The baroque trumpet is a musical instrument in the brass family. It was invented in the mid-20th century based on ideas from the natural trumpet of the 16th to 18th centuries and designed to allow modern performers to imitate the earlier instrument for music of that time. Often synonymous with 'natural trumpet', the term 'baroque trumpet' is often used to differentiate an instrument with added vent holes and other modern compromises, with an original or replica natural trumpet which does not.
|This section requires expansion. (March 2012)|
See natural trumpet.
Nowadays, the term "baroque trumpet" has come to mean a version of original natural trumpet with changes to suit modern players who tend to play both modern trumpet and these hybrids. These are the instruments most often employed by period instrument ensembles when choosing Historically informed performance practice. Originals are seldom used, since they are too valuable.
Some modern performers use natural trumpets, unchanged in design since the baroque era. However, the majority now choose baroque trumpets constructed with vents, which were not used in the baroque. The use of natural vs baroque trumpets is controversial and this article aims to provide a balanced view from both sides. But in general, most professional trumpeters regard the modern baroque trumpet, with at least one vent hole, as a necessary compromise to ensure acceptable intonation and secure attacks for players of modern trumpets, while still providing an approximation of the original sound.
The most important reason for using a vented trumpet is providing for alternative tunings for problematic notes. The harmonic series is mostly "in tune" but there are a few notes which are "off-centre". It is normal for natural trumpet players to lip notes into tune (see Natural trumpet), but players moving from the modern trumpet are not used to lipping notes as far, leading them to revert to vented instruments.
Temperaments of the period range centre on just intonation and meantone temperament. The harmonic series of the trumpet requires less lipping to these period temperaments, than when playing in the equal temperament that modern players are used to.
The out-of-tune f2 and a2 are usually sounded only briefly in passing. Baroque composers such as Bach and Handel were careful not to ask their trumpeters to "dwell" on the f2 and a2 for any length of time. The other out-of-tune notes (B♭ in both octaves) are even less frequently used, while the 11th harmonic is closer to an F# and usually played as such. Within the context of meantone temperament, the 11th harmonic is very nearly in tune.
With two times the length of tubing compared to a modern trumpet, the natural trumpet has harmonics much closer together and therefore the risk of a performer hitting the wrong harmonic is higher. But also it is almost impossible to hit a harmonic that conflicts with the harmony, and the effect is a direct parallel of an expressive ornament.
Lipping notes into tune increases the chance of a missed-note, but the improved acoustics of a trumpet constructed without the need for vents somewhat makes up for the difference.
A common view is that in an era of recordings, conductors usually prefer trumpet players to have utmost accuracy in pitch and tuning than the authentic sound, leading them to using the vented compromise.
Some baroque trumpets have been made using modern manufacturing methods, not the hand hammered technique exercised by the master craftsmen like Schnitzer, Haas, Hainlein, Ehe, and others. There is evidence, for example, that the bore anomalies of museum originals may favor certain notes, making it possible to "lip" the out-of-tune notes with greater ease. This characteristic is absent in factory-made instruments, with their geometrically perfect bore. These bore anomalies include (but are not limited to) imperfectly soldered-seam tubing and telescoping joints. Each of the five joints-- crook or bit to 1st yard; 1st yard to distal bow; distal bow to 2nd yard; 2nd yard to proximal bow; and proximal bow to bell section-- represents a "choke-point", the upstream tubing being shrunk to telescope into the expanded downstream ferrule. The slight acoustical perturbations so produced suggest a further eroding of the harmonic series' rigidity and, a consequently greater flexibility available to the player.(As a side note, these joints are friction fit without the use of solder)
- "Acoustically, the introduction of nodal vent holes, which need to be positioned relative to the total length of tubing, necessitates tuning slides (usually made from machine-drawn tubing), separate back bows, "yards" and mouth-pipes for different keys; meaning thicker walls, bows and variations in bore and conicity in the wrong places; needing compensation with a conical lead-pipe, which changes bell acoustics, and so on."
A natural trumpet is audibly different from a baroque one constructed with vents, even if the holes are covered. And when a vent is uncovered it is noticeably weaker still and less resonant. Modern performers choosing to play vented instruments avoid the difficulty of vented notes being heard clearly, since baroque scores generally only use the particular out-of-tune notes in passing.
- "[Use is] negating the possibility of playing many of the articulations indicated by composers or using a wooden transposing mute."
Pictures of natural trumpet players show the instrument nobly pointing upwards, held in one hand. Modern instruments with vents usually require two hands and the instrument pointing downwards. Also the breathing space of the player is less open.
How it works
When opened, the vent hole creates a node, or a position along the vibrating air column where the pressure variations are at a minimum. This creates a transposition—in the case of a single thumb vent hole, the entire harmonic series of the trumpet is shifted up by a fourth.
Players in continental Europe most commonly use modern replicas built with one hole, such as with the "Modell Tarr" made by Ewald Meinl Musikinstrumentenbau GmbH of Germany, whose hole is usually covered by the right thumb. Most of the time, the hole remains covered, allowing the instrument to sound in its original key, whether B♭, C, D, E♭, or F. In order to play the out-of-tune 11th and 13th harmonics (notated f2, and a2), for example, the player opens the thumb vent hole and plays the f2 and a2 as the 8th and 10th harmonics of the new series.
Three or four vents
It tends to be British players who prefer baroque trumpets with three or four holes, allowing the player to make half-step transpositions and blow a relatively easy high C.
An example of a multi-hole baroque trumpet is the coiled Jägertrompete made by Helmut Finke, used by the Concentus musicus Wien on many of their early recordings. However, this model has fallen out of favor with period instrument groups, and is seldom used nowadays.
Mention should be made of the role of the mouthpiece in re-creating an "authentic" performance. Many trumpeters today continue to use a version of their modern mouthpiece on the baroque trumpet, fitted with a larger shank. This is unfortunate, since the art of playing in the highest clarino (clear) register depended to a great extent on the typical shallow-cupped mouthpiece of the period. When using this type of mouthpiece, there is not only a greater ease in the upper register but also a lighter, less forceful sound. The latter blends better, is less tiring to the player, and is far more appropriate when performing with other baroque-style instruments.
- Smithers, Don L. 1988 The Music and History of the Baroque Trumpet before 1721. 2nd edition. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Barclay, Robert. 1998. A New Species of Instrument: The Vented Trumpet in Context. Historic Brass Journal, vol. 10: p.1-13.
- Barclay, Robert. 1992. The Art of the Trumpet-Maker. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Barclay, Robert, The Art of Trumpet Maker, Clarindon Press, 1996
- Holier Than Thou, Mike Diprose, Early Music Review 138, October 2010
- Steele-Perkins, Crispian. 2001. The Trumpet. London: Kahn & Averill.
- Crispian Steele-Perkins interview by Bruce Duffie
- Early Trumpet History and Connection to the Baroque-Era Natural Trumpet