Before Bach, trumpeters were classified as principals and clarino players, the former playing in the lower register with its widely-stepped harmonics, the latter in the high register where the harmonics lie close together. Shanks and crooks were already used as early as 1600 and by the end of the 18th century there were crooks for every key. These altered the timbre of the instrument, and there was some degree of energy loss as the vibrating air column negotiated the loops. Then came the valves, introducing more loops, and someone writing at the time of their application, towards the end of the 19th century, described them as ‘a failure as they obscure the upper harmonics, the main source of characteristic tone’. Berlioz however thought they produced the truest intervals. Berlioz and Wagner both accepted the valve trumpet and were largely responsible for developing its importance as an instrument of the symphony orchestra.

To return to the mystery of ‘the Bach trumpet‘ as it is called, meaning the one that can play high register florid passages: in earlier centuries patrons and the public wished to hear the very latest and most up-to-date music and there was none of today’s eager curiosity about music of the past, nor fear of contemporary music. When Bach died in 175o popular interest in his music waned. A hundred or so years later when Mendelssohn resurrected those ‘noble relics of the past’, as they were then considered, clarino playing and the instrument on which it had been done no longer existed. The search therefore began for ‘the Bach trumpet‘. It is discouraging to find that, in spite of the number of clarino players there must have been, only one of the sort of trumpets they used has been identified, and a number of different substitutes have been tried out, since different ideas prevail about the quality of timbre of the Bach trumpet.

The quality of timbre produced by wind players is much affected by the air cavities in the head, throat and chest; these are forms of resonators. A trumpeter may not be taught to use these, but he will certainly learn to. The cup mouthpiece is not rammed against the lips, but held firmly so that when the piston valves are worked the trumpet is not joggled. The physical wind pressure exerted by brass players exceeds that of all other wind instrument players and therefore long passages with little breathing space can be punishing to perform. High passages require a taut lip and can cause muscle fatigue; the lip can ‘go’ producing a spray of cracked notes. Intonation is not purely a matter of lip control. There is always the problem of the rising temperature of the concert hall; this expands metal and raises the pitch of the instrument. And during long periods when the trumpet has no part to play the metal cools off and the instrument falls below pitch. Tuning up at the start of a concert is as much a warming up.

All trumpeters carry one mute or more, the ordinary one that muffles the tone being the most common. With and without mute, extremely rapid tonguing, glissandi and great leaps are all possible, as well as trills and turns.

Before the 17th century most trumpet music belonged to the oral tradition and was not written down. This was one method of ensuring that guild members kept all their secrets to themselves. Until the middle of the 17th century fanfares were the most common currency. In the early 18th century, with its clarino players, the agility and the compass of the trumpet was presumed to match that of the human voice, and J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 contains a trumpet part that is equal in brilliance to that of the flute.

There is, of course, a trumpet concerto by Haydn from 1796 (written for a keyed trumpet) and the famous little ‘Trumpet Voluntary’ by Jeremiah Clarke (d. 1707) (originally written for the trumpet stop on the organ). But in the classical period trumpeters were generally reduced to having more bars to count than to play, even in the symphonies of Beethoven. He wrote one of the most celebrated passages for trumpet, to be played off stage, in the overture Leonora No. 3, which is often used as an entr’acte in the opera Fidelio. Even this, though more subtle than the passage for trumpets in Rossini’s William Tell Overture, is essentially a military announcement. The resurrection of the trumpet can be said to have begun with Wagner note his overture to Rienzi — and Elliot Carter’s Symphony for Three Orchestras, premiered in 1979, begins with a totally chromatic trumpet solo which is very striking.

Although trumpets and trumpeters in this century do not enjoy the privileges of the past, at least the instrument has gained a wide popularity on account of its use in dance, jazz and brass bands. Indeed, Louis Armstrong, starting on cornet, became the first and greatest solo star in all of popular music, and has influenced the use of the trumpet in orchestral music.

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dodoBass Guitar, Brass, Drums, Guitar, Jazz, Musical Instruments, Popular Music, Trumpet14 Aug, 2008