Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709) is widely considered to have been one of the great composers of the baroque era. He is often credited with being a major contributor to the development of the concerto. His solo concerti and concerti grossi remain some of the most important compositions written during the late 17th century.
One of the most distinctive features of Torelli’s concerto compositions was the alternation between soloists and the accompanying ensemble. This alternation eventually led to the development of a ritornello formal procedure that found its way into various other genres, and would ultimately lead to the development of sonata form during the classical period. The trumpet featured prominently in many of Torelli’s concertos, and it seems logical to assume that his compositional technique of alternating between soloist and accompanying ensemble was probably due in large part to the great difference in timbre between the trumpet and the string family. This article explores Torelli’s use of the trumpet in his concertos, with a brief exploration of his Sinfonia con Tromba e Violini Unissoni (G 9)
The Life of Giuseppe Torelli
Born in Verona in the parish of S Maria in Chiavica, Torelli studied violin at an early age. On 15 May 1676, he played the violin in a vesper service at the church of S Stefano in Verona, and between summer 1683 and late August 1684, he was a violinist at Verona Cathedral. He was admitted as a suonatore di violino to the “Accademia Filarmonica” in Bologna on 27 June 1684, by a vote of 27 to three, and moved to that city probably in early September 1684.
It is not known exactly with whom Torelli studied violin, but he probably would have studied with Leonardo Brugnoli or Bartolomeo Laurenti, both well-known violists and teachers in Bologna at the time. It is known, however, that Torelli studied composition with G.A. Perti, eventual maestro di cappella of the cathedral of San Pietro in Bologna. On 28 September 1686, Torelli was admitted to the regular cappella musicale at S Petronio, having been engaged there as extra player the two previous years for the patronal feast on October 4th. From 1 January 1687 until 20 November 1689, his name appears in the mandati mensili as a regularly paid member of the cappella.
There is also documentation of his intermittent presence at the orchestra of San Petronio between 1690 and 1695. His absences from San Petronio at this time were always the result of Torelli seeking employment elsewhere as a violinist. When the orchestra at San Petronio disbanded because of financial reasons in 1696, Torelli sought employment as concert master at the court of the Archduke of Brandenburg in Germany. Torelli returned to Bologna in 1701 after the orchestra was newly founded under the direction of his former teacher, G.A. Perti.
Music for Trumpet
After the publication of his Opus 4 in 1688, Torelli became quite interested in trumpet music. The immediate question arises: why did a violinist/composer have any interest in writing music for trumpet? The answer seems to be the presence of an excellent trumpeter at the basilica of San Petronio from the late 1670s until almost 1700. Giovanni Pellegrino Brandi, whose name appears in the payment lists as an extra player for the patronal feast of St Petronius each year from 1679 to 1699 and who undoubtedly inspired the festive sonatas for trumpet and strings by Perti, Jacchini, Aldrovandini and Domenico Gabrielli, must have been the reason Torelli became so interested in writing music for trumpet and strings.
At this time, the trumpet was valve-less, and confined strictly to the fundamental notes of the harmonic series. That meant that in order for the trumpet to play anything even remotely resembling a melody, it would have to play in the upper “clarino” register, where the partials become closer together. This obvious physical limitation relegated the trumpet to mostly a fanfare-like role in orchestral music. But with the presence of Brandi, Torelli had at his disposal a trumpet player that could play in the extreme upper register, thus utilizing a melodic voice that was unavailable to most composers at the time.
Most natural trumpets in the late 1600s were pitched in the key of D. This correlates perfectly to the fact that nearly all of Torelli’s music for trumpet is in D major; the exception being a few pieces written for trumpet in C, an instrument that had a longer column of tubing, and was less common at the time. Torelli wrote about 36 pieces for one, two, or four trumpets, and used the terms concerto, sonata, and sinfonia interchangeably to refer to these pieces. Because of the obvious difference in timbre between trumpet and strings, the alternation between soloist (in this case trumpet) and ensemble became much more apparent. The concerto principle of ritornello (accompanying) groupversus soloist would become an integral part of concerto form in the late baroque and early classical periods, and was developed most notably by Torelli in his works for trumpet and string orchestra.
Torelli’s music for trumpet was unpublished during his lifetime. Since these pieces were intended not for publication but for festive performance at S Petronio, no economic limitations inhibited these experimental steps towards the mature concerto form. The fact that Torelli didn’t publish his pieces for trumpet during his lifetime makes it difficult at times to determine their exact year of composition, but they are nonetheless critically important to the development of concerto form, and also helped establish the trumpet as a viable solo instrument. Torelli’s trumpet music is generally in three movements, with a fast-slow-fast design. Because of the tonal limitations of the natural trumpet, and in order to explore different key areas than D (or C) major, the trumpet usually does not play at all in the slow movements. Torelli’s Sinfonia con Tromba e Violini Unissoni (G 9) from 1693 illustrates perfectly this ritornello procedure.
Sinfonia con Tromba e Violini Unissoni (G 9)
The first and last movements of G 9 can be divided into tutti segments, where the strings predominate, alternating with passages featuring solo trumpet. In his Baroque Music, John Walter Hill succinctly summarizes the form of the first and last movements with a chart detailing the relationship between solo trumpet and strings. The first movement of G 9 opens as all of Torelli’s music for trumpet does; with a brief orchestral introduction. This 12-measure orchestra tutti begins in D major, cadences on A major in measure 5, and returns to D major just before the trumpet enters in measure 12. Hill labels this opening eleven and a half bars as Ritornello 1, and divides it into three sections (mm. 1-6, 6-9, 9-12). He labels these segments A, B, and C. The labeling of these different sections of the opening orchestral tutti passage will become important later in the movement when the exact same material returns.
The trumpet enters in measure 12, in what Hill calls Episode 1. A cadence in A major by the trumpet at measure 19 gives way once again to the orchestral tutti section. This section includes the A and B segments heard during the first Ritornello, but this time the trumpet appears in the score alongside the strings. It is interesting to note that the trumpet only occasionally appears in the ritornello sections, while the strings always appear in the episode sections. Episode 2 begins in measure 34 with material almost identical to that of Episode 1. Ritornello 3 begins at the end of measure 41. The material in the strings is identical to that of Ritornello 1, but this time the trumpet plays along with the strings. In measure 53, the trumpet states the same fanfare-like motive heard in Episodes 1 and 2, but this time, the motive leads to a slow, adagio section. This two-bar adagio is unique in that it includes the trumpet; most of the slow movements in Torelli’s trumpet music do not in fact include trumpet.
After this two-bar adagio, the strings alone play the 2nd movement, consisting of six bars at prestissimo, and two bars at adagio. The trumpet does not play for the rest of this movement. For the sake of length, we will not focus in detail on the 3rd movement, but it should be noted that this movement again features the same alternation between strings (ritornello) and solo trumpet (episode). While this compositional style clearly resembles the standard “ritornello form” of the later baroque and early classical periods, Hill is quick to point out that the standardization of the ritornellos in concertos was not actually established until the 1720s.
Conclusion
The trumpet sonatas, concertos, and sinfonias of Giuseppe Torelli were monumental in helping to standardize the approach for handling contrast between solo instruments and the rest of the orchestra. The trumpet works of Torelli also helped to popularize the trumpet as a solo instrument. Later baroque composers like Bach, Handel, and Telemann would feature the trumpet prominently, not only in solo concertos and sonatas, but in larger orchestral works. The presence of an excellent trumpeter in Bologna, Giovanni Pellegrino Brandi, certainly encouraged Torelli’s compositions for trumpet. The great difference in timbre between the trumpet and strings certainly helped differentiate the ritornello group from the solo instrument. Torelli is widely known to be one of the most notable contributors to the development of early concerto form, and it is clear that the trumpet played a most prominent role in this development.
Sources:
Enrico, Eugene. The Orchestra at San Petronio in the Baroque Era. Smithsonian Institution Press. City of Washington, 1976.
Hill, John Walter. Baroque Music. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. New York, NY, 2005.
Hill, John Walter (editor) Anthology of Baroque Music. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. New York, NY, 2005.
Pincherle, Marc. Corelli, His Life, His Work. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. New York, NY, 1956.
Schnoebelen , Anne and Vanscheeuwijck , Marc. "Torelli, Giuseppe." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 11 Dec. 2008
Smithers, Don L. The Music and History of the Baroque Trumpet Before 1971. Southern Illinois University Press. Carbondale, IL, 1973.
Torelli, Giuseppe. Sinfonia D-Dur (G 9) (edited by Mathias Siedel). Musikverlag Hans Sikorski. Hamburg, Germany, 1970.
