The Manuscripts
There are only two manuscripts known to contain music written for the trumpet which can be dated to the 16th century and they both originate in the court of Christian IV of Denmark. Written by the German Hoftrompeters Magnus Thomsen (1562-1612) and Henrich Lübeck (d. 1619) during their time working as court trumpeters at the royal court of Denmark, 1596-1612 and 1596-1619, respectively1, Lübeck’s is dated 1598 but there is no indication on Thomsen’s, they are the oldest documents of trumpet music to be preserved to this day. As the only manuscripts of the 16th century, they are an immensely important source to understand what and how trumpet ensembles played, and among Cesare Bendinelli’s (c. 1542-1617) Tutta l’arte della Trombetta (1614), they are the only manuscripts to represent a style of music played in European courts throughout the 16th century. They contain hundreds of so-called sonatas, which consist of a fanfare-like melody in the principal register which is repeated and expanded upon several times, usually becoming more rhythmically elaborate each time. The Thomsen manuscript also includes a few shorter fanfares such as Toccedas, Ingangs, Serrenedas and duets.
The first sonata in Magnus Thomsen's manuscript: 2
One of the most unique aspects of these manuscripts is that all of the music, except a few examples, is written in the principal register. Both Thomsen and Lübeck worked at a rich court with a lot of trumpeters and had apprentices, an honour reserved for experienced trumpeters 3; they must have been formidable trumpeters. Yet they wrote all this music in a register which is today considered suitable for beginners, while any serious piece of later trumpet music intended for professionals will go well into the upper octave. We must consider the function and purpose of their manuscripts as well as the culture of trumpet playing. The role of the Hoftrompeter or head trumpeter was to lead an ensemble where every piece of music or signal had to be learned by heart and memorized 4, and there could be dozens of different signals which would be changed frequently so that the enemy armies would not catch on to the meaning of the signals 5. The tradition of trumpet playing was completely oral and was explicitly kept secret within the trumpet guilds 6. Thus, the most important qualities of a trumpet player would not have been virtuosity, but the knowledge of signals and the ability to memorize. The head trumpeters had to lead, therefore they had to know all of the music to be able to lead the ensemble and to be able to teach the signals.
Regrettably, we will never know for certain to which purpose they wrote their manuscripts but perhaps they served as their own personal notebooks to remind them of their music. Lübeck includes a register in his book, providing the basic motif of each sonata but it is only useful if one is really familiar with the pieces because some of the motifs are so incredibly similar. They could also have been for composing their own pieces, but we cannot know if the sonatas are by them or if it is material which they have only compiled. The manuscripts could also have been meant for teaching, for their apprentices to learn the sonatas, however, Lübeck’s book is marked as his own on the first page with the words translated from German: “Heinrich Lübeck rightly owns this book and it is dear to him” 7. They were certainly not meant to be played from as music training was not a part of the trumpeters education and in any case, it would have been difficult to read from a book whilst playing from horseback and if they were standing, they would not have had stands. Praetorius mentions in his Syntagma musicum III that trumpeters able to read music may not always be available, in regards to using trumpets in church music, but they can still join in by playing their “usual sonaden” 8, implying that trumpeters played sonatas, the bulk of the contents of the Thomsen and Lübeck manuscripts, without reading music.
Lübeck: The register demonstrates each incipit of the manuscript's contents 9
Bendinelli’s Tutta l’arte della Trombetta (1614) is less ambiguous in its purpose. It is clearly pedagogical, the title literally meaning “The entire art of the Trumpet”. Bendinelli graces us with a generous preface and regular short texts throughout his book explaining how to play the music, making it one of, if not the most valuable source on late renaissance trumpet playing. The book cannot strictly be called a method book for the trumpet, as it is more of a collection of trumpet music, ranging from “antique” fanfares to contemporary signals and sonatas. Bendinelli adds comments throughout the book explaining bits of performance practice of the pieces, but we still have to fill in a lot of gaps as he does not explain things which he must have considered obvious or self explanatory. He likely compiled the book during his time working at the court of the duke of Bavaria, from 1580 until his death in 1617, where he lead an ensemble of 6 trumpeters 10, a number reflected in his treatise, and he presented it to the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona in 1614 at the age of 72, thus passing his knowledge on to the coming generations 11.
Bendinelli himself was a musician and was recognized throughout his career as an Instrumentalist, Musikus, Oberster Trompeter and even Komponist (composer)12. It was by no means a given that trumpeters were considered musicians and the requirement for working as a court trumpeter was not to be trained in music but to have gone on at least one military campaign 13. Bendinelli was trained in music, he served as a trombone player at the court of Scherwin before gaining a position as a trumpeter at the imperial court in Vienna in 1567 14. The fact that he was initially employed as an instrumentalist at the Bavarian court indicates that he played multiple instruments, such as was expected of professional musicians at the time, but trumpet was not normally one of those instruments. There was a clear separation between the professions, as seen from the division of wages at Christian IV’s court 15, the different duties required of trumpeters and the trumpeters guilds. Bendinelli’s position as an instrumentalist does not indicate that trumpeters at court were expected to play other musical instruments, but rather that he was a multitalented man and was both a musician and trumpeter, reflected in his later titles as Oberster Trompeter (head trumpeter) and Komponist (composer). Being trained in music, his Tutta l’arte della Trombetta is much more clear in terms of notation, rhythm and indeed correct writing of music than the Danish manuscripts, giving us a clearer insight into the style which all three manuscripts depict. Although Bendinelli was Italian, he served German courts throughout his entire career, marking a connection to Thomsen and Lübeck, who surely apprenticed in Germany before going to Denmark.
Not much is known about Magnus Thomsen and Henrich Lübeck, other than they were German and they worked at the court of Christian IV of Denmark. Most of the trumpeters at the court were either German or took an apprenticeship with a German trumpeter 16, as a result, the style of playing must have been quite German, which should not come as a surprise considering Christian IV’s affiliation with the empire and interest in its politics. Luckily, Bendinelli’s Tutta l’arte della Trombetta, the only other source on 16th century trumpet playing, is also a source on German playing despite being written in Italian, as Bendinelli worked in German courts throughout his whole career. We can safely say that Bendinelli’s writings are applicable to the Danish manuscripts, as the sonatas are stylistically very similar and they were all written by trumpeters affiliated with the German empire. It is also known that trumpeters traveled frequently within the empire, often exchanging signatures with trumpeters they met 17, and Christian’s trumpeters were of no exception as they were often sent on missions to Germany18.
The most extensive source on early baroque trumpet playing is Girolamo Fantini’s Modo per Imparare a sonare di Tromba, Tanto di Guerra Quanto Musicalmente in Organo, con Tromba Sordina, col Cimbalo, e ogn’ altro istrumento published in 1638. The title translated to English: “A method to learn to sound the Trumpet, both in War as in Musical Harmony, with Muted Trumpet, with Harpsichord, and any other instrument”, it is the oldest method book for the trumpet and the first to present music for solo trumpet accompanied by a keyboard instrument. The bulk of Fantini’s book is focused on a new style of trumpet playing and Fantini even refers to the old style as haphazard, and he aims to elevate the trumpet to the status of other “perfect instruments”19. Presumably, the “old style” is the military and ceremonial style of playing such as that of the Bendinelli, Thomsen and Lübeck manuscripts and the new style is based on how music was played on other instruments and not related to the military culture of trumpet playing. Fantini attempts to bring musical practices from other instruments to the trumpet by demonstrating how to play a trillo 20, such as seen in the first part of Francesco Rognoni’s Selva de varii passaggi 21, and he often includes them in the pieces later in the book. He also includes articulation exercises 22 very similar to Rognoni's articulation exercise for the cornetto in the second part of Selva de varii passaggi 23.
Although most of the book is a collection of virtuosic baroque music in the clarino register, to be played with organ, Fantini gives us many clues about earlier trumpet playing. The beginning is clearly intended to teach the “old” style, being titled “Principio di Tromba nominato dalla Musica, e dallo stile delli antichi Trombetti”x meaning “Starting with the notes of the trumpet named in Music, and the style of the ancient trumpet players”; he starts by naming all the notes of the trumpet and how they are written in the stave, and then comes a section of toccatas and military signals in a familiar style to the older manuscripts. Despite this section being stylistically about the “ancient trumpets”, it clearly has a pedagogical purpose. The toccatas and signals gradually become longer, more rhythmically complex, and increase in range, featuring frequent and at times unnecessary changes of clefs, perhaps intended as exercises for the student trumpeter in reading music. Another point to consider about this section is that Fantini places his exercises on articulation and trillo between the toccatas and signals, but they do not belong to the “ancient trumpet”. The trillo belongs to the 17th century and is impossible to execute in the register associated with toccatas and military signals; the same goes for his articulation exercises. Fantini also includes a trumpet ensemble sonata in the style of the earlier manuscripts 26, however, it is particularly interesting because he includes two possible clarino parts and, of the earlier manuscripts mentioned before, only Bendinelli wrote three examples of a clarino part for a sonata. Also interesting is that Fantini wrote an Intrada for the sonata, of which there are only three previous examples, one in the Thomsen manuscript27, another in Mersenne’s Harmonie Universelle 28 and one Bendinelli’s Tutta l’arte della Trombetta 29. Fantini also includes a short toccata like segment between the intrada and the sonata, a feature not seen in the other manuscripts. Finally, Fantini also includes a written Rotta, a segment which Bendinelli describes as being improvised at the end of a sonata and gives some examples 30; in comparison, Lübeck ends all of his sonatas with a written rotta, the Thomsen manuscript has none.
To understand the difference between Fantini’s book and the older manuscripts, we must compare his career to those of Bendinelli, Lübeck and Thomsen. Born in 1600 31, Fantini was quite a bit younger than the other three, truly belonging to the first generation of the baroque period. While they apprenticed in the late 16th century in Germany, Fantini was of the next generation and although not much is known of his early life, he was probably from Spoleto, Italy 32. Even though there was no clear cut stylistic difference that happened immediately in the beginning of the 17th century, Fantini was definitely spearheading a new trend in trumpet playing. On the one hand we have the last of the renaissance trumpeters and on the other Fantini might be considered one of the first truly baroque trumpeters. While he worked at a court, as had been customary for prestigious trumpeters since at least the late 15th century, he had much more musical freedom. He was famous in Italy, even referred to as “the greatest trumpeter in all of Italy” in a letter to Marin Mersenne in 1636 33, probably because he did something unique; he played soloistic music accompanied by organ, the first ever documented account being in 1634 with Girolamo Frescobaldi 34. The bulk of Fantini’s book is dedicated to trumpet accompanied by keyboard, and he dedicated his music to noble families around Italy, perhaps trying to earn favours. He was an artist and he treated the trumpet as a musical instrument, something unheard of at the time.
The trumpet ensemble sonata did not die with Fantini, despite the radical evolution in trumpet music. Daniel Speer presents two Aufzugs for an ensemble of 6 or 7 seven trumpets 35 in his Grund-richtiger Unterricht der Musicalischen Kunst (1697), as examples of ensemble music played with trumpets. Although these two pieces are much shorter than the sonatas of Bendinelli, Thomsen and Lübeck, they exhibit the same characteristics, namely a fanfare like principal part, which according to Speer 36 should lead the ensemble, much like described by Bendinelli, a short theme which is repeated, and the other voices follow the principal, written by Speer exactly how they are described by Bendinelli and Praetorius. The term Aufzüge refers to music played at German speaking courts at ceremonial processions, festive meals and other courtly festivities as a sort of entrance fanfare, as opposed to the Auszüge as an ending fanfare 37. Perhaps the sonatas of the early manuscripts served a similar purpose, described to be played “... in the field, at princely courts, or in other places”38 by Bendinelli, or according to Praetorius “Just like a praeambulam and final, which … the trumpeters use when they summon to table, before they commence their sonatas”39. Praetorius also writes in Syntagma musicum III that the sonatas are played at banquets and at dances. 40
Aufzüge for six trumpets by Daniel Speer: 41
Ironically, the oldest musical example of a courtly trumpet ensemble is not a manuscript or a piece of sheet music but an actual sound example which we can still listen to today. The Trompeterautomat is a music box made by watchmaker Hans Schlottheim (c.1544/47 - 1624/25) in 1582 in Augsburg 42, which depicts a trumpet ensemble playing a short piece with a timpanist. A beautiful and detailed object, richly ornamented, it displays 10 trumpeters in two groups of 5 facing each other with the timpanist placed in the middle, above both groups. Each trumpeter holds a detailed trumpet with the characteristic wide bell and short mouthpiece of 16th century instruments, and it is important to note that despite the timpanist being rather a caricature of an African, larger military kettledrums (such as the ones being played on the box) originally came from the middle east and were still gaining roots in Europe during the 16th century 43, thus there was still a strong association with the exotic. The box itself bears the Bavarian coat of arms, however the trumpeters have the Austrian flag hung on their trumpets, suggesting that it may be depicting the imperial trumpet corps. It would be dubious at best to take the sound of a music box as an absolute truth of historical music practice, but it does confirm that some practices seen in later sources are also applicable in the 16th century. The box confirms that trumpeters played in groups of five and multiples thereof, as stated by Bendinelli 44 and that, during the 16th century, the low trumpets also played drones on the low harmonics, as heard in the music played by the box, such as suggested by Speer in 1697 45. There are also clearly separate principal and clarino parts, individually corresponding to the patterns which we see in Bendinelli’s Tutta l’arte della Trombetta. However, it is hard to hear a connection between the timpani, principal, and clarino, they seem to play quite individually. Possibly, this could indicate that trumpet ensembles were not too bothered by their playing not quite being together, or perhaps more likely is that this un-togetherness stems from the object being an early music box. Finally, an important clue from the Trompeterautomat is that the groups of 5 trumpeters seem to play one after another until the end, indicating that the multiple repeats seen in Bendinelli, Thomsen and Lübeck could be played by separate groups, a sort of call-and-response.
The automat (1582) by Hans Schlottheim: 46
