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The mutes are based upon an eighteenth century original from a private collection in Vienna. They are hand -turned from various hardwoods: Plum, Apple , Walnut, and raise the sounding pitch by one-half tone. Their timbre ranges from quiet "nasal" when played piano/mezzo-forte, to snarling, rattling when blown forte to fortissimo. Johann Ernst Altenburg in his treatise "Trumpeters' and Kettledrummers' Art " (1795) compares the timbre to the oboe of his time, and further notes the several uses of the mute, of which here one: "To develop a good enduring embouchure through daily practice", /from Edward H. Tarr's translation, The Brass Press 1974, ISBN 0.914282-01-8). Anthony Baines describes the mute thus:..."produces a most effective sound, distant but not stifled" and "became quite popular among composers of the Baroque". ( from: Brass Instruments, Their History and Development , 1976 ISBN 0 57110600 5). Indeed from Monteverdi to Mozart there are many pieces which specify these mutes.

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