Serpent/Octavin Duo: W.A. Mozart, 12 Duos for Two Horns, No. 8

Duo No. 8 from Mozart’s set of 12 Duos for Two Horns, K. 487/496a, performed here on octavin and serpent, in F major rather than the original C major. ---------------------------- The instruments: Octavin in B-flat. Unmarked, but probably made by Oscar Adler sometime in the first decades of the 20th century. The octavin is a single-reed instrument with a folded conical bore, vaguely in the shape of the boot joint of a bassoon. It was patented by Oscar Adler and Hermann Jordan in 1893, seemingly intended b