Natural Trumpet
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A natural trumpet is a
valveless The Valveless was an English automobile manufactured, after lengthy development, from 1908 until 1915 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. The successor to the Ralph Lucas Valveless, the car marked the entry of the David Brown & Sons group into the m ...
brass instrument A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin a ...
that is able to play the notes of the harmonic series.


History

The natural trumpet was used as a military instrument to facilitate communication (e.g. break camp, retreat, etc.). Even before the late
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
period the natural trumpet had been accepted into Western art music. There is evidence, for example, of extensive use of
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
ensembles in Venetian ceremonial music of the 16th century. Although neither
Andrea Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...
nor
Giovanni Gabrieli Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/1557 – 12 August 1612) was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift f ...
wrote music specifically for the
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
, they would have been very familiar with its technical possibilities. Later, talented players such as the early baroque composer Girolamo Fantini demonstrated that by playing in the extreme upper register and "lipping" the notes of the 11th and 13th harmonics (that is, flattening or sharpening those impure harmonics into tune with the
embouchure Embouchure () or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument or the mouthpiece of a brass instrument. The word is of ...
), it was possible to play diatonic major and minor scales (and, hence, actual
melodies A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
rather than
arpeggio A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
s) on a natural trumpet. The most talented players were even able to produce certain
chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...
notes outside the harmonic series by this process (such as lipping a natural C down to B), although these notes were mostly used as brief passing tones. (In Germany, this technique was called ''Heruntertreiben'', literally "driving down".) Other "impure" harmonics (such as the 7th and 14th – B on an instrument pitched in C – which are very flat) were avoided by most composers, but were sometimes deliberately used, for example, where their unusual sonic qualities would complement the accompanying text in a sacred work. Baroque composers – such as
Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...
,
Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesh ...
,
George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
and
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
– made frequent use of trumpets in sacred, orchestral, and even solo works. Many of these trumpet parts are technically quite difficult to play on a natural instrument, and were often written with a specific virtuoso performer in mind, such as
Gottfried Reiche Gottfried Reiche (; 5 February 1667 6 October 1734) was a German trumpet player and composer of the Baroque era. Reiche is best known for having been Johann Sebastian Bach's chief trumpeter at Leipzig from Bach's arrival there in 1723 until R ...
(Bach's chief trumpeter and the subject of a famous painting of the era) or Valentine Snow, for whom Handel composed some of his more noted trumpet parts. Indeed, highly skilled trumpeters were a prized commodity in the era, held in high esteem and avidly sought after by musical patrons. The vast majority of baroque trumpet parts were written for a natural instrument pitched in C or D, although there were occasional exceptions. J. S. Bach, for example, calls for a trumpet in B in his Cantatas Nos. 5 and 90, trumpets in E in the first version of his Magnificat and, most famously, the solo trumpet in high F in his Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. In the 18th century various attempts were made to overcome the limitations in the notes available to natural trumpets. As early as the time of Bach, crooks (additional lengths of tubing) were introduced between the mouthpiece and the body which lowered the pitch of the instrument and allowed it to be used in a variety of keys. In the latter part of the 18th century side holes covered with keys and a sliding mechanism were tried. Later
Anton Weidinger Anton Weidinger (June 9, 1766 in Vienna – September 20, 1852 in Vienna) was an Austrian trumpet virtuoso in the classical era, and a ''"k. k. Hof-Trompeter"'' (Imperial and Royal Court trumpeter). He was friends with Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven a ...
, court trumpeter in Vienna, invented a 5-key trumpet. These experiments were not completely successful, however, since side holes, which work well on instruments with a conical bore, such as
cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
s and
bugle The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, normally having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure. History The bugle developed from early musical or communication ...
s, cause a muffled sound in those with a cylindrical bore. Natural trumpets continued to be used through the Classical era and even into the early Romantic period. But changing musical styles along with a growing lack of sufficiently capable players spelled an end to the high, florid, complicated parts typical of
Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...
. A few transitional composers, such as
Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn (; 14 September 173710 August 1806) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. Life Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of Rohrau, near the Hungarian border. ...
,
Leopold Mozart Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787) was a German composer, violinist and theorist. He is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook ''Versuch einer gründlichen ...
and
Johann Molter Johann Melchior Molter (10 February 1696 – 12 January 1765) was a German composer and violinist of the late Baroque period. He was born at Tiefenort, near Eisenach, and was educated at the Gymnasium in Eisenach. By autumn 1717 he had le ...
, wrote concerti for natural trumpets in the early Classical era. In fact, it could be argued that the concertos of Haydn and Molter represent the zenith of the natural trumpet in terms of technical demands, containing as they do some of the highest notes ever penned for the trumpet in symphonic works (in the case of Haydn, a G above high C – the 24th harmonic on a natural instrument). However, for many decades following, most orchestral trumpet writing consisted of basic harmonic support (what many trumpeters derisively refer to as "thumps and bumps") and fanfare-like passages, with very little in the way of melody. There were a few notable exceptions, such as
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's Symphony No. 39 in E major, where the trumpets intone the main theme of the opening movement;
Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
's Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major ("Drum Roll"), where the trumpets often outline the melody in all four movements; or
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's Symphony No. 9 in which the trumpets double the melody of the famous "Ode to Joy" in the finale of the work. After the brief attempt at developing a
keyed trumpet The keyed trumpet is a brass instrument that makes use of keyed openings in its bore rather than extensions of the length of the bore as the means of playing all the notes of the chromatic scale. The instrument's popularity reached its high-poin ...
, the instrument for which
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
and
Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the Transition from Classical to Romantic music, transition from the Classical period (music), Classical to the Romantic ...
wrote their famous concerti, the development of the more versatile valve trumpet (c. 1815) spelled the eventual demise of the natural trumpet in Western music, until its resurrection in the 20th century. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, the valveless, natural trumpet and the valved trumpet (also the
cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
) vied for position in the orchestra, with the valved trumpet establishing a permanent position only in the second half. Even as late as 1843, for example,
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
was writing for valveless trumpets in his opera ''
The Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dut ...
''. In modern-day performances of Baroque and Classical works by period orchestras, the trumpets used are usually altered copies of natural instruments of the period, with the addition of anachronistic nodal "tone holes" (also called "venting holes") used to more easily and accurately correct the intonation of the instrument and the use of altered copies of mouthpieces or baroque inspired modern ones. (There is a growing consensus to refer to these instruments as "
baroque trumpet The baroque trumpet is a musical instrument in the brass family. Smithers, Don L. 1988 ''The Music and History of the Baroque Trumpet before 1721''. 2nd edition. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Invented in the mid-20th century, ...
s" to distinguish them from pure "natural trumpets".) The use of finger holes on reconstructions of natural trumpets is traceable to Otto Steinkopf, who early in the 20th century discovered holes on a few museum originals. However, it appears that these holes were usually placed at ''antinodes'', and thus designed to prevent the note from sounding, rather than allowing it to be played in tune. While modern reconstructions with nodal finger holes may not be completely authentic in comparison with the originals, they nevertheless allow a close approximation of the sound of the natural trumpet (and its ability to more easily blend with other instruments in an ensemble) without the "quirks" of intonation to which modern ears are unaccustomed. Though such vented instruments have been the norm in period orchestras for decades, in recent years ensembles such as
La Petite Bande La Petite Bande is a Belgium-based ensemble specialising in music of the Baroque and Classical eras played on period instruments. They are particularly known for their recordings of works by Corelli, Rameau, Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. Hi ...
and soloists such as Jean-François Madeuf have been performing and recording using pure natural trumpets. In conventional (non-period) orchestras, the highest baroque trumpet parts are usually played on the modern piccolo trumpet, an instrument that provides firm support of range, attack and intonation, while producing a brighter sound – very different from the natural trumpet the composers had in mind. The natural trumpet is differentiated from another valveless brass instrument, the bugle, in that it is nearly twice the length. This places the higher harmonics (from the 8th harmonic up, which are closer together in pitch) in a playable range, enabling the performance of diatonic melodies. The bugle, by contrast, is only useful for performing simple fanfares and military calls (such as " Taps") in a lower range (normally only utilizing the 2nd through 6th harmonics), based on the notes of a
major triad In music theory, a major chord is a chord that has a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a major triad. For example, the major triad built on C, called a C major triad, has pitch ...
(for example, the notes B, D, and F on a bugle pitched in B).


Period instruments

Some of the finest surviving examples of pre-Baroque and Baroque era trumpets date back as far as the 1580s, and were made by Anton Schnitzer of
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
.Barclay, Robert. 1992. ''The Art of the Trumpet-Maker''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Other notable trumpet makers include the Hainlein family of Nuremberg, the Haas family of Nuremberg, the Ehe family of Nuremberg, and William Bull of
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.Bate, Philip. 1978. ''Instruments of the Orchestra: The Trumpet and Trombone''. London: Ernest Benn. All of these instrument makers built what are now called natural trumpets. During the period, however, these instruments were simply called trumpets, not "natural trumpets", as a valved instrument had yet to be developed.


Modern replicas

In the second half of the 20th century as historically-informed performance came into fashion, modern instrument makers began building instruments based on historical instruments. Among the pioneers were Meinl & Lauber, Adolf Egger, Robert Barclay, Frank Tomes. Makers active as of 2021 include Matthew Parker, Graham Nicholson, Markus Raquet, Geert Jan van der Heide, Cristian Bosc, Rainer Egger, Bernhard (Ewald) Meinl, Tony Esparis, Nikolai Mänttäri, Nathaniel Wood, and Gunther Cogen.


Construction

The natural trumpet has a mouthpiece, which is inserted into the receiver. The receiver is attached to the long tubing, called the first yard, with a short connector, called a
ferrule A ferrule (a corruption of Latin ' "small bracelet", under the influence of ' "iron") is any of a number of types of objects, generally used for fastening, joining, sealing, or reinforcement. They are often narrow circular rings made from me ...
. The first yard is connected with a ferrule to the first bow, followed by another ferrule and the second yard. The second yard is attached with a ferrule to the second bow. On the baroque trumpet, the vent holes are located at the top of the second yard, and possibly on the second bow. After the second bow are the bellpipe, the ball, the bell, garland, and bezel. The bellpipe and first yard are separated by a wood block, and over that there is a cord for binding.


Players

Notable living players of the natural trumpet include Don Smithers and Jean-François Madeuf. Living players of the Baroque trumpet include Robert Farley, Anna Freeman,
Alison Balsom Alison Louise Balsom, Lady Mendes, (born 7 October 1978) is an English trumpet soloist, arranger, producer, and music educator. Balsom was awarded Artist of the Year at the 2013 Gramophone Awards and has won three Classic BRIT Awards and thre ...
,
Crispian Steele-Perkins Crispian Steele-Perkins (born 18 December 1944) is an internationally acclaimed classical trumpeter who was educated at Copthorne Preparatory School, Marlborough College and the Guildhall School of Music. Personal life Steele-Perkins lives i ...
, ,
Niklas Eklund Niklas Eklund (born 1969) is a Swedish trumpeter. He was born in Gothenburg into a musical family; his father, Bengt, was a noted trumpeter and conductor. Eklund studied with his father, as well as at the School of Music and Musicology of the Univ ...
, David Blackadder, Will Wroth and John Thiessen.Wilcox, Beverly (May 20, 2008)
Miracle of the Nodal Vent
''San Francisco Classical Voice''. Retrieved March 6, 2015.


See also

* History of primitive, ancient Western and non-Western trumpets *
Birch trumpet The birch trumpet (Norwegian: neverlur, Swedish: näverlur, Latvian: tās̆u taure, Lithuanian: ragas, daudytė, Finnish: tuohitorvi, Estonian: karjapasun) is a type of natural trumpet made of spruce covered with birch bark, known in Norway, S ...
*
Natural horn The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day (French) horn (differentiated by its lack of valves). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century the natural horn evolved as a separation from the trump ...


References


External links


Photos, discussion, and sound samples of a natural trumpet from 1760 (from the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, search page for "natural trumpet")Early Trumpet History and Connection to the Baroque-Era Natural TrumpetThe origin of triads and heroic fanfares in the diatonic scaleJean-Francois Maduef performing the 3rd movement from ''Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F'' on a natural trumpet in a live concert
{{DEFAULTSORT:Natural Trumpet Baroque instruments Orchestral instruments