Tarogato

The ancient version of the woodwind instrument tárogató, one of Hungary's national symbols, originates from the zurma, popularised by the Turks in the Middle Ages and modern times. This name was used synonymously with töröksip (Turkish pipe) to describe the Turkish instrument. The first known source, in which the name was written, comes from the time of the First Austrian-Turkish War, which took place in 1525-1541 and started with the Ottoman invasion of Hungary. The instrument was usually about 30-40 centimetres long, a slightly tapered body with a funnel-shaped extension, six to eight finger holes and a thumb hole.

The modern tárogató has a single reed, such as clarinet or saxophone, and consists of a cylindrical wooden (usually rosewood or boxwood) pipe with openings with flaps. Unlike the strong and sharp sound of the historical version of the instrument, the new tárogató, which has little in common with the noisy counterpart used several hundred years earlier (it was once even suggested to use the name schundafon instead of tárogató to distinguish it from the historical version of the instrument), has a relatively mild sound, while maintaining excellent acoustic properties.

This instrument can sometimes be heard when performing the Shepherd's Aria from the third act of the famous opera Tristan and Isolde by Richard Wagner – as some orchestras use it in that fragment instead of an English horn. The tárogató was also successfully used by Hungarian operetta composers. The second most outstanding (after Ferenc Lehár) composer of the silver Viennese operetta, Imre Kálmán, used it in his 1932 three-act operetta The Devil's Rider. Lehár himself used tárogató in his operetta Gypsy love together with another characteristic instrument - Hungarian cimbalom.