In Principio - erat verbum

In the sixteenth century, all music, with the exception of dance music, was of vocal origin. Text expression was essential to Renaissance music and gave humankind the means to express himself.  Of all instruments, those best equiped to imitate the human voice were the wind instruments, for which they were held in high esteem. First in line for the soprano and tenor parts are the cornett and trombone respectively, but the agile and transparent sound of double reed instruments may lend themselves better to the alto and bass parts.