Review: Baroque Trumpet

Reviewed Work(s): The Music and History of the Baroque Trumpet before 1721 by Don
Smithers
Review by: Edward H. Tarr
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 115, No. 1579 (Sep., 1974), pp. 748-750
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/957849
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 Book Reviews

Baroque trumpet five-part trumpet ensemble), Fantini's method of

1638 (which includes the first sonatas for trumpet
and continuo),
The Music and History of the Baroque Trumpetand Cazzati's three trumpet sonatas
of 1665
before 1721 by Don Smithers. Dent, £8 (the first for trumpet and strings, and the
There have been a number of books on beginning of the Bolognese tradition of writing for
the trumpet,
trumpets).
or on aspects of trumpet playing. The most In attempting to build a bridge between
important
of these are Hermann Eichborn's Die the Trompete
Middle Ages and Monteverdi, Smithers includes
a section on the slide
in alter und neuer Zeit and Das alte Clarinblasen auf trumpet of the 15th century.
Trompeten, Werner Menke's History of There
thewere then two kinds of trumpet, the 'trompette
Trumpet
of Bach and Handel, Murray Barbour's des menestrels'
Trumpets, and the 'trompette de guerre'. The
Horns and Music, and Philip Bate's former, the slide trumpet, soon became the trom-
The Trumpet
and Trombone. Menke's book, which was the last bone; the latter was the natural trumpet. At this
to present a detailed exposition of the Baroque point Smithers makes the mistake of following the
period, suffers from the narrowness of its scope false path, that of the slide trumpet and of chro-
and its polemical style. Don Smithers has-in his maticism. This is regrettable, because the road-signs
own words-attempted to assemble 'the relevant for the correct path, that of the natural trumpet,
data about the Baroque trumpet, the most exalted were at his disposal but were underrated or over-
of musical instruments in the 17th and early 18th looked. In speaking on p.132 about the trumpeters'
centuries', data which had accumulated during a notebooks of Magnus Thomsen and Hendrick
40-year period. He has succeeded brilliantly. Lubeck--c1595-1609 and 1598 respectively, pre-
served in the National Library at Copenhagen, and
Of particular value is Smithers's new approach, published by Georg Schiinemann in Das Erbe
relating the instrument to its music and placing the deutscher Musik (1936)-Smithers quite inaccurately
whole within a sociological framework. The main writes: 'neither collection contains ensemble music
sections of the book deal with trumpet acoustics, and their musical importance is questionable'. In
Renaissance precursors of the Baroque trumpet, fact both sources consist nearly entirely of ensemble
Baroque trumpet-makers of Europe, and the music. A comparison with Monteverdi's Orfeo
trumpet and its music in Italy, Germany (with an toccata reveals that the single part notated by
excursion dealing with the trumpeters' so-called Thomsen and Liibeck is in fact the Quinta or
guild or fellowship), the Austro-Bohemian empire,
Principale, the one which leads the entire trumpet
England (with a special chapter on Purcell), and ensemble. (Praetorius refers to it as the part which
France. One of the special features of the book is a
'regiert und fiihret', which-literally translated-
46-page inventory of the musical sources. Not since 'rules and leads'.) In the earliest trumpet method
Mary Rasmussen's bibliographies-included in her now known, Tutta l'arte delle Trombetta (1614),
now-defunct Brass Quarterly-has there been Cesare Bendinelli shows on fol.55 how to combine
such a wealth of information for musical treasure-
hunters.
the principale part with the clarino part above it
('II modo corretto di sonare il Clarino sopra la
The author, an American born in 1933, is both a Sonata'); further, in his Sonatas nos.245 and 246
musicologist and a trumpet soloist. During the workBendinelli shows how the third part, or 'Alto e
on his Oxford doctorate-this book is his 1967 Basso', is placed below the principale part. Although
dissertation in slightly expanded form-andSmithers sub- mentions this important source in a
sequently, Smithers travelled all over Europe, footnote on p.81, he incorrectly states that it is
inspecting many of the sources personally. He is preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale of Florence;
particularly well informed in the sections dealing it is actually in the Accademia Filarmonica in
with Germany and the Austro-Bohemian empire. Verona, a society to whom it was presented in 1614.1
For once we have a trumpet book in which the Bendinelli's method not only contains the earliest
historical information is not lumped together known example of a piece in the clarino register of
according to an approximate chronology with total the trumpet (dated 1584); it also provides us-in
disregard for geography. A small example of the examples mentioned above-with the missing
Smithers's approach: within the section on Germany, link between the natural, non-chromatic, military
he discusses the contribution towards the trumpet trumpet of the Renaissance and the heroic natural
repertory of Bach's predecessors in Leipzig, starting trumpet of the Baroque. A study of Bendinelli's
in 1616: Schein, Michael, Kniipfer, Schelle, and method would have greatly improved this section
Kuhnau. It is in the German section that Smithers's of the book.2
strength-and bias-shows through. 1721, the *
dedication date of the Brandenburg Concertos, was
an odd year at which to end the study, for this prev- The author's greatest strength lies in his presenta-
ents him from discussing in any detail the works of tion of the full flowering of the Baroque trumpet.
Bach and Handel.
It is tantalizing to think that one of the earliest
The origins of the Baroque trumpet and its composers who wrote for this instrument, Johann
repertory go back to the 16th century and even Michael Altenburg, may have been related to
earlier. The trumpet was a military instrument, used Johann Ernst Altenburg, the last great theorist of
first for signalling purposes, later 'for reasons of the Baroque trumpet at the end of the 18th century.
state' (as Altenburg put it in 1795). The rise of the (Alas, it will never be possible to prove this relation-
specifically Baroque trumpet must be sought in the lsee Giuseppe Turrini: 'L'Accademia Filarmonica di Verona
abandonment of purely military usage and the dalle Fondazione (Maggio 1543) al 1600 e il suo patrimonio
musicale antico . . .', Atti e Memorie dell'Accademia di Agri-
incorporation of the trumpet into so-called art coltura, Scienze e Lettere di Verona, Serie v, xviii (Verona 1941),
music. Some central dates: Monteverdi's Orfeo p.231, no.238
toccata of 1607 (which presumably shows the late 2Bendenelli's method is appearing in Documenta musicologica,
Renaissance practice of improvisation in the old 2nd ser., v (1974).
748

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ship, for the 18th-century church registers in Alach- 'wound around in a circle six times', whereas
a village near Erfurt, where Johann Michael died Praetorius's 'Jager Trommet' and the only instru-
in 1640 and Johann Caspar, J. Ernst's father, was ment of this type to survive until recently-a
born in 1689-were burned long ago.) Smithers's coiled trumpet made by Heinrich Pfeifer in Leipzig
treatment of Henry Purcell is admirable. The in 1697-are both coiled three and a half times only.
following passages, as well, shed new light on old This question is exasperating and has not yet been
questions: the criticism of the Steinkopf-Finke answered. In fact Smithers contributes to the
instrument, wrongly named 'clarino' (p.30); the confusion by trying to find a 'tromba da caccia'-
introductory discussion of Renaissance predecessors whatever that is-where it does not exist. For
of the Baroque trumpet (pp.33-42); the comparison example, there are several references in the literature
between English and continental trumpets (p.62);to shorter trumpets. Vejvanovsky, for instance,
the tracking-down of trumpet works by Legrenzi scored for 'trombae breves' in two works. Both
(p.91), Colonna (pp.107-8), and Kuhnau (p.151); pieces, the Sonata venatoria and a Sonata a 5, are in
the chapter on the trumpeters' guild; the tracing of D and demonstrate their composer's only use of
Cazzati's possible influence on Purcell (p.214); and trumpets in this key instead of C. A D trumpet
the chapter on the Austro-Bohemian empire, an is shorter than a C trumpet; nor does it need to be
area to which the author has devoted most of his coiled (p.189). Telemann wrote a Concerto in F
original research. His Italian section, however, employing
is two instruments called 'Tromba di
uneven. On the one hand, he sheds new light on the caccia 6 Tromba ordinaria piccola' (p.282); I
trumpet music of Colonna. On the other, his listing
interpret this to mean, in essence, 'horn or trumpet'.
A corollary is furnished by Samuel Endler's
on pp.283-6 of Torelli's works must be disregarded
completely, as it is based on the old-fashioned Sinfonia in F,5 for 'Clarino piccolo', two 'Corni',
numbering used in the old printed catalogue of the strings, and continuo. (Smithers's bibliographical
musical archive of S Petronio, a catalogue which reference to this work on p.258 is incomplete, and
dates from Menke's time and gives an inaccurate the call number is incorrect; indeed, Endler wrote
picture of the actual number of works there by not nine but 28 works employing one to three
often separating score and parts of a single work and trumpets.) There is no reason to interpret these
listing it as two. In actual fact, the following trumpet shorter trumpets as coiled. Worthmiller lists a
works by Torelli are preserved in S Petronio: 15 number of trumpets, made in Nuremberg, pitched
for trumpet solo (three incomplete), four for one in keys higher than D or Eb: eight in F, two in G, and
or two trumpets, seven for two trumpets, eight for five in still higher keys. They are all in the classical
two trumpets and two oboes (one incomplete), and long form. The contemporary term, then, for a
two for four trumpets (one of them with oboes). trumpet in a higher key than usual would seem to be
Sergio Paganelli has nearly completed his monu- 'tromba brevis', 'clarino piccolo', or 'tromba
mental catalogue of the S Petronio archive and has piccola'. All of these terms refer to the tube length
generously made his preliminary results available and not to the trumpet's outward form.
to scholars for years.3 The obvious value of Smithers's book leads me to
The decline of the Baroque trumpet-a subject suggest the following corrections to certain pages:
which has proved fascinating to many authors and
provoked much speculation-is unfortunately not
treated in this book because of the 1721 terminal 22 Trumpet bells never have been exponential, but rather come
date. A study of the period from then to 1800 wouldcloser to the shape of a Bessel horn. 24 The musical example of
the harmonic series is incorrect: the last three notes, c$'", d'"
dispel the still-prevalent myth of the 'Bach trumpet'
and e"', actually represent the 17th, 18th, and 20th partials. 25
and show that the last flourishing of the art ofA fallacy taken over from Worthmuller is the notion that the bell
playing in the clarino register occurred a generation
of a Baroque trumpet stops under the ball, being fitted there to
after Bach's death. The technically staggering the third 'yard'; in fact there are only two yards or lengths of
tubing, the 'third yard' actually being the bell, which is in one
trumpet arias in the operas of Fux, Caldara and piece starting after the last bow. 27, 42, 52 The slide trumpet
others, which precede in time some of the late made by Huns Veit of Naumburg in 1651 and the oldest known
Baroque trumpet concertos, also fall outside the dated trumpet, made by Ubaldo Montini of Siena in 1523, were
not destroyed in the Second World War but are still preserved
scope of the book. in the Berlin musical instrument collection as nos. 639 and 465.
* However, the latter instrument was 'reconstructed' in the 19th
century by C. F. Zetsche Sohne-only the bell garland is
Despite his efforts, Smithers has not been able tooriginal. 32 The written b' natural was certainly the lowered 8th
clear up the ambiguities enshrouding the terms partial, not the raised 7th; this principle of'lipping' down rather
than up will also apply to other chromatic notes such as c$"
'Jagertrompete', 'italienische Trompete', and 'tromba
and d$" which occur occasionally in the literature-a slide will
da caccia', ambiguities which continue to plague hardly be involved, as suggested on p.140. Contrary to the
research. It is particularly dangerous, and also statement on p.222, a' and b' are very easy to 'lip' into pitch, as
proven by Franceschini's sonata for two trumpets (which uses
incorrect, to equate the term 'tromba da caccia' with
a' several times) and by the tenor aria with obbligato trumpet in
'Jager Trommet'. The former, which Smithers usesBach's Cantata no.137, a part which can easily be played on a
often, seems in all instances but one to be a modernnatural trumpet without recourse to a slide trumpet or 'tromba
da tirarsi'. Indeed in 1614 Bendinelli already included a b' three
invention; in the single case in which it appears to betimes as a matter of course in his exercises in the clarino register.
original (a concerto in F by Telemann listed onThe suggested positions for the 'theoretical' Renaissance slide
p.282 and discussed below), it seems to be analogoustrumpet-an instrument which has been manufactured for
several years by Meinl & Lauber-are incorrect with respect to
to a term still current in French, 'trompe de chasse',
the 7th partial: positions two, three and four are actually half a
which does not refer to a trumpet at all (despite position higher. 52 Perhaps the oldest dated brass instrument
Smithers's pp.54 and 320) but to a hunting horn.is not the Siena trumpet mentioned above, but a 'Harsthorn'
The so-called 'Italian trumpet' is mentioned fromfrom 1455 located in the Bernoulli collection. A little-known
sister instrument in pretzel or figure-eight form to the one by
time to time in contemporary sources and mightAnton Schnitzer from 1581 mentioned on p.52 and depicted on
mean a coiled trumpet similar to Praetorius's P1.4 is another made by the same maker in 1585, possessing in
addition the coat of arms of the court of Munich in a medal
'Jager Trommet'. However, in the most exact placed in one of the side loops; the instrument once belonged
description, that of Christoph Weigel,4 the 'Italian to Bendinelli and is now in the Verona collection.
or southern [Welsche]' trumpet was said to be
*
3e.g. Eugene Joseph Enrico: Giuseppe Torelli's Music for
Instrumental Ensemble with Trumpet, diss., U. of Michigan, 1970)
4Abbildung der gemein niitzlichen Hauptstdnde (Regensburg,
1698), 232 SDarmstadt Mus. MS. 1213/13
749

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56
56 Willi
WilliWorthmfiller
Worthmfillerwaswas
thethe
first
first
to distinguish
to distinguish
between
between
early, early, excellent. It is at once a curious feature of the book
middle, and late Baroque bell flares. (Beautiful examples of
the three types are furnished by Smithers's PI.5.) From the rather and at the same time a tribute to its author's
wide bell flare alone it is easy to distinguish the Josef Wolf command of English that a work on the music and
instruments from the earlier Nuremberg trumpets; in this history of the trumpet contains only 17 musical
important respect it is not 'similar' to them. 64-6 Worthmiller's
dissertation supplied all the information on the Nuremberg examples, most of them brief, in more than 300
trumpet makers as well as the genealogical Table I; to this table pages. EDWARD H. TARR
can be added the years in which Johann Jacob and Johann
David Frank became masters: in 1822 and 1834, respectively.
80 The trombones had nothing to do with the trumpets in the
Orfeo toccata; there were five of each, with clearly separate
functions. 89 The information on Stradella is out of date; nor
does he take the trumpet up to d"', but stops a semitone lower.
91 Italian sources are full of allusions to the fact that not their
countrymen, but rather 'oltremontani'-Germans--excelled
as trumpeters; German composers such as Praetorius and
Schutz had integrated the trumpet into 'art music' long before
their Italian counterparts. Benevoli's famous Mass for the Beethoven pian
consecration of the Salzburg Cathedral in 1628-with the im-
pressive technical display in its many trumpet parts-was Performance Practices in Beethoven's Piano Sonatas
written for an Austrian, not an Italian, trumpet corps; Bendin- by William S. Newman. Dent, £2.50
elli had written his trumpet method to show his Italian col-
leagues what was going on in Germany. Professor Newman's topic should interest a broad
spectrum of musicians, from professional pianists
and scholars (both of whom ignore it at their peril)
95 The Bologna trumpet sonatas may have appeared as antiphon to that larger group of informed amateurs and
substitutes during the celebration of the Mass, but certainly admirers of one of the most distinguished repertories
they were used as a prelude to the Mass before the Kyrie (see
the Musica Rara edition of Torelli's Sonata in D, Gl). 99 for a solo instrument bequeathed by a single
Smithers points out that only about two per cent of the S composer. For both extremes, many of the remarks
Petronio repertory is available in modern editions, but neglectsin this introduction are likely to prove frustrating,
to list in his bibliography the large number of publications
since 1968 by Musica Rara of works by composers like Torelli, being neither specific enough for the guidance of
Franceschini, and D. Gabrielli (the bibliography is out-of-date amateurs nor comprehensive enough to satisfy
in general as regards modern editions). 103, 286 Neither the specialists.
first sonata of the Roger collection from c1710 nor the inferior
MS sonata in Vienna bearing his name is by Torelli. 106, 257
Part 1 surveys 'The Nature of the Problem and
Corelli's trumpet sonata exists in Naples not as a print but is the Sources', including 'Autographs and Editions',
MS. 111 The concert or chamber trumpeter did not always have 'Comments By and About Beethoven', 'Beethoven's
to play at table; Altenburg states on p.28 of his treatise that
'the chamber or concert trumpeter is spared the weekly playing
Own Teaching and Playing', and 'Beethoven's
at table, because through the blaring he would spoil the delicate Pianos versus his Piano Ideals'. Many students of
and subtle embouchure [needed] for clarino [playing]'. Beethoven today are aware that 'differences do
125-7 The importance of Gottfried Reiche, Bach's trumpeter,
has been overrated. Bach's most difficult trumpet work, the
occur' between autographs and early editions (and,
Second Brandenburg Concerto, was not written for Reiche; we might add, between copies prepared under the
Bach continued to write difficult trumpet parts after Reiche's composer's supervision) of the piano sonatas. But in
death in 1734; and the peak of playing in the clarino register of
the natural trumpet was not reached by Reiche, but rather by
spite of a veritable glut of 'Urtext' editions, there
Austrian players such as Heinisch and Gesenberger, perhaps remains an urgent need for comprehensive studies
also by Kostler and Schachtner (all mentioned in Leopold which propose flexible criteria for evaluating
Mozart's report for Marpurg in 1757). 136, footnote The re-
construction of Praetorius's trumpet parts in In dulci jubilo
divergent primary sources, criteria scarcely hinted
(p. 140) would be more complete if the composer's German were at by Newman.' The most important chapter in this
better translated: line 5, 'each one' should read 'anyone'; section2 documents convincingly Beethoven's prefer-
line 8, 'the other clarino' should read 'the second clarino'. ence throughout his career for Viennese pianos,
143-5 Smithers's discussion of Schfitz's Herr Gott, dich loben
wir, with its curious trumpet parts written partly diatonically 'with their light action and delicate tone', under-
in the low register, partly correctly within the harmonic series, cutting the conventional wisdom of his purported
follows a red herring. The non-harmonic series tones are merely shift of allegiance to English pianos, 'with their
cues, as specified by a note in the original source: 'Wo nicht
Clarin (Trombetta) unterschrieben steht, da helt stille' (Do not heavier action and more powerful tone', a notion
play except where Clarin (Trombetta) is written [in the part]). encouraged in the minds of posterity, no doubt,
203 Timpani are not a 'normal adjunct' to the Italian trumpet by the surprise gift of a Broadwood piano to
works, not even to 'a lesser extent': they occur only once in the
entire Bologna repertory, in Torelli's monumental Sinfonia a 4
Beethoven in 1818.
(G33)-an understated title indeed, since this unusual work is In Part 2, 'Eight Sample Probings' explore areas
scored for four trumpets in C, timpani, trombone, two oboes such as tempo, articulation and phrasing, orna-
concertato and ripieno, bassoons concertato and ripieno, two
violins concertato and ripieno, viola, two cellos (continuo and mentation, and dynamics and expression, hardly
ripieno), violone continuo and ripieno, and organ. 234, 239 If in enough depth to provide answers, but sufficient
the scoring of Lully's Carousel Music of 1686 is taken as a guide, to demonstrate the difficulties and hazards inherent
the trumpet parts of Charpentier's Te Deum and other similar
works can quite plausibly be reconstructed to include four in interpreting evidence which is both non-specific
trumpets as well as timpani. and conflicting. Many would question whether
'general artistic consensus' dictates a tempo of
minim=96 for the opening movement of the
246 There are many more anonymous duets in Modena than Hammerklavier Sonata op.106, markedly less than
the two books listed. 260 Franceschini's Sonata a 7 does not
include oboes. 261 Gletle's duets are for tromba marina not Beethoven's own admittedly problematic marking
trumpet; Graupner's five MS sonatas do not exist. 263 Michael of minim=138. To cite only the most recent heresy,
Haydn's second trumpet work is not entitled 'Concerto' in Charles
the Rosen has argued on internal musical
original source. 276 F. T. Richter's Balletti a cinque are written
for oboes not trumpets. 281 The two Sperger concertos do have grounds for a metronome mark of 126 to 132 to
a bass part, but not necessarily a 'basso continuo'. 282 Tele-the minim, the plausibility of which is borne out by
mann's 'Trombe selvatiche' are Waldhorner-horns. 295
Rosen's own recent recording. Nor is the proposed
Fantini's trumpet method was reprinted in facsimile (1972) by
The Brass Press. 'application' (on pp.74-5) of Beethoven's prefatory
remarks to a study by Johann Baptist Cramer to
1One such study-although in German-exists for op.lll: H.
To sum up, Smithers is most valuable when Unverricht:
he Die Eigenschriften und die Originalausgaben von
discusses the central repertory of the middle Werken Beethovens in ihrer Bedeutungflir die moderne Textkritik
(Kassel, 1960)
Baroque, weakest in questions of origin and later 2A more documented version of this chapter appears under the
development. If his interpretation of foreign same title 'Beethoven's Pianos versus his Piano Ideals' in
words is somewhat unreliable, his English is JAMS, xxiii (1970), 484-504.
750

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