Fanfares and Finesse

A Performer's Guide to Trumpet History and Literature

Elisa Koehler

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780253011855
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

"A concise guide linking the history of trumpet to performance... includes information on band music, bugle calls, orchestral repertoire, and jazz." — American Reference Books Annual Unlike the violin, which has flourished largely unchanged for close to four centuries, the trumpet has endured numerous changes in design and social status from the battlefield to the bandstand and ultimately to the concert hall. This colorful past is reflected in the arsenal of instruments a classical trumpeter employs during a performance, sometimes using no fewer than five in different keys and configurations to accurately reproduce music from the past. With the rise in historically inspired performances comes the necessity for trumpeters to know more about their instrument's heritage, its repertoire, and different performance practices for old music on new and period-specific instruments. More than just a history of the trumpet, this essential reference book is a comprehensive guide for musicians who bring that musical history to life. "A compendium of trumpet history with short, fact-filled chapters. It will serve both amateur and professional musicians alike, and few could read this text without learning something. Fanfares and Finesse is a thorough sampling of trumpet topics, including something of interest for every trumpet player, brass enthusiast, or curious reader." — Pan Pipes "Trumpet players in a wide variety of situations and at many levels will find a great deal of useful information, presented in a clear, engaging, reader-friendly way yet backed by solid research. While some topics are covered in more depth than others, Koehler's breadth of vision and thoroughness are commendable... For all trumpeters and anyone who teaches them." — Choice

1 Fanfares and Finesse: An Introduction

Few instruments have endured the lengthy evolution of the trumpet. The violin has remained essentially the same since the seventeenth century, as has the piano since the middle of the nineteenth. Even the flute and the clarinet have enjoyed a relatively stable existence for the past two hundred years. However, the trumpet, in its current form, was not standardized until the middle of the twentieth century. Before that time, composers scored their music for a colorful menagerie of different trumpets of all sizes—with or without valves—as well as trumpetlike instruments (the keyed bugle, the cornet, the flugelhorn) and downright imposters (the cornett, or cornetto) (figure 1.1).

In other words, when trumpeters perform any music written before 1930, they need to realize that the composer possibly had an instrument in mind that was radically different from our familiar valved trumpet in B-flat or C. Thus, trumpeters today are forced to transpose, translate, and otherwise decode the music they perform, and this book is designed to help. This is not a history of the trumpet but rather a guidebook for those who have to put that history into practice. It is also intended to introduce techniques and issues related to playing period instruments for those who may be interested in trying them out. Playing the natural trumpet is a revelatory experience that changes the way modern trumpeters approach their instrument as well as the music composed for it.

The trumpet has always enjoyed a prominent position by virtue of its regal associations and demanding presence, but in terms of repertoire, there are notable gaps. For example, no major composer wrote a concerto for the trumpet after Joseph Haydn in 1796. Of course, Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s delightful concerto was written seven years after Haydn’s, but nobody would accuse him of being a major composer today. Also, the keyed trumpet, for which both concerti were written, was considered something of a novelty.¹ It is useful to reflect on the solo brass writing of Hummel’s teacher, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, to shed some light on this situation.

Mozart’s favorite brass instrument was undoubtedly the horn. He favored the horn with four major concerti and several fine chamber compositions. One of Mozart’s best friends was a horn player, Joseph Leutgeb, for whom he wrote most of his major horn works.² The natural horn, playable chromatically with hand-stopping technique at softer volumes, was the most versatile brass instrument in the late eighteenth century. Although Mozart inserted a buglelike posthorn solo in the trio of the second minuet of his Serenade in D, K. 320 (1779), he did not write any significant melodic parts for the trumpet in his operas, symphonies, or other genres. When Mozart rescored Handel’s Messiah for a German-language performance in 1789 (K. 572), he gave most of Handel’s trumpet solo for “The Trumpet Shall Sound” to the horn and shortened the aria considerably. And in his Requiem, K. 626, he scored a similar text, “Tuba Mirum Spargens Sonum” (The trumpet will send its wondrous sound), with a famous obbligato solo for tenor trombone.³

FIGURE 1.1. Just a few of the instruments that trumpeters must impersonate on modern equipment. From left: natural trumpet in D (eighteenth century, Baroque pitch: A4 = 415 Hz, by Frank Tomes), natural trumpet in D (early nineteenth century, Classical pitch: A4 = 430 Hz, by Richard Seraphinoff), and a cornet in B-flat (late nineteenth century, Old Philharmonic pitch: A4 = 452Hz, by William Seefeldt). A cornett, or cornetto (seventeenth century, A4 = 466 Hz, by John McCann), appears below. All of the instruments are modern reproductions based on historic models with the exception of the Seefeldt cornet, which is a genuine antique (ca. 1890). All photos are by Elisa Koehler of instruments in the author’s private collection unless otherwise indicated.

While it is true that Mozart wrote a trumpet concerto at the age of twelve (K. 47c), the manuscript is lost and the only evidence of its existence is a reference in one of his father’s letters from November 1768.⁴ The work was originally performed at the dedication of the Waisenhaus (Orphanage) Church in Rennweg, Vienna, on December 7, 1768, along with Mozart’s Missa Solemnis in C Minor (Waisenhausmesse), K. 139 (47a). Two divertimenti for five trumpets, two flutes, and timpani (K. 187 and K. 188) originally attributed to Mozart have now been shown to be spurious.⁵ These two outdoor works were most likely arranged by Mozart’s father, Leopold, from dance movements by Starzer and Gluck. Leopold also included a two-movement trumpet concerto in his Serenade in D Major in 1762;⁶ however, he did not pass on his fondness for the trumpet to his son.

Unfortunately, the rumors that Mozart disliked the trumpet are true. Documentary evidence shows that Mozart was extremely sensitive to loud sounds as a child and had a morbid fear of the trumpet.⁷ A family friend, the Salzburg court trumpeter Johann Andreas Schachtner, tells the story:

Until he was almost nine he was terribly afraid of the trumpet when it was blown alone, without other music. Merely to hold a trumpet in front of him was like aiming a pistol at his heart.… Papa wanted me to cure him of this childish fear and once told me to blow [the trumpet] at him despite his reluctance, but my God! I should not have been persuaded to do it; Wolfgangerl scarcely heard the blaring sound when he grew pale and began to collapse, and if I had continued he would surely have suffered a convulsion.⁸

Hardly a myth, this episode from Schachtner’s 1792 reminiscences of Mozart’s childhood appears in several sources. Little Wolfgang’s acute sensitivity to poor intonation also diminished his view of the trumpet after he experienced some bad performances.⁹ Later in life, Mozart’s affinity for warm sounds and dark instrumental colors—especially the viola, horn, and clarinet—further confirms his disregard for the trumpet, especially when it was played stridently and out of tune.

Mozart eventually overcame his fear of the trumpet and forgave Schachtner (also a poet who played violin and cello), who revised the libretto for Mozart’s first opera, Bastien und Bastienne, K. 50 (46b), and wrote the text for the Singspiel Zaide, K. 344 (336b).¹⁰ And it also might have been Schachtner (or his teacher Johann Caspar Köstler) who premiered Leopold Mozart’s trumpet concerto.

This episode demonstrates several pertinent points. Intonation was noticeably problematic on the natural trumpet in the late eighteenth century, and court trumpeters like Schachtner were often versatile musicians who played several different instruments. More important, following the heyday of the great Baroque trumpet soloists, tastes changed, skills declined, and perceived imperfections in trumpet design consigned it to the back of the orchestra.

Although several developments in the nineteenth century improved the chromatic capability of the trumpet with keys and valves of various types, issues regarding uneven tone quality and intonation plagued the trumpet and hindered its acceptance into more exalted artistic circles. As is shown in later chapters, cultural factors persistently denied the trumpet and the cornet wider acceptance in the late nineteenth century, when they were much improved instruments. At that time, the cornet was associated with cheap entertainment, rightly or wrongly, and its warm, buttery tone was deemed a less virile substitute for the noble sound of the natural trumpet or the larger valve trumpet in an orchestra.¹¹

Trumpeters should understand their instrument’s history and cultural associations because those factors shaped their repertoire for two hundred years. For example, because the cornet was popular in Paris in the middle of the nineteenth century, it found its way into the orchestral works of Berlioz, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, and even Stravinsky. It also explains why the natural trumpets with which the cornets were paired were pitched in different keys; the cornet could play all of the chromatic pitches, while the natural trumpet was restricted to the harmonic overtone series in only one key. Although parts for these different instruments are often performed on homogeneous modern trumpets in contemporary orchestras, the original instruments sounded quite different from each other.

No contemporary trumpeter can escape the burden of transposing, but he or she may not be aware that the sound ideal of the original instruments also needs to be reproduced along with the notes themselves. This reality confronts young trumpeters the first time they play in an orchestra for, say, a Beethoven symphony and realize that they have to play a part for a trumpet in D on a modern trumpet in C or B-flat (transpose up a whole step or two whole steps, respectively). They also discover that the printed dynamics are fiction (older trumpets were larger, with a less penetrating sound) and that they rarely, if ever, get to play a melody because of the limits of the harmonic overtone series in the lower register (Beethoven’s original trumpets did not have valves). This scenario is quite a shock for trumpeters accustomed to performing technically demanding melodic parts in school bands.

But this is just the beginning. Orchestral trumpeters are faced with numerous factors that must be considered to perform the major repertoire. Instrument choice is not always clear, and national differences persist in some orchestras. Rotary-valve trumpets are preferred in Austria and Germany for most repertoire, and American orchestras often employ them for repertoire from the Classical era. While the modern trumpet pitched in C is standard equipment in American orchestras, British orchestras prefer the trumpet in B-flat. As is discussed in later chapters, the use of smaller trumpets pitched in D, E-flat, and F (yet more transposition) for enhanced security in performance is a popular practice as well. Yet again, it must be emphasized that the artistic quality of the musical product is always the primary concern. Trumpeters must choose the equipment that helps them personally perform with the utmost confidence and artistry.

The unique case of the modern piccolo trumpet deserves special mention. It is ironic, to say the least, that the music that Bach and Handel composed for the natural trumpet in D (seven feet of tubing, 236 cm) is performed regularly on the modern piccolo trumpet in B-flat or A (approximately two feet of tubing, 74 cm), an instrument only one-quarter the size of the original. Although they sound radically different, both instruments have their place and can produce beautiful music in the hands of able players. However, the performance of Baroque repertoire on the piccolo trumpet is immeasurably enhanced by knowledge of the unique characteristics of the natural trumpet. And of course, the growing popularity of period instrument performances has attracted more than a few professional trumpeters to learn to play the natural trumpet or a modern Baroque trumpet with vent holes, as well as the challenging cornetto.

One of the by-products of the evolution in trumpet design over the past four hundred years is the increased demands on physical stamina required for performance. In Handel’s well-known oratorio Messiah, the trumpets play for a total of twenty minutes during the entire piece (which can be as long as three hours depending on the edition used for performance) and often sit idle for periods of more than thirty minutes. Contrast that to a two-hour brass quintet performance (of serious literature) during which the trumpeters are required to perform highly technical solo parts for the entire duration, or a two-hour jazz band concert in which the trumpets play high-energy music in the stratosphere at loud volumes with little or no respite.

Speaking of jazz, it is significant that the B-flat trumpet has not changed substantially since the 1930s. Trumpeters who specialize in jazz and commercial music may not be as concerned with their instrument’s checkered past because they perform contemporary music. But in light of the growing demands for versatility, jazz trumpeters will need to be informed of appropriate styles and issues when performing classical repertoire. At the same time, classical trumpeters need to be conversant with jazz styles because of the rise in crossover artists. All musicians owe a tremendous debt to the pioneering jazz trumpeters of the early twentieth century who extended the range and technique of the instrument and expanded its sound world through the invention of a host of different mutes.

While the development of jazz and the institutionalization of wind bands vaulted the trumpet to new heights of prominence as a solo instrument in the twentieth century, the early music revival simultaneously brought new attention to the trumpet’s ancestors and legacy. The revival of early brass instruments flourished primarily in the second half of the twentieth century; however, the early music movement, in general, began in stages, depending on the repertoire and philosophy under consideration. For example, England’s Academy of Ancient Music regarded anything written before 1580 to be “ancient” in 1731.¹² From Mendelssohn’s 1829 revival of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to the neoclassic movement of the 1920s, the concept of rediscovering old music seems never to have gone out of style.

Today, as in the past, the early music movement continues to generate controversy among mainstream critics. It has been variously derided as reactionary, countercultural, and puritanical while being championed by supporters as a revelation.¹³ Regardless of such shifting opinions, the proof is in the performance. Paul Hindemith defended “historically informed performance” (HIP) in 1951 by pointing out that

all the traits that made the music of the past lovable to its contemporary performers or listeners were inextricably associated with the kind of sound then known and appreciated. If we replace this sound by the sounds typical of our modern instruments and their treatment we are counterfeiting the musical message the original sound was supposed to transmit.¹⁴

Although Hindemith later admitted that it was not possible to re-create period audiences as easily as peri...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Fanfares and Finesse: An Introduction
• 2. The Natural Trumpet
• 3. The Modern Baroque Trumpet with Vent Holes
• 4. The Cornetto
• 5. The Slide Trumpet
• 6. The Quest for Chromaticism: Hand-Stopping, Keys, and Valves
• 7. Bugles, Flügels, and Horns
• 8. The Cornet
• 9. Changing of the Guard: Trumpets in Transition
• 10. Smaller Trumpets
• 11. Pitch, Temperament, and Transposition
• 12. Early Repertoire and Performance Practice
• 13. Baroque Repertoire
• 14. Classical Repertoire
• 15. Signals, Calls, and Fanfares
• 16. Strike Up the Band
• 17. The Modern Orchestral Trumpet
• 18. Jazz and the Trumpet
• 19. Solo Repertoire after 1900
• 20. Brass Chamber Music
• 21. Trumpeting in the Twenty-First Century
• Appendix A: Important Musicians
• Appendix B: Significant Events in Trumpet History
• Appendix C: Museums with Instrument Collections
• Appendix D: Selected Recordings: An Annotated List
• Appendix E: Period Instrument Resources
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index