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The Evolution of Trumpet Music up to Fantini

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1974

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Extract

It is well known that the sounds of the natural trumpet before the Classical period present themselves to us on two distinct planes of pitch, each associated with a particular musical character and technical requirement, or in a word, style. One style involves the diatonic range supplied by high harmonics of the instrument from the 8th upwards, and was described by German trumpeters as Clarin. This is also the register of the English ‘Trumpet Tune’, and we now tend largely to identify the old natural trumpet with this style, which was produced on the whole fairly softly and with, as Johann Ernst Altenburg wrote, as close an approach as possible to the expressions of other musical instruments. Below this in range, where the trumpet was confined to the sounds of a common chord, falls the register of the Principal and also of the cavalry calls. It was produced in an esoteric trumpet style, robust and with strong emphasis on rapid articulation of single notes with the tongue.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1977 The Royal Musical Association and the Authors

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References

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