So far in this brass chamber music series, I have explored the quartet, trio, sextet and septet, which are all groups of mixed brass instruments. Of course, there can be trombone choirs, horn quartets, and tuba-euphonium quartets (two different instruments, but basically homogenous). For us trumpeters, there is the trumpet ensemble. You might think this is a group with pretty limited repertoire, but you would be wrong.

The trumpet ensemble has been around seemingly forever, because of the military nature of trumpets. Armies have, up until the time of modern communication, have needed trumpeters to convey signals. And these military trumpeters have always seemed to get together to play duets, trios, quartets, quintets and more. Starting with the first method books for trumpet, such as those by Magnus Thomsen and Hendrick Lübeck, Cesare Bendinelli and Girolamo Fantini, we see trumpeters writing down trumpet ensemble pieces that were part of their tradition. To my mind, the baroque trumpet ensemble has a unique and wonderful sound. In this post, I’ll explore some trumpet ensemble pieces written for the natural baroque trumpet (without valves).

Perhaps one of the earliest written-down trumpet ensemble pieces was by Claudio Monteverdi in his “Toccata” from his opera Orpheo. Here is the University of Kentucky baroque trumpet ensemble, led by Jason Dovel, playing an extended version of this piece:

Here is a wonderful recording of an 18th-c. anonymous piece from Weyarn led by Julian Zimmermann:

There were hundreds of pieces written down for baroque trumpet ensembles. Here is an ensemble led by Iginio Conforzi playing the Second Entrata Imperiale by Fantini. Notice the intricate form and possibilities for using different spaces and different contrasting instruments for making this performance interesting:

 

Here is a piece by the famous 19th-c. composer Anton Diabelli:

Here is a split-screen video recording of Heinrich Biber’s Sonata a 7. This trumpet ensemble piece requires “basso continuo” (organ and bassoon in this case).

On my next post, I’ll explore some of the wonderful trumpet ensemble pieces for modern trumpets.

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