The basset horn was probably invented as a further development of the clarinet d’amore, a special form of the clarinet with a peculiarly narrow bore and pear- or ball-shaped bell. Initially, basset horns were built in the style of the cor anglais with a sickle-shaped corpus or in an angled form.

Photo: (1708) Clarinet d’’amore in F, Cramer & Son, London, c 1810

From the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments