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The Trumpet
Among the ancient instruments mentioned
as early as in the Old Testament. In ancient
times, they were believed to have magical powers: sorcerers would peak
into them, and their voice would be concealed and sound out as the voice
of the gods. Armies sounded the trumpet when going to war, and wrapped
it in a red cloth (a custom symbolically maintained by military bands to
this very day). In ceremonies and celebrations, trumpet blasts are still
commonplace, in different versions.
Unlike the nowadays trumpet, twisted
and having valves, the ancient trumpet was straight,
and produced different sound pitches was done solely by altering the player's
lips positions. Until Beethoven's
time, trumpets had a rather limited role in symphonic
music. Since they had only one key, they could
not play chromatic
parts. Ever since the valve system was invented,
the trumpet gained diverse possibilities of performance. Bach
included in his Brandenburg
Concerto no. 2,
a virtuoso solo section for the trumpet, and Purcell
wrote a trumpet
sonata. Vivaldi
composed a concerto
for two trumpets, and Haydn's
trumpet concerto
is also quite known. But the most famous trumpet piece is Verdi's
triumph march from the opera "Aida".
In addition to classical music,
the trumpet is among the most common of instruments in marching
bands,
brass bands
and Jazz
music.
Cornet
The Cornet
A valved brass instrument which
first appeared in early 19th century Paris.
Its tone is softer and less brilliant than the trumpet's. Composers like
Berlioz
in the Symphonie Fantastique,
Elgar
and Stravinsky
all included the cornet in their orchestrations.
The cornet is now mainly used in brass and military bands and is seldom
found in the classical or dance bands. Jazz
legendary musician and composer Louis
Armstrong
played the cornet and demonstrated the possibilities of the instrument
in this style of music.
Louis Armstrong - one of the
best Jazz trumpet players
Middle ages trumpets
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Composers
Bach
Vivaldi
Haydn
Purcell
Beethoven
Verdi
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