Baudouin Snake

Wooden snake covered with Baudouin leather Before the end of the 18th century, the name of any instrument maker making snakes was hardly ever mentioned. The snake remained in its original form described by Marin Mersenne in 1636, an S-shaped instrument with six holes, until the end of the 18th century. This form will still be very common in the 19th century, as evidenced by the many snakes made by Baudoin, a Parisian postman from the beginning of the 19th century, working in Paris, rue d'Enfer Saint-Michel, from 1824 to 1839. Many of his instruments have come down to us, some in very good condition. They all correspond to the traditional snake shape, sometimes with the addition of one to three keys. It was in the 1780s that a certain Régibo, serpent at Saint-Pierre de Lille, invented a serpent in the shape of a bassoon. This instrument will be called straight snake or Russian bassoon, a form very widely taken up in the 19th century, in particular by the maker Forveille around 1820. This form allowed a better grip for parades, and will therefore be adopted in number by military bands. Other forms of vertical snakes were invented for other particular uses, such as the cavalry snake created by Piffault in 1806, the straight snake, the Fortveille snake.