Christopher Monk

Christopher Monk (28 December 1921, Delhi, India — 17 July 1991, Midhurst, West Sussex) was an English cornettist and serpentist, musicologist, renowned early music expert, and maker of lip-reed woodwind instruments. Monk co-founded the London Serpent Trio in 1967 and was one of the most passionate and proactive UK artists behind the mid-20th-century revival of Renaissance wind instruments and historically-informed performance. Monk read history at the University of Oxford and studied trumpet with George Eskdale (1897—1960). In 1958, Monk co-organized and prepared the first-ever modern broadcast of cornett repertoire on BBC Radio 3. Chris performed virtuoso parts in Monteverdi's Vespers staged by the Galpin Society at Cambridge in 1964, under the baton of young John Eliot Gardiner (b. 1943). Besides cornetts, Christopher Monk was particularly passionate about "serpents," or Serpentons — an obscure family of lip-reed wind instruments developed in the late Renaissance era. He extensively researched and collected different serpent varieties and co-organized conferences and gatherings for performers and researchers. Monk made his first cornett in 1955, while still working as a prep school teacher. Subsequently, he launched a "Christopher Monk Instruments" and built numerous cornetts, mute cornetts, and the complete family of serpents, as well as mouthpieces. He had several apprentices in the 1980s, including Frank Tomes (1936—2011). In 1990, Monk constructed a unique, double-sized contrabass serpent d'Église, commissioned by a private US collector, Dr. Philip Palmer from Richmond, Virginia, for the "400th Anniversary of the Serpent" celebrations organized in London on 13th July 1990. It was the first authentic replica of the original "Anaconda" bass serpent, built in 1840 by Wood Brothers and initially owned by Andrew Van Der Beek, his London's Trio bandmate, and later Douglas Yeo (ex-Boston Pops and Boston Symphony Orchestra trombonist and trumpeter); eventually, it was donated to the University of Edinburgh's Historical Musical Instruments Collection. Christopher Monk's copy was dubbed "George," as the build was consecrated on 23 April, St. George's Day in the UK, and had gargantuan dimensions, standing at 65.5" (~1.6 m) — the tallest serpent in history and the only "floor-standing" specimen. After Chris Monk died in 1991, Jeremy West took over the firm, relocating it from rural England to London, and has been director since; West employed Keith Rogers (1943—2008) and currently Nicholas Perry as his master builders.