CONTENTS IN THIS CHAPTER:
Latest updated: 27/9- 2023
1 – RENAISSANCE (1400 – 1600)
2 – BOOKS ABOUT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
3 – THE BUILDING OF INSTRUMENTS
4 – TRUMPET
5 – THE SLIDE TRUMPET
6 – THE FOLDED TRUMPET
7 – THE TRUMPET CORPSES OF THE COURT
8 – THE ZINK/CORNETT
9 – SPIRAL INSTRUMENTS
10 – THE TROMBONE
11 – CORNETT AND TROMBONE ENSEMBLES
12-VENICE
13 – TOWN MUSICIANS AND TOWER MUSIC
1. RENAISSANCE (1400 – 1640)
The Renaissance marks a rapid progress in music, at first in vocal music, but soon in instrumental music as well. At the same time there was a big development in the building of instruments, and during this period entire instrument ranges (consorts) where built from the descant to the subbass versions. The Renaissance shows us instruments of remarkable design and construction and entirely new musical instruments were born.
2. BOOKS ABOUT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
We owe our knowledge of the music from the Renaissance to the development of staff-notation. Books about musical instruments (some of them fairly illustrated) and a range of preserved instruments allow us to form a clear idea of the instruments of the age. These books gives us often rather explicit descriptions of the instruments, as well as the real method to play them, ( which means how not to play them!)
3. THE BUILDING OF INSTRUMENTS
Apart from the Israelian trumpets, all ancient metal lipwindinstruments were cast. The Europeans got not only the trumpet from the Arabs, but also their way of building them: forming the instrument by soldering flat hammered pieces of brass together.
FORMING OF METAL SHEETS
Top: making a tube. A sheet is hammered around and soldered. – Bottom: making a bell. A sheet is cut in a triangel-form and one side is cut in stripes. The sheet is bend and soldered, thus forming a ”cone”, whereafter the cone is hammered into the required ”bell-form”.
All brass instruments from the Middle Ages are straight, but an epoch-making discovery from about 1400 made all the difference: the technique of bending the resonator tube. If you try to hammer a tube into a curve, the tube will get shrivelled. With this new technique they filled the tube with lead (which has a lower melting-point than brass), and when the lead was congealed it was possible to hammer the tube into the required form, without shrivelling. When finally heating the tube, the lead would flow out of the tube, finishing the bended tube.
S-SHAPED TRUMPET
As soon as the technique of bending resonator tubes was discovered it no longer was necessary to build trumpets in the unpractical straight form, and after the first S-shaped instruments:
AN ANGEL PLAYING THE S-TRUMPET
Wall-painting in Vinderslev Church c.1550, Denmark
ANGEL WITH S – SHAPED TRUMPET. Fra Angelico c. 1395-1455)
FOLDED TRUMPET
– the trumpet got then its well known folded form:
Brass wind instruments were build in small workshops. Especially Nuremberg, Germany, was the place where there was a great amount of ”masters”, who delivered instruments to all parts of Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th century, and who gave Nuremberg instrument makers an outstanding reputation. Their instruments were of the highest quality and often supplied with superb decorations. For representative (not musical) reasons even silver instruments were made. To maintain this outstanding high level the instrument makers of Nuremberg were organized in special guilds, and it seems that the profession often was herited from father to son, because the famous names: Ehe, Haas, Schmidt, Neuschel and Snitzer are represented in various generations. The last family gave birth to 9 instrument makers!
“DER TROMPETENMACHER” (the trumpetmaker)
copper engraving by Christoph Weigl (1654 – 1725)
HANS NEUSCHEL (-1533)
– a faymos trombonist and brass instrument maker. From woodcut “The Triumph of Maximillian I” by Hans Burgmair (1473-1531)
His father, Hans Neuschel (the elder) founded a whole instrument building family dynasty in Nuremberg, Germany. He was employed by the city council in 1579 and appointed city musician (Stadtpfeifer) 1491.
The adoptive son of Hans Neuschels (the younger), Georg Neuschel, took over the business that flourished with orders from all over Europe.
In 1555 the Danish King Chistian 3 ordered musical instruments from Georg Neuschel, including these brass instruments:
12 ”German trumpets, just like the trumpet that his grace, the Duke of Prussia, apparently recently purchased from Nuremberg, of the best
8 “Italian” trumpets of the best
1 quart-trombone (bass trombone in F), which is very good
2 tenor trombones, with one-tone crooks with which they may be lengthened, which are good
The instruments arrived d.9. February 1557.
Georg Neuschel has no children but married the widow of a city musician, Anton Schnitzer, whose son (also called Anton) continued the company.
4. THE TRUMPET
About 1400 A.D. the trumpet had developped in two directions: the folded trumpet and –
5. THE SLIDE TRUMPET
The lead pipe of the slide trumpet (the part of the instrument that contains the mouthpiece) was connected with the instrument with a kind of telescope so it was possible to move the instrument in and out and therewith extend the instrument, thus lowering the keynote. It was possible to lower it to an extend of about 3 halftones, and with every new keynote there would be a new range of overtones. With the slide trumpet the holes in the harmonic series were allmost filled, and it was possible to play melodic.
MUSIC AT A WEDDING DANCE. Copper engraving by Heinrich Aldengrever (1502 – c.1558)
To the left: 2 trumpet players with a slide trumpet, to the right: a trombone player. When playing the slide trumpet the musician used to hold the instrument right behind the mouthpiece (in a way to oppose the pressure so the embouchure was not squeezed) while the other hand slid the entire trumpet in and out, a rather difficult and clumsy way to play. This and many other pictures of this age show a mouthpiece with a very broad rim (surely to protect the embouchure from too much pressure), and that it was not uncommon to play with puffed cheeks.
ANGELS PLAYING TRUMPET
Left to right: SLIDE TRUMPET, CORNETT (recorder ?), LONG BUISINE TRUMPET and SLIDE TRUMPET
15TH CENTURYPAINTING BY HANS MEMLING.
RECONSTRUCTION OF RENAISSANCE SOPRANO SLIDE TROMBONE in C
Build by Finn Mortensen, Denmark.
TRUMPET PLAYER PERFORMING ON SLIDE TRUMPET ? – WITH REAR FACE BELL
— an image depicting wind musicians in a balcony atop a triumphal arch, as they prepare to play for a prince’s arrival ; Nuremberg, Stadtbibliothek.
Pictures show us that the slide trumpet was used at the Burgundic court in the northern part of France and in the Netherlands. The court played a leading role in Europe, and their ”Alte Kapelle” (also called Les Haut Menestrels = lout playing musicians) was highly respected. The ”Alte Kapelle” consisted of one or two descant pommers (or bombards, a double reed instrument of the shawn – schalmey family) a tenor pommer and a slide trumpet. They played at processions, dinners and dances.
Fig.12 ALTA KAPELLE from Leonhard Flexl: Grazwe Schüzenbuch (1568)
THURNERHORN – SLIDETRUMPET WAS ALSO USED TO PLAY FROM GALLERIES AND DONJONS
– by Sabastian Virdung (Tyskland): Musica getutscht (1511)
It was a tremendous effect when a few players played their own choral melodies from different towers
Fig.14 A DEVIL AND AN ANGEL PLAYS THE TRUMPET
Fresco from 1425 in Mørkøv Church, Denmark
TRUMPETPLAYER ON A TOWER
Fresco from Brarup Church, Maribo, Denmark about 1500. The playing from the tower goes back to the 13th century.
The player, as a watchman, stood ready to blow alarm in case of fire or enemies.
THREE TRUMPETPLAYERS FROM TOWERS –
Fresco Dalbyneder Church, Denmark 1511
6. THE FOLDED TRUMPET
The folded trumpet was the most common trumpet. The straight and bended tubes were not soldered but were pushed into each other and tightened with beewax. The bell and tubing sections were separated by a wooden block. Heavy woolen cords held the whole together. The knob on the bell was for decoration and strenghend the point between the bell and the tube. The outer bended part was tied to the bell with a piece of leather or metal through a little hole in the bell. Most trumpets were pitched in D, but there are examples of trumpets pitched in F, Eb og C. The first evidence of a possibility to lower the keynote by putting a small tube in between the mouthpiece and the instrument, is in the book Syntagma Musicum by the German Michael Praetorius (1616-1620)
FOLDED TRUMPET
Michael Leichnamschneider (1676 –after 1746), Austria
The trumpet became a real instrument for the ruling class, the regents of Europe – and of course the military (which was under supervision of the regents). The status of the trumpeter became a very respected and honourable one, and stayed that way for a very long time.
HUNGARIAN TRUMPETER
– from The Courtly Household Cards (Das Hofämterspiel) German, Upper Rhineland, ca. 1450. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
DECORATED TRUMPETS
Trumpets were often elaborately decorated. This trumpet, made by Anton Schnitzer in Nuremberg, dates from 1581, today in Kunsthistorisces Museum, Wien. There is a trombone player engraved on the bell. The player appears to be a woman, probably a symbolic depiction of a muse source: http://www.kimballtrombone.com”
7. THE TRUMPET CORPSES OF THE COURT
The trumpet corpses of the court were in a way ”a sound symbol of power”. They followed, headed by timpani players, the regents on their way to party and dance, to meetings and sessions of all kind, announcing the arrival, the presence and depart of kings and sovereigns, announcing and thus illustrating the splendour of the events.
The trumpeters were organized in a guild, and they had a tremendous self esteem. They were aware of ”not to mingle”: to play with ordinary town- or ”not established” musicians and in that way undermine their position.
All over Europe only the regents were allowed to have trompetplayers in their train. Apart from the court of the regents, there were only trumpeters in the military, but here the regents were also the supreme authority. In the military they used trumpets to give signals, in times of war, as in times of peace, as a form of communication between the different troups and cohorts.
In wartime, the court trumpeters were transferred to the military. The court trumpet players often also had diplomatic functions like ”courier” or Kings Messenger.
RIDING TRUMPET CORPS
From woodcut “The Triumph of Maximillian I” by Hans Burgmair (1473-1531)
COURT TRUMPETISTS FOLLOWED THE KING BOTH AT HOME AND ON TRAVELS
King Christian 1 of Denmark’s visit to Bergamo’s Castello di Malpaga 1474, where the Republic of Venice’s Captain General Bartolomeo Colleoni held a banquet in his honour.
TRUMPET PLAYERS PERFORM FOR A WEDDING PARTY FROM THE BALCONY, (1300-1400)
These kind af indoor balcony got the name TRUMPETERS SEAT.
TRUMPETERS SEAT IN THE BANQUETING HALL OF FREDERIKSBORG CASTLE, DENMARK
COURT TRUMPET PLAYERS PERFORM AT A BANQUET AT CHARLES V of FRANCE, CA. 1460.
As seen in several illustrations, trumpet players played fanfare at royal and noble meals. Another testimony to the participation of the trumpets when the king sat at table, is known from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. In the scene where Prince Hamlet and Horatio are on the rampart waiting for the ghost of Hamlet’s father:
(SOUND AF TRUMPETS AND CANONS)
HORATIO
What does this mean, my lord?
HAMLET
The king doth wake to-night and take his rause,
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-springreels;
And, as he drains his draughts og Rhenish down,
– “The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out” –
The triumph of his pledge.
See also: 13. TOWN MUSICIANS AND TOWER MUSIC
A BALL IN AUSBURG c. 1590-1595
AN ENSEMBLE PERFORMING FROM A TRUMPETERS SEAT
Gradually the trumpeter seats were also used by musicians playing other instruments.
RIDING ENGLISH COURT TRUMPET PLAYERS PLAYING AT A TOURNAMENT
– detail from 1511 Westminster Tournament Roll. The black african trumpeter with the green hat is John Blanke who were employed in the court of Henry VIII. A document from the accounts of the Tresauer of the Chamber records a payment of 20 shillings to “John Blanke the blacke trumpet” as wages for the month of November 1507, with payments of the same amount continuing monthly through the next year. Between 1510 – 1514 John Blake wrote a request to the king and asked for his salary to be doubled to match that of another trumpet player, Dominic, had before he died – the request was presumably met!
TRUMPET PLAYERS AND A TIMPANIST Engraving by Albrecht Dürer 1515.
DRAWING OF A TRUMPETER
by Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651)
A TRUMPET PLAYER WITH A STRAIGHT TRUMPET AND A BAGPIPE PLAYER
Bernhard Jobin, 1590, Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam
THE ROYAL DANISH TRUMPET CORPS at the funeral of King FREDERIK 2nd in 1588
The engraving is the bookmark of the Det Kongelige Kapel (the Royal Danish Orchestra)
THREE COURT TRUMPET PLAYERS AT SEA FROM THE COURT OF THE DANISH KING CHR. 4
The trumpet corpses were a real joy to the ear and the eye. They played on silver trumpets and were fancy dressed, and both timpani and trumpets had precious drapes and hangings. The timpanist made spectacular and grotesk movements and best of all was a black timpanist, a Moor, on a white horse.
TRUMPET BANNER OF SIGISMUND 3 VASA (1566-1632), KING OF POLISH – LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH
Riksmuseum Stockholm
TRUMPET BANNER WITH ROYAL ARMS OF CHARLES II (1630-1685) KING OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND and IRELAND
This silk trumpet banner was made around 1660, probably in England. The banner would have hung from the trumpet of one of the four state trumpeters. These trumpeters announced the heralds when they were making official proclamations.
WOODCUT, CZECHOSLOVAKIA ca.1618
GERMAN TRUMPETER FROM THE 16TH CENTURY
Woodcut by Just Amman
THE COURT TRUMPET CORPS’s PRACTICAL WAY AF PERFORMING
The trumpet corpses played by memory, to not to reveal their melodies. The few examples of written melodies are probably for teaching purposes, as show in a ”Trumpeter Book”, by Magnus Thomsen, the trumpeter of the court of King Christian 4th. The music is written down in codes, and only the second voice is given, the other four were to improvise, following special rules. There were two ways of playing, the PRINCIPAL played fanfare-like with a lot of tongue technic (2nd-, 3rd-, 4th- and 5th voice). The CLARIN played more lyrical in the high register (1st voice). The Fanfare of Touche of today, is in fact a reminisence of the playingmethod of the trumpet corpses of the renaissance court. Most places the trumpets were pitched in D: in Danmark Fanfares are still played in D. In Sweden the trumpets were pitched in Eb, likewise their Fanfares are in Eb!
FROM THE TRUMPETER BOOK by MAGNUS THOMSEN, about 1600
In addition to the original pieces (sonatas, toccatas, etc.), the hip trumpet corps play the well-known melodies of the time. A melody such as the hymn tune Let it ring that begins like this:
– was changed to consist only of natural tones:
Then the way of playing was according to the following rules:
The 2. PART (German: Principale / Italian: Sonata) played the “melody”.
-
PART (clarin) played a scale-like overtones.
The 3. PART (Alterbass / Alto e basso) was a natural tone below the 2nd part.
The 4. PART (Folgent / or Faulstimme / Vulgano) was fixed on the 3rd natural tone (the fifth in the chord).
The 5. PART (Grob / Basso) was fixed on the 2 natural tone (the basic note in the chord).
The timpani improvised between the basic note and the fifth.
When then the whole trumpet corps performed Let it ring, it could have sounded like this:
FROM OLAUS MAGNUS: CARTA MARINA, 1539
The trumpet was also used to signal on board Ships.
A BLOWING TRUMPETER
– drawing by Jacques de Gheijn II, Antwerpen, Holland (1565-1629)
THE FOUR KNIGHT MUSICIANS
Fresco in the hall of Barons, Castle of Manta, Italy
by Giacomo Jaquerio (1418-1430)
TWO TRUMPET PLAYERS TOGETHER WITH A COLLEGE THAT PLAYS ON A STRANGE BRASS INSTRUMENT
THE ADIMARI CASSONE is a tempera painting on wood by lo Scheggia (1406-1486), dating from around 1450 and kept in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy.
ANGEL BLOWING THE TRUMPET
Painting on Rosenborg Castle Denmark by Adrian van de Venne, 1643.
FEMALE TRUMPET PLAYER
GOBELIN MADE BY M. WAUTERS, THE NETHERLANDS, IN KING CHR.5’s CHAMBER, ROSENBORG CASTLE, DENMARK
From the 1600s
BEUTIFULL DECORATED DUNG-CHEN TRUMPET
China, Ming Dynasty 1368–1644
8. THE ZINK/CORNETT
The Renaissance shows us the first full-chromatic treble-lipwindinstrument, the Zink, better known as the Cornett (Italian: Cornetto). Unlike the slidetrumpet, build on the principle to lengthen the instrument, the cornett has the possibility to shorten the instrument. It is provided with fingerholes, all holes closed it provides the lowest tone, and by opening them, the aircolumn is shortened, thus making a higher tone. This idea, as we all know from the recorder, was already known in older instruments, like the Swedish shepherdhorn.
TWO CORNETT PLAYERS
– from the ceiling painting at Rosenborg Castle, 1617, Copenhagen, painted by Frantz Cleyn, 1582-1658
The Cornett is made of a round or octagonal piece of wood. The mouthpiece is usually turned from horn or sometimes boxwood, it has a very small cup diameter and a sharp rim, which can hold the embouchure with little pressure. The distance between the fingerholes can be rather big, and to make it easier to play, the instrument was often slightly curved and the musician held the instrument to the side. That made the embouchure rather special too, as the mouthpiece was held to the corner of the mouth. Because of the form and playing method, the sound and intonation of the instrument depended highly on the skills of the cornett player.
The three basic types of treble cornett are curved, straight and mute. The curved cornett, (It. cornetto curvo) is the most common type. It is about 60 cm long and made of a single block of wood cut into a curved shape and split lengthwise. A conical bore is carved out of each half, and the pieces are glued together, the exterior planed to an octagonal profile. The pieces are secured by bindings and a covering of black leather. (hence the name Black Cornett). The straight treble cornett (It. cornetto diritto) is made of wood, usually yellow boxwood (the white cornett) – with a conical bore. The mute cornett, (It. cornetto muto) is made like the straight cornett, but with a mouthpiece as an integral part of the pipe. This integral mouthpiece type had a less sharp timbre, rather a soft and velvety quality.
Furthermore there is the tenor cornett, (It. Corno torto, or cornone), 75-100 cm long and generally made with a double curve. It was pitched a 5th lower than the treble, and provided with an extra fingerhole. Finally the bass cornett pitched a 4th or 5th below the tenor.
VARIOUS CORNETTS, FROM THE BOOK BY MICHAEL PRÆTORIUS: SYNTAGMA MUSICUM (1616 – 1620)
From left to right:Curved cornett, Descant cornett (cornettino), Mute cornett and Tenor cornett.
PAINTING WITH A CORNETTIST, BY BARTHOLOMEO PASSAROTTI, (1529 – 1592)
The cornett’s tone is often described as being close to the human voice, particularly that of a boy soprano, on the other hand it is also somewhat similar to that of the oboe, and in highs it is more like the trumpet. The cornett was mainly used in accompanying choral music, often doubling the voices of the choir, but when it did not double voices it either substituted for them or played instrumental lines of sometimes great difficulty in the high register. The main part of the instrumental music of the Renaissance was not written for special instruments, and the cornett was used from the beginning of the era, together with trombones and strings. It can be heard in the music of Andrea Gabrieli (1510 – 1586) and his famous cousin Giovanni Gabrieli (1555 – 1612), both organ players in the Sct Marco church in Venice. The musical possibilities of the cornett – a flexible intonation, which enabled it to be played perfectly in tune in a range of tonalities and temperaments – made it a “virtuous” and one of the most used treble intruments of the period. ( described by the Baroque theorist Marin Mersenne as: ”a ray of sunshine piercing the shadows”)
CONCERTO VENETO
Painting from c.1556, with 2 cornetto players and 2 recorder players. Variously attributed to Bernado Licinuo da Pardenone (ca.1448-1565) and Giovanni Battista Moroni (1525-1578)
9. SPIRAL INSTRUMENTS
Humans originally used to blow on the actual horns of animals before starting making them in metal, still calling them Horns. At first most horns had this curved form, later they developed into a spiral form with one or several windings. The principle of the horn is a conical tube, but in the Renaissance the terms trumpet and horn are used simultaneous, and we know that spiral trumpets existed up til the Baroque.
HUNTING HORN PLAYER WITH A TABLATURE NOTATION FOR RHYTHM
The early horns were in effect Hunting horns, known as such from a book about hunting from 1349 (“Le Livre du Tresor de Vanerie”, by Hardouin de Fontaines Guérin ) with written hunting signals on a single tone (no staff notation, but a system of black and white squares). As the trumpets were used as a signal instrument in the military, the horns were used to communicate during the hunt. The rhythm could be written like this in modern notation:
SPIRAL INSTRUMENTS FROM THE RENAISSANCE
Left: By Virdung: Acher horn (probably made of earthenware or porcelain) and Jeger horn. Right: By Prætorius: Jäger trompet (huntsman’s trumpet)
HUNTING HORN PLAYERS
– from THE UNICORN TAPESTRIES 1495-1506, Paris/Brussels
HUNTING HORN IN G from 1590
Historiches Museum, Dreden.
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN, PLAYING A HUNTING HORN (of a kind ?)
Michiel Sweerts, Bruxselles 1618-1664
A BAKER BLOWING HIS HORN
Painting by Adrian van Ostade (1610-1685), Utrecht, Holland
HORN PLAYER
Drawing by Bracelli 1615, Rome
THE DANISH KING CHR.5s HUNTING EQUIPMENT
Painting by C.N. Gijsbrecht 1672
10. THE TROMBONE
The trombone startet as an improvement of the slide trumpet in the 15th century. By playing the slide trumpet, the player slid the whole instrument in and out, but with the trombone, the player held the bell part of the tube in his left hand, while his right moved the U-shaped tube (the slide). (see fig. 4, slide trumpet and trombone).
The Slide of the Trombone, and the 7 Positions
In moving the Slide the instruments is extended in two places, thus lowering the keynote with 7 halftones, and filling the holes in the natural harmonic series
With this slide the trombone was ”perfect”, and it is still used in the same way as at the time it was born. It got several names: Italy: trombone (tromba – trumpet and –one means big : big trumpet), France: sacqueboute (old french: sacquer : to draw out), nowadays trombone a coulisse, England: at first Sackbutt (which is nowadays used for “the old trombone”), modern Trombone, Germany: Posaune (from the Latin Buccina), and Scandinavia: Basun.
ALTO-, TENOR- AND BASS TROMBONE BY PRÆTORIUS
Pay attention to the extra tube at the tenor trombone to lenghten the instrument, and the bass trombone’s special handle, (to lenghten the players arm, which makes it possible to slide it even further) and the tuning slide.
During the Renaissance there was a entire consort of trombones: the alto-, tenor-, bass- and contrabass trombone, although the last one was rarely seen. The tenor trombone was pitched in A, the alto a fourth higher in D, or a fifth higher in E. You would think that the tenor trombone was the most common, the so called: Gemeine rechte Posaun, by Michael Praetorius in his ”Syntagma Musicum”. (other names: Tuba minor, Trombetta, Trombone piccolo) The bass trombone got its name from the difference in pitch, compared to the tenor: Quart-Posaun in E and Quint-Posaun in D. (other names: Trombon grande, Trombone majore, Tuba major) The contrabass trombone was likewise called after the difference in pitch: Octav-Posaun, or Trombone doppio, Tuba maxima, or la trombone all Ottava basso. (Praetorius: Syntagma musicum II).
FRENCH BASS TROMBONE
Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) explains in 1636 that in France, it is customary to create a bass trombone by simply adding a crook to the tenor trombone, lowering the pitch by a fourth.
BRACE/STAYS ON A RENAISSANCE/BAROUQE TROMBONE
The various parts of the instrument were not soldered, but put together with a system of braces, fastened with crooks, so the instrument could vibrate and sound freely.
A TROMBONIST FROM A PANEL PAINTING c. 1520
Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, Portugal..
The trombone was meant to be played in two ways: to produce the low Choir-tone, used by organs and thus used inside, and the high Cornett-tone for outdoor use. To make that possible the Bass trombone had a tuning slide (like the moderne tuning slide), whereas the Tenor and Alto could lower the pitch by adding small extra tubes. The old trombones had a narrow bore and a flad mouthpiece, which gave a light and allmost discreet sound. The trombone was highly populair from the start, it could play chromatic, and it worked perfect with soft instruments like recorders as well as with loud instruments like trumpets and timpani. The soft character was though the most important part, as described by the french Marin Mersenne in his book Harmonie universelle (1636 – 1637): a direct appeal to the soft character of the trombone, and a warning to play ”trumpet-like” . The German Daniel Speer states in his book Grundichtigs Unterricht der Musikalichen Kunst from 1687 that in playing the trombone you needed so little effort that a 8 – 10 year old boy easily could do so. Especially when doubling choir voices you hear a fantastic mix of voices and tones, rich in overtones, a real ”sound from heaven”.
THREE TROMBONE PLAYERS
– from the ceiling painting at the Rosenborg Castle, 1617, Copenhagen, painted by Frantz Cleyn, 1582-1658
The popularity of the trombone exploded, and it was used extensively across Europe. The English king Henry VIII (1509 – 1547) had 10 trombonists at his court. In many places the trombonists were in high favour and in Spain they were like ”Prima Donna’s”. They were the best payed musicians ever and were indirectly cause to the enlargement of the spanish organs with reed pipes as a substitute for the trombones.
FROM THE KINGS BOOK OF PAYMENTS, FOR APRIL 1532
Showing payments to eleven players of the “SAGBUT”
A BASS TROMBONIST
A painting on an the case of an organ by Christian Smith, 1643, London, England
As the trombone was fully chromatic and had great dynamic range, it was very useful and was used with many other instruments, ranging from faint-sounding recorders to loud-sounding trumpets. It can be seen in many paintings from that time:
CORONATION OF POPE PIUS III
Painting by Bernadino Pinturicchio 1503—Siena, Italy.
Documents have shown that trombone did, indeed, perform at this event.
Close up of a trombone player together with 2 shawn players:
CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN
From an altarpiece in Freiburg.
Painting by Hans Baldung 1516
Close up of a trombone angel:
CMARY AND CHILD IN GLORY
Painting by Albrecht Altdorfer c. 1522-23—Munich, Germany
Close up of a trombone angel:
11. CORNETT AND TROMBONE ENSEMBLES
The cornett and the trombones were mates from the start and were both used to double choir voices. As part of the family they played together on various occasions, f.x. when playing in consorts (music played by one instrument family) the strength was usually 2 cornetts, plus an alto-, a tenor- and a bass trombone. This wil have been the case in the work of Anthony Holborne: Pavans, Galliards, Almains, and other short Aeirs both grave and light, in five parts, for Viols, Violons, or other Musicall Winde instruments (1588), or in the original Music for His Majesty’s Sackbuts and Cornetts, by Matthew Locke, especially written for the procession at the crowning of Charles II in 1622. ( if the music was written for instruments of different instrument families, it was called broken consorts )
A CORNETTO AND A TROMBONE PLAYER
Anon. c. 1540, Basel Historical Museum
CONCERTINO DI GENTILUOMINI – ONE CORNETTO PLAYER and 4 TROMBONE PLAYERS
Oil painting by Girolamo Romanino (c. 1485-c. 1566)
Galleria Michelangelo, Bergamo, Italy
CORNETT- AND TROMBONE ENSEMBLE.
Musicians from a wedding procession. German picture c. 1590, German National Museum.
FINGERINGS AND SLIDE POSITIONS FOR A FOUR-PART ENSEMBLE OF ONE CORNETTO AND THREE TROMBONES
“Nuova Intavolatura di tromboni per Sonarli in Concerto” from “II Dolcimelo” by Arelio Virgiliano 1600.
CORNETT- AND TROMBONE PLAYERS
From title page to “Fontana d’Israel” by Johann Herman Schein, Leipzig, 1623
12. VENICE
A place where there at this time were a lot of cornettoes and trombones gathered was in Venice, Italy. Here Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612) was organist and maestro di cappella of the music from 1585 in the St. Marco Church and later also in the palace Scola Grande di San Rocco. The 2 buildings became the frame of some of the most amazing music from the Renaissance.
Fig.62 ST. MARCO CHURCH
The interior of the San Marco church with its multiple choir lofts was the inspiration for Gabrieli, to create striking spatial effects. He placed his performers all around St. Marco, and it opened up new compositional techniques, called antiphonal or polychoral music. Here one group presents a phrase, then the other group answers back in a call-and-response fashion. Both singers and instruments were used, including cornetts and trombones. Thus instrumentation which looks strange on paper, for instance a single string player set against a large group of brass instruments, could here be made to sound in perfect balance. The church itself was thus a starting point for the creation of music.
Fig.63 ST. MARCO CHURCH viewed from the inside.
In Giovanni Gabrieli’s Sonata Pian e Forte two groups respond to each other. Here, for the first time, the use of dynamics in music were given (hence the title) and it is the first piece of music especially written for certain instruments, a ”light” group existing of one cornett and three trombones, and a ”dark” group of one violin and three trombones.
Fig. 64 PALACE SCOLA GRANDE DI SAN ROCCA
Where Gabrieli’s predecessors used two choirs, he also employed up to 5 groups in his music, The Englishman Thomas Croyat tell with enthusiasm about a concert in Scola Grande di San Rocco: sometimes 16 playing together on their instruments, 10 sagbutts, 4 cornettoes and 2 Violdegambas. Gabrieli’s CANZON XVIII a 14 actally calls for 10 trombones and 4 cornetts. His SONATA XX (1615) has 22 instrumental parts & continuo (organ), an effect that almost must have surrounded the audience in sound from all sides
PALACE SCOLA GRANDE DI SAN ROCCA viewed from the inside.
13. TOWN MUSICIANS AND TOWER MUSIC
DIE MÜNCHNER STADTPFEIFER INCLUDING 2 TROMBONE PLAYERS
THIS ENSEMBLE WAS ALREADY ESTABLISHED IN 1475
FRONTPAGE TO HORA DECIMA (1669) by JOHANN PEZEL (1639-1694).
In the 17th century special Tower-music for cornetts and trombones was composed and edited for the daily Abblasen (a daily ritual, playing from the City hall tower at 10:00 a.m. and at various times during the evening) . The best known tower-music was written by 2 composers from Leipzig: Johann Pezel who wrote the “Hora Decima” ( 40 Tower Sonatas) in 1669, and “Fünff-stimmigte blasende Music” in 1685, both for 2 cornetts and 3 trombones – and Gottfried Reiche (se BAROQUE Fig. 9) who wrote “Vier und zwantzig neue Quatricinia” in1696, 4-part Sonatas for one cornett and 3 trombones
Cornett and trombone ensembles were mostly found amongst the town musicians. Wind music was extreme popular, and the cornett and the trombone were definitely higher in rank than the violin or the lute. Like the trumpeteers at the Court, the town musicians were organised in a guild. The education took about 5 years, the pupil served his apprenticeship with a master and finished his education by passing a proficiency examination. In the hierarchy of musicians you had the Kunstgeiger, (art fiddler), higher in rank were the Stadtpfeifer, (Town pipers – City wind players, Ital. Piffari) – the title of Court musician was seen as the highest possible rank.
Despite the implications of their titles, the Stadtpfeifer and Kunstgeiger were all expected to play both string and wind instruments. Stadtpfeifer enjoyed higher status than Kunstgeiger, because it was them who played the ”Abblasen”, fanfares and other short numbers from the City tower. They had more officials duties and derfor made more money. Apart from their duties as City Hall Tower players, these town musicians had the only right to play ”privat music” : music at parties, dances and weddings.
This ”signalling music” from towers developed into ”art-music”, played by cornetts and trombones on special times during the day, often litteraly as time signal. It could well be a long day for the musicians, starting off at 5 in the morning, and finishing late at night. The musicians often were bound to their working place and got nicknames like ”Tower Men”, or ”Tower Rats”. These ensembles, bands of musicians, were seen in lots of cities in most European countries, in Britain called: Band of Waits, in Holland: ”Stadspijpers”, in Germany: Stadtpfeifer and in Italy: Piffari.
THE OLD LEIPZIG TOWN HALL
THE TOWN MUSICIAN BALCONY (Stadtpfeiferbalkon) ON THE TOWER OF LEIPZIG TOWN HALL
This was where the town musicians performed the music of Pezel and Reiche. The cornettos and trombones used for the tower music from Leipzig town hall was provided by the city. For outside employment the musicians had to provide their own instruments. The town musicians here had other privileges including clothing and, until 1717, they did not pay taxes and were given free living quarters in “the Stadtpfeiffergäszlein” (little musician street) where they and their families all lived together in one house.
STADTPFEIFERBRUNNEN
In memory of the Tower Music (Stadpfeifer) tradition in Leipzig there is a fountain in the Atrium in the Neues Gewandhaus Concert Hall with a statue of a cornetto-player.
GEORG BALL UND SEINE STADTPFEIFER
Detail from the Görlitzer Triptychon (Three parted painting) in old Breslau Town Hall:
FESTESSEN DER GÖRLITZER SCHÜTZENGILDE (Town militia)
Painting by Johann Geisius 1658
The players are:
Soprano or Alto Trombone: Angellmann Stadtpfeifergeselle, Bass Shawm (early bassoon): Moller Stadtpfeifergeselle, Regal (organ): Gecxel Musicus instrum. Violin: (Georg) Ball Stadtpfeifer and Herr (leader), Cornett: Müller Stadtpfeifergeselle, Lute: (Caspar) Walthers Stadtpfeifergeselle – not visible on this clos up, the Wind-maker: Alex Tripstrille
In the Stadtpfeifer organization a young musician could be promoted from ein JUNG (apprentice) to ein GESELLE, a journeyman accountable to der HERR (his Master) for three years after completing his apprenticeship. Applying this to the Görlitz Stadtpfeifer, then Ball is Master Stadtpfeifer and his fellows are all – except the boy and Gerxel who was perhaps the organist at Der Peterskirche – Stadtpfeifergesellen.
As can be seen on the table, drinks have also been provided for the musicians
THE TRUMPETER TOWER AT KRONBORG CASTLE, ELSINORE, DENMARK
When The Royal danish Trumpet players performed on Kronborg Castle it took sometimes place on the balcony of the Trumpeter tower. They were also present during the Royal meals. It was reported that this happened when King Frederik 2 was partying at Kronborg Castle: When the king got up, raised his glass and brought out a bowl, the drums would roll and the trumpets would sound. Outside the fortress ramparts, the artillerists stood ready at the cannons and when the trumpets sounded, the artillerist saluted the king’s bowl with deafening bangs that could be heard completely across the water to Sweden (see the text after fig.22).
The Royal Danish Trumpet Players had a high rank and was well-respected, but their path to the balcony of The Trumpet Tower on Kronborg Castle was very cumbersome and “down to earth”!
The court trumpeters at Kronborg lived inside the city of Helsingør, But in waiting times between their services they stayed in this room in the Trumpeter Tower.
First they had to go up a very narrow spiral staircase:
Next they went through a narrow run full of beams and rafters:
From there, they could finally get out to The Trumpeter Balcony:
The Trumpet Balcony seen from “The Canon Tower”:
