Did J.S. Bach really write for an F trumpet in the 2nd Brandenburg?

Question

I know of no other use of the F trumpet in Bach's time, by him or any other of his contemporaries.

1. Does anyone know of other works using this instrument?

2. Why would he write for a non-existent instrument?

Answer 1

The F trumpet seems to have been a specialty of Bach's trumpeter, Gottfried Reiche.[ But Bach wrote the Brandenburgs at Cothen!] But Bach wrote for some atypical trumpet keys (Cantata 89 IIRC calls for Bb trumpet). There's been some debate about whether the part was really for corno da caccia (early French Horn) an octave lower, but it really was for an F instrument. And the fact that he wrote for it suggests that it did in fact exist. I can look into this tomorrow when I get to work (I'm a music librarian)...that's just the version from memory.



OK, I've looked into it:

Telemann: Concerto in F with violin and two trombe piccole, Teuchland grünt und blüht im Friede (1716, 3 clarini piccoli in F), Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (1721, 2 clarini piccoli), ca. 9 other works

Wilderer: Giocasta (Düsseldorf 1696, "tromba alla quarta". first use of F trumpet)

Erlebach: Ouverture ex F-dur con Tromp. piccolo (<1714)

Stölzel: 6 cantatas (1728-9)

Endler, Graupner : Sinfonias (ca. 1749)

J.L. Bach: Ich will meinen Geist in euch aufgeben (<1726)



Also various references in musical texts to F trumpets in France and England (mostly probably artifacts of pitch standards)

Answer 2

Page 29 (bottom paragraph) of this book explains it. Hopefully this google book link will work and you can read it right away, if not here's the publication info too. Cool question



http://books.google.com/books?id=gqZav_nOtQEC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=%22f+trumpet%22+bach+brandenburg&source=web&ots=2XpZBOY2fK&sig=E_bgEQvUQz8boZHEr0U2Ch9W7Wc#PPP1,M1



Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos

Series: Cambridge Music Handbooks

Malcolm Boyd

University of Wales College of Cardiff

Hardback (ISBN-13: 9780521382762 | ISBN-10: 0521382769)



This article address part # 1 a little



http://www.aswltd.com/rotary.htm



excerpt



"A further if somewhat less authentic use of this instrument would be for a modern-instrument performance of the solo trumpet part of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 of J. S. Bach. This writer has for over twenty-five years maintained that this part was supposed to sound an octave lower than it is customarily played today. A number of performances in recent years, starting with a recording supervised by the British musicologist Thurston Dart shortly before his death more than twenty years ago, have in fact been done precisely that way, although with the substitution of modern horn for trumpet. The use of the low F orchestral trumpet would in fact keep the work in the provenance of the trumpet world, provide a tonal quality closer to that of the same-length baroque F trumpet, and restore the proper balance and octave placement of the four solo parts as well. We suspect that many trumpeters will continue to play the solo part in the higher octave simply because it represents a macho tour de force for the accomplished player; musically sensitive players and conductors, however, may well wish to opt for a performance which places a premium on musical values rather than exhibitionism."





Here's another Google book that might help (page128)

http://books.google.com/books?id=FLHSH0382HsC&pg=PA128&lpg=PA128&dq=%22f+trumpet%22+baroque&source=web&ots=aIYXcGRkMG&sig=CJVNlverFNRkdgBX9i8l0K0z_oo



Brass Instruments: Their History and Development

Publisher: Dover Publications

ISBN-13: 9780486275741

Answer 3

Bach, like most Baroque composers, wrote *clarino* parts. These players, specializing in playing diatonically and to some extent chromatically, in the highest overtone reaches of the instrument, were the highest paid of any musicians of their time. Some also say they had the highest suicide rate of any musician - a spot now take over by first hornists. HOW the player achieved the notes was entirely up to them - and manner of plumbing, with and without extra crooks. There are hornists today who carry a descant horn to movie score recording session, because they know they will have the obligatory John Williams WHOOP WHOOP ascending lines, usually terminating in trills - so why ruin your lip when another horn will do part of the job for you? I am a professional flutist - when the part lies high forever, I have my picc. A colleague who plays for Lion King has 17 flutes in front of him - always the first and last guy in and out of the pit. Just gotta.



So - players TODAY will arrive at a gig with what looks like an accordion case - with four or five trumpets. Over the years, the parts have been notated for what the majority of players think is the best instrument. If you want to make changes - your mileage may vary, and objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear.

Answer 4

F Trumpets are a favorite of John Phillip Sousa with the Marine Corps Band 1883-1900....he wrote a number of concert band pieces featuring this valveless cavalry signalling device. F Trumpets were the 'preferred' instrument of the US Cavalry from 1840-1890's.

Answer 5

The trumpets used in Bach's day did not have valves. They were long, keyed as needed for the piece, and many times were not curved but straight, and the player had to lip the notes because the overtones were closer up in the ranges specified. Valves were not put on brass until the middle 19th century, and the horn and trumpet were valveless and played similarly in high overtone series.

He did not write for a nonexistent instrument, meine freunde.

The previous comment about Sousa applies to a valved trumpet.

Answer 6

The instrument was made per this research:



http://www.geocities.com/emile_meuffels/history/piccolo.html



>>Besson also started to manufacture high F trumpets and high E-flat trumpets with a crook to D.12 From 1894 Alexander (Mainz, Germany) also made a high F trumpet, designed specially for the Second Brandenburg Concerto.



>>Adolf Scholz (1823-1884) from Breslau (Germany) played Bach’s trumpet parts from 1850 onwards. First on B-flat trumpet, later on piccolo flugelhorn in F (of unknown origin). He didn't get famous because he never played outside of Breslau.



http://www.npj.com/homepage/teritowe/jsbgm.html

Giacomo Meyerbeer's Letter to Adolphe Sax About the 2nd "Brandenburg" Concerto



http://books.google.com/books?id=gqZav_nOtQEC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=bach+f+trumpet+in+the+2nd+brandenburg&source=web&ots=2XpZBLX6fH&sig=6Qy_vfRQJTLeUv1oFQOts8_yqVY

Page 30



http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Brandenburg-Concertos-Freiburg-Orchestra/dp/B00005NFZS

>>As an old (ex-)trumpet player, I always pay special attention to the second concerto. Several things caught my eye (ear?). The trumpet player is Friedemann Immer. I don't know much about him, but he did a good job. I have one other recording including him, a Musical Heritage B-minor mass. Amazon gives six CD search hits on him: another Brandenburg, two other CDs, and three "limited availability". Their DVD search give none. (Searching on "Actor"; it's set up for movies.) He is playing an unusual trumpet. It is probably in F, and has three or four "shortening holes"(also called note holes, under the right middle fingers and thumb; he never uses the middle finger, so I'm not sure about that one.). These occasionally show up on natural trumpets to bring certain notes closer to in-tune. I've never seen four. In a fair amount of hunting through resources I have not been able to find one even approximately like it. There is a well known engraving of Gottfried Reiche, Bach's Leipzig trumpeter, holding a coiled trumpet reported to be likely the one used in the second concerto. No note holes are evident. Any natural trumpet playing in the clarino register (the octave with a nearly complete diatonic scale) is physically demanding. F is a high trumpet to begin with, and the second Brandenburg goes one note over, to high G. Immer, no spring chicken, negotiates the concerto with no sign of strain or effort -- quite an accomplishment. Only a small minority of trumpeters can even play the piece. He (or maybe head fiddler von der Goltz) has chosen not to trill the Fs in the opening or closing figures, even though the echoing oboe does so. This is unique in my experience. (When trilling, Immer uses a jaw trill, instead of the more common tongue or even shake trill.)

———————-

http://www.brass-forum.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=print;num=1164528039

Eskdale George [Salisbury], 21.6.1897 in Tynemouth - 20.1.1960 London,

started playing cornet in the St. Hilda's Colliery Brass Band. From 1932 till his death he was solo trumpet in LSO. He recorded the Haydn concert, this was a great success. In October 1935 George Eskdale recorded the 2nd Brandenburg Concert using a trumpet in F, he was accompanied by the LSO.

George Eskdale was professor for trumpet at Royal Academy of music and the

Trinity Colleg of Music.

Source: Friedel Keim - Das große Buch der Trompete ISBN 3-7957-0530-4



It would have been the small model (F one tone higher than our standard Eb trumpets today.)

The Long F trumpet, a 4th lower than our standard Bb, was really the precursor to the standard Bb, and its general use in orchestras would have died out by the time Eskdale was recording.

===============

This Schoenberg work for trumpet in F is probably the one pitched an octave lower which is often used by many composers like Debussy in La Mer.

Nachtwandler (1901) for Soprano, Piccolo, Trumpet in F, Snare Drum, and Piano by Arnold Schoenberg. Pub. Belmont