# Christopher Monk

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{{Short description|English early music specialist and instrument maker}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
thumb|upright|Christopher monk with a serpent, 1986
'''Christopher Monk''' (28 December 1921 – 17 July 1991)<ref name="Bevan_obit">{{cite news |title=Christopher Monk (Obituary) |last=Bevan |first=Clifford |author-link=Clifford Bevan |newspaper=The Times |date=20 July 1991 }}</ref> was an English [musicologist](/source/musicology), [early music](/source/early_music) specialist, performer, and [musical instrument maker](/source/musical_instrument_maker). He was prominent in the mid-20th century revival of interest in [Renaissance](/source/Renaissance) period [wind instrument](/source/wind_instrument)s, particularly the [cornett](/source/cornett) and [serpent](/source/serpent_(instrument)), and was involved in the [historically informed performance](/source/historically_informed_performance) movement.<ref name="vanderBeek_obit">{{cite news |title=Obituary: Christopher Monk |newspaper=The Independent |date=20 July 1991 |first=Andrew |last=van der Beek |url= https://www.lacock.org/people/christopher-monk |access-date=29 May 2023 |via=Lacock }}</ref>

== Education ==

Monk graduated in history from the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford), and studied [trumpet](/source/trumpet) under George Eskdale.<ref name="Bevan_obit"/>

== Career ==

While teaching in schools he constructed his first [cornett](/source/cornett) in 1955, and went on to pioneer building replicas and performing on them. He mastered the [virtuoso](/source/virtuoso) cornett parts of Italian Renaissance composer [Claudio Monteverdi](/source/Claudio_Monteverdi)'s choral work, the ''[Vespers of 1610](/source/Vespro_della_Beata_Vergine)'', which were regarded at the time as impossible to play.

In the 1960s he became interested in the [serpent](/source/serpent_(instrument)), its shape appealing to his sense of humour.<ref name="Bevan_obit"/> In 1967, he formed the London Serpent Trio, with English players Andrew van der Beek and Alan Lumsden, performing new works and historical arrangements, both serious and whimsical, throughout Europe and North America.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|p=122}} In 1968 he devised a method of making cornetts out of a wood-resin [composite material](/source/composite_material), which was considerably cheaper than carving them from wooden pieces and bonding them with leather. Thousands were made in this way, which helped to increase the interest and availability of the instruments.<ref name="vanderBeek_obit"/>{{sfn|Yeo|2021|p=87–88|loc="Monk, Christopher"}}
He set up Christopher Monk Instruments where he and instrument maker Keith Rodgers continued to manufacture cornetts, and serpents from walnut wood and leather. After his death in 1991, the workshop passed to his long-time collaborator and friend, English cornettist Jeremy West.<ref name="NoUS-1992-04">{{cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=Paul |title=Where did you get that thing? |journal=Newsletter for United Serpents |number=8 |date=April 1992 |page=4}}</ref><ref name="West_HBS_award">{{Cite web |title=Jeremy West named 2023 Christopher Monk Award winner |last=Curtis |first=Stanley |work=Historic Brass Society |date=18 June 2023 |url= https://www.historicbrass.org/news-events/recent-news/jeremy-west-named-2023-christopher-monk-award-winner |access-date=16 August 2023 }}</ref>

In 1995 the [Historic Brass Society](/source/Historic_Brass_Society) created The Christopher Monk Award in his honour, to recognize people "who have made significant and life-long contributions to study and/or performance in the field of brass history".<ref name="Monk_Award">{{Cite web |title=Christopher Monk Award |work=Historic Brass Society |url= https://www.historicbrass.org/community/awards/christopher-monk-award |access-date=16 August 2023}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite Q|Q111040769|last=Bevan |first=Clifford |author-link=Clifford Bevan |date=2000}}
* {{Cite Q|Q111040546|last=Yeo |first=Douglas |date=2021 |others=Peterson, Lennie (illustrator) |url=unset}}
{{refend}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monk, Christopher}}
Category:English musical instrument makers
Category:1921 births
Category:1991 deaths
Category:Cornett players
Category:Serpent players

{{UK-music-bio-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Christopher Monk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Monk) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Monk?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.