered the serpent to be a woodwind as it was made of wood (most often walnut). The Schubert Club, however, says: “Because the sound originates with the vibration of the player’s lips in a (metal) cup mouthpiece, the Serpent is classified as a brass instrument.”
What did the original serpent sound like? It was a low-pitched instrument meant to help fill the space (usually a church) with a fuller, richer sound. The Schubert Club describes it this way: “Played softly, it has a firm yet mellow tone color, or timbre. At medium volume, it produces a robust sound which seems to be a cross between the tuba, the bassoon, and the French horn. When played loudly it can produce unpleasant noises reminiscent of large animals in distress.”
Here is Douglas Yeo playing a serpent from the instrument collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:
What about music written specifically for the serpent? Another source says that there wasn’t much, because the serpent was usually used to just play the bass line: “There did not need to be a specific part for the serpent, since it could play any low instrument line where accompaniment existed, or the low vocal line.”
But the serpent is actually called for specifically in a number of pieces. I found that it appears in several operas and orchestral works. For example: in Berlioz’s Messe Solonnelle, and the Symphonie Fantastique, Mendelssohn’s St. Paul and Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, Verdi’s Sicilian Vespers and Wagner’s Rienzi. The serpent also appears in Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory (Battle Symphony), three3 of Haydn’s Six Field Marches for Military Band, and also in “The Derbyshire March,” one of his Three English Military Marches.
Military Marches? That’s right! Although it was designed to support male voices in church music originally, the instrument was thought to be easy enough to carry along – even on horseback – to accompany soldiers on the battlefield! In fact, it spurred a whole manufacturing industry of serpents for use in battle. The battlefield instrument became a bit smaller and more fitted to the player’s body than the church or concert hall version.
Serpents aren’t carried into battle anymore, and for that matter, are rarely heard in concert settings, but at least music collections at some major museums still have them on display. And if you are ever lucky enough to see and hear a serpent at an early music concert, maybe just close your eyes and imagine you're hearing it being played in the candlelit surroundings of an Elizabethan-era monastery.
CODA: Just sharing a few quotes from well-known musicians about the Serpent, both pro and con:
- When Handel heard the serpent for the first time: “Aye, but not the Serpent that seduced Eve.”
- Composer/musician and music historian Charles Burney: “The Serpent is not only overblown and detestably out of tune, but exactly resembling in tone that of a great hungry, or rather angry Essex calf.”
- French priest and polymath Marin Marsenne: “To accompany as many as twenty of the most powerful singers and yet play the softest chamber music with the most delicate grace notes.”
- Musicologist David Raskin: “This composer stated that the Serpent sounds like a donkey with emotional problems.”
- French composer/teacher Charles Bordes: “Ab antique Serpent libera nos, Domine (God save us from the ancient Serpent)”.
- Professor Peter Schickele (a.k.a. PDQ Bach): “It was called the serpent because it was capable of playing scales.”
