A Renaissance Correspondence concerning Trumpet Music

Author(s): Peter Downey

Source: Early Music, Vol. 9, No. 3, Wind Issue (Jul., 1981), pp. 325-329
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3126829
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 A renaissance correspondence
concerning trumpet music
Peter Downey

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In 1548 Augustus, found in the 'Auslendises

Elector of Saxony, registrant
m d
daughter of 57', where
King it comes as an addition toIII
Christian a document
of De
result, the royal Danish
dealing with variouscourt atTheCopenh
non-musical matters. entire
electoral Saxon court at Dresden be
letter is on -f.220-24 (the material presented here is
linked in the from ff.222v-223v).
political and The second
inletter is found in thesphe
other
survived well into
sectionthe 17th
'T.K.U.A. Sachsen. century.
A III. Forskellige Akter og
Dokumenter 1555-1764 og udaterede',
interest is a correspondence of 1557 and is dated con
court trumpeters and their
5 April 1557. music,
It is in fact the for
second letter of that date it
latter in a detail from Elector Augustus to King Christian
unsurpassed in III, and
any
sance source.
replies to the king's letter of 3 February. The tran-
The letters from which the following passages
scription retains are and contractions of the
the spelling
taken are preserved in the Royal
original.Archive inor supplied editorially in
Words expanded
Copenhagen. The first is from Kingthe translation
Christian areIII
here enclosed within square
and
was sent to Elector Augustus on 3 brackets.
February 1557. It is

EARLY MUSIC JULY 1981 325

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 1 1
Zettell
Auchfreundtlicher geliepter Oheim Sohn vnnd gefatter. Nach dem
wir wissen vnnd kein Zweiffel habenn, das E.L. vnns zu allem R--
uillen geneigt sein vnns auch zu gutt halttenn, so wir dieselbe mit
schlechten dingen bemuhenn.
Derwegenn wir souil dest Kecker sein E.L. mit allerley
zubeschweren, wie wir dann wollenn, vnnd vatterlich pittenn, E.L.
hinnwidder thun wolttenn, sonst wnstenn wir E.L. auch pillich mit
solchenn geringenn dingen zuuerschenen.
Als mochten wir E.L. vatterlich vnnd R- vnbelangt nichtt
lassenn. Nachdem vnns etzlich vnnser besten Trommeter abgangen,
die vf allerleyJnstrumentenn geubt wahrenn, das wir nuhn etzlicher
guttenn hinwiderJnn mangell stehn. Wiewol wir dannoch etzlich
habenn, die gutt Trommeter vnndJnstrumentisten sein, so wolttenn
wir doch auch gem dz dieJn dem welschblasenn mochten geubt sein.
Weil wir dann wissenn dz E.L. trommeter vf dem welschblassenn
vhor andern geubt, dessen wir die vnnsern, wiewol sie ettwas
daruon konnen, auch gem woll vndricht habenn wolttenn.
Als gesynnen wir vatterlich vnnd R- E.L. wolle vnbeschwerdt
sein vns durch Jre Trommeter die Welschsdischblass- vnnd
Reitmassenn zum Einzuge Jnn Nottenn vnnd mit dem Texte
abzeichnenn lassenn, wie E.L. Trommeter solchs blasen, vnd vnns
solchs R-. vnbeschwerdt zuschickenn, dz die vnnsern dem genws sich
vb ein vnderricht mochten werdenn.
Wir hettenn auchwol einen Heerpaucker vonnottenn. Ob E.L.
vnns einen Jungen gesellen, der vf dem paucken geubt, durch Jre
Trommeter konten zu weg bringenn. Des gleiche_ einen
Trommeter, der ein Junger gesell vnd mit welschblassen auch
zuhofiren zugebrauchen wehr vf Zincken, Zwerpfeiffenn vnnd
andern Jnstrument_. Darumb wolten wir E.L. freundtlich
gebettenn habenn, Sie solttenn zur gebur wol vnd erhalttenn
werdenn E.L. wolle vnns R-- zu gutt halttenn, dz wir dieselb mit
disen geringen dingen beschweren, dann wir wie vhor angezeigt die
Hofunnge geschepfft, dz E.L. vnns solchs nicht verargenn,
derhalbenn wir auch souil dest drister E.L. bemuhenn.
2 2
Nachdeme Euer Ko: W. Jnn Jrem schreibenn so s" bey Claus
bothenn an vns gethan viiterlich an vns begert sy mitt einemjungen
gesellenn der ein Welscher Drommetter vnnd darneben auch auf
andnn MusicalischennJnstrumenten konte, damit Er zum hofirenn
zugebrauchenn were, defi gleichenn mitt einem Hoerpaucker
sohulich zuuorsehenn. Darzu werenn wir nicht allain willigk vnnd
gnaigt, sondernn were vns auch ein sontlichefreude, wann wirJnn
deme Euer Ko: W. freundtlich wilfarenn kontenn.
Wir m6genn aber Euer Ko: W. soarlich vnnd freundtlich nicht
unbericht lassenn, das Jnn kurzer Zeitt alle vnnsere welschenn
Trompetenn auch die andtn WelschennJnstrumentistenn bif aufJr
Zwene die nicht Trumpeter sein, vielleicht aufi cd vrsachenn, das
JnennJre Monatliche besoldung so sji zuuern an gelde gehabt nicht
mehr gefolgt, Vngeachtett das wir einem neben cd Kost, Kleidung
vnnd Herwerge Jnn Zweyhundtt gulde Jharlich dinstgeldt
gegebenn, witJnn Jtalienn gezogenn, also das wir Jtziger Zeitt
326 EARLY MUSIC JULY 1981
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Memorandum
Moreover, dear nephew and friend, as we know (and do
not doubt) that YLourl Hlighnessl is always R[oyallyl and
favourably inclined towards us and our well-being, we wish
to bring some trifling matters to your attention.
Although we have already burdened YH with so many
things, we would like, and paternally request, YH to help
us once more; besides, we would like YH to fulfil our
trifling requirements.
We hope that YH would have paternal and R concern
that some of our best trumpeters, who could play on all
sorts of instruments, have left our service. Therefore,
although we still have a few (who are good trumpeters and
instrumentalists), we nevertheless require some good
replacements as we wish them to practise the Italian style.
Knowing that YH's trumpeters play the Italian style better
than others, we would really and truly like to have some of
these, as many as you can spare.
Furthermore, we hope that YH would paternally and R
like to help us by permitting us, through your trumpeters,
to obtain the Italian blowing-at-table and cavalry signals,
just as YH's trumpeters play them, written down in musical
notation and with a descriptive commentary, so that ours
may be able to establish the same style properly.
We also need a timpanist: could YH, through your trum-
peters, send us an apprenticed youth who can play timpani,
and, moreover, a trumpeter, who is also an apprenticed
youth, and who can play the Italian style and also cornetts,
schwerpfeiffls and other instruments at court? We would
also like YH to inform us of the fees and maintenance for
good employ, for we are also troubled with these trifling
things. All of these things, as stated above, will be used at
court so that YH will not complain that we have presumed
to trouble YH so much.
Moreover, in your letter brought to us by Claus Bott Y[ourJ
Rloyal] H[ighness] paternally requested us to furnish you
with an apprenticed youth, who is an Italian trumpeter and
who can also play on other musical instruments at court,
and also a timpanist. We are not only willing and pleased
on that account, but, moreover, are particularly delighted
when we can comply with YRH's friendly requests.
However, in all friendliness we must inform YRH that
recently all of our Italian trumpeters (and also the other
Italian instrumentalists, apart from two who are not
trumpeters) have returned to Italy, apparently because they
did not get enough money for their monthly wage, despite
the fact that we gave them, in addition to board and
clothing, two hundred gulden per year service payment.
Thus we have no Italian trumpeters at present, only
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2 'Der Feldt Trommeter' by Jost Ammann, from L. Fronsperger, Kriegsbuch (Frankfurt am Main, 2/1573). Various military signals are
mentioned, including 'To the Standard'

EARLY MUSIC JULY 1981 327

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kainenn welschenn Trumpetter sonctn nuhr Deutzsche die das Germans who have learnt the Italian style. But, as none of
welsche blasenn gelernett, aber sonst darnebenn kainer Kam. these is an instrumentalist, in order to maintain our instru-
Musicus otjnstrumentist ist, habenn vnnd vnsere MusicamJnstru- mental music, we have written to Italy for others so that we
mentalem mit noch erhaltenn. Wir habenn aber Jn Jtaliam nach may once more provide for the same; YRH may rest
andtn geschriebenn, vorschenn vns at selben widtzu bekhommenn,
assured that we will be most diligent not to forget him.
kinnen wir dann E. Ko: W. begerngung thun soll er ann vnnserm
bestenn feis vnnd sohulichem willenn nicht mangelnn.
So ist vns auch vnlangt vnnser Hierpaucker ethwa fur andert Similarly, our timpanist died only half a year ago and we
halbenJharenn gestorbenn, das wir denn so vonnJme gelernettJtzo have had to use the [apprentice] he had trained. However,
brauchenn mussn. Wir lassenn aber einenn bubenn der alberaitt we are most willing to send YRH a boy who has been
eine gute Zeitt angefangen vonnjme lernenn, So balt trechtfertigk learning from him for some time, as soon as he has
mitt dem schlage wirdt, wollenn Euer Kon: W. wir denselbigenn mastered [the art of] the [drum-lbeating.
freundtlich willigk schickenn.
Deft gleichenn schickenn E. Ko: W. die Welschenn aufblasenn Furthermore, we are sending YRH the Italian signals for
zum Satteln, zum aufsitz. vnnd zurfahne auch etzliche einzuge 'Boots and Saddles', 'Mount Up' and 'To the Standard', as
od Reittmassenn mitt dem feurtruckenn, vnd auf der wache, mitt well as a few signals, such as 'Retire' and 'The Watch';
sambt einer Sonade. auf das tischblasenn so vnnsere Trompetter moreover, a sonata which our trumpeters use for blowing-
gebrauchenn, Jnn noten gestelt nach Jrenn Sechs stimmen vnnd at-table, which is set in music and is played in six parts,
according to the Italian trumpeters' method, which the
fellen, auf &t welschen Drompett_ gerichtett, wie die Drommetter
woll verstehenn werde-. Vnnd wiewoll der Sonade. zum trumpeters will easily understand. And as the sonatas for
blowing-at-table are many and are often changed, we have
tischblasenn viel sein vnnd offtmals veranctt werdenn, habenn wir
doch Euer Ko: W. erstmals die Cemainste vnnd brauchlichste zu YRH the most common and most used example ...
sent
schickenn wollenn . ..

This correspondence is extremely important, for it Heinrich L

settles many questions about trumpeters and their (contempo
music during the Renaissance, from which period no head trum
music and little documentary evidence is available. been inter
Previous researchers have assumed that the renais- unable to w
sance trumpeters could not in the main read music the unusu
and 'learned their art and their repertory in a time- Thomsen
honoured fashion; by an aural, unwritten tradition,proof has
with the master passing on his knowledge and reper- Altenburg
tory to the apprentice'.' Furthermore, the existencepassed on
of the trumpet books of the Danish court trumpetersobtaining
written almost two centuries later and at a time when

t 0,
the trumpet guild was under attack from the town
musicians, it is dangerous to use its evidence to
IL
explain the practices of a time when that very trumpet
guild was not even in existence (it was instituted in

:jje 1623).
In the correspondence it is clear that the trum-
peters were competent musicians and that, above all,
they could read music. Moreover, it is also clear that
the Danish king wanted the 'Italian style' for his
Jl; i court. What was this Italian style? The Italian style
was a method of trumpet playing which Italian trum-
peters introduced to the courts as they gradually
travelled northwards across Europe, from the end of
the 15th century to the end -of the 16th, reaching
3 The Denmark in 1557.
entry of Two categories
Empero of this style are
from an found. The first consists of military signals,
engraving by which H

328 EARLY MUSIC JULY 1981

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belong to the earliest repertory of the trumpet. These
the Italians standardized and added to by intro-
ducing two new signals, which are distinguished in
the sources (Thomsen and Bendinelli) by being one
harmonic higher than the others; indeed, one of
them is specified as 'al'Ittaliana' by Bendinelli. In the
second category we find the trumpeters' sonatas; this
made up the ensemble music played by trumpeters at
meal times, whence the term 'blowing-at-table'.
These pieces, as presented in the surviving sources,
have only one part notated-the Principal part, from
which the other players constructed their own parts,
following a set of performing rules described by
Bendinelli, and also by Michael Praetorius.5 Thus the
'six parts' mentioned by Elector Augustus comprise:
1 The Clarin, who played in the diatonic range c"-a"
2 The Principal, who played from the sole notated
part on the natural harmonics c', e', g', c", some-
times rising to d" or even e"
phenomenon; indeed, all the evidence shows that,
before being exported northwards across Europe, it
had evolved in northern Italy (where most of these
Italian trumpeters came from) at the end of the 15th
century.
To summarize then: the music presented in the
trumpet books of Heinrich Libeck, Magnus Thom-
sen and Cesare Bendinelli must now be viewed as
representing a century-old practice rather than a new
style of playing developed at the end of the 16th
century. This is confirmed both by the corre-
spondence given above and also by the movements of
the Italian trumpeters, who spread this Italian style
across Europe. As an added bonus, the type of music
played by court trumpeters at royal weddings,
celebrations and on other occasions at court during
the Renaissance may now be identified with a greater
degree of certainty, rather than merely speculated
upon.

3 The Alter Bass, who played one harmonic lower This article was made possible by grants from the Department
than the Principal as a rule of Education for Northern Ireland and the Undervisnings-
4 The Volgant, who played the note g ministeriet of Denmark, and forms part of a thesis in progress
5 The Grob, who played the note c on the trumpet and its music in the late Renaissance and
6 The Fladdergrob, who played the fundamental, C; early Baroque.
this became obsolete during the 17th century.
' D. Smithers, The Music and History of the Baroque Trumpet before
To these could be added a pair of timpani, which 1721 (London, 1973), p. 138
were tuned to G and c. 2 Excerpts printed in Das Erbe deutscher Musik, vii (Kassel, 1936);
That 'the trumpeters will easily understand' how tothe originals are preserved in Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copen-
hagen.
play the Italian style shows that although the trum- I Facsimile ed. E. H. Tarr in Documenta musicologica, 2nd ser., v
peters at the Danish court did not yet use this style, (Kassel and Basle, 1975)
they were well aware of that method of playing and of 4 Versuch einer Anleitung zur heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter- und
Pauker-Kunst (Halle, 1795); Eng. trans. ed. E. H. Tarr (Nashville,
the procedures involved in performing such music.Tenn., 1974), p.93
The indications are that this style was not a new5 Syntagma musicum, iii (WolfenbOttel, 2/1619/R1958), pp. 171-2
't'

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Ackermann (London, 1817)

EARLY MUSIC JULY 1981 329

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