The history of the origin and development of the trumpet: the organological aspect
Authors: Tararak Yu.P. 
Published: March 2020

Logical reason for research. Modern performance on wind instruments, in particular on the trumpet, is characterized by a powerful development. It is an object of listening interest and composing, and today it has a fairly large repertoire of both transpositions and original works in many instrumental compositions (from solo to various ensembles and orchestras) in different styles and genres. This situation in music practice requires theoretical understanding and generalization, however, we can state that at the moment, music science highlights the performance on the wind instruments without any system, mostly from the methodological viewpoint. Innovation. The article under consideration deals with the organological aspect of studying the specificity of the performance on the trumpet, which combines a number of historical and practical questions and allows them to be answered in connection with the requests of both music science and music practice (from the peculiarities of the sound production on various instruments of the trumpet family at different times (from the historical origins of trumpet performance to the present) to the technical and artistic tasks faced by the trumpet performer, as well as by the composers who create both transpositions of time-tested music for trumpet and original trumpet pieces that take into account technical, timbre, artistic and expressive capabilities of this instrument). Objectives. The purpose of research is to reveal connection between the historical-organological and practical specificity of the performance on the trumpet in the past and at present. Methods. The main methods of the research are historical and organological. Results and Discussion. Trumpet as a musical instrument is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. Its earliest prototypes are revealed in archaeological studies of the historical past of humanity. The prototypes of embouchure instruments are horn, bone, and tusk pipes with conical bore, mostly curved, which are ancestors of the horn family; instruments with straight cylindrical pipes formed a family of trumpet. The art of playing wind instruments was a significant development in ancient Egypt, where the state placed musical art at the service of rulers and worship. Musicians in those days accompanied festive events and rituals; what is more, wind and percussion instruments became the basis for the creation of military orchestras. A straight metal trumpet appeared in Europe in the Middle Ages. In the countries of Central Asia, Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan copper brass instruments were played. China’s music and performing culture employed bronze trumpets of various sizes. In the 14th-15th centuries the evolution of metal instruments underwent qualitative changes. Forms of curved trumpets were born. In addition to this, trumpets were split into low and high ones; later, middle-register instruments appeared. The so-called natural trumpets, used then, were very close in sound to the modern trumpet. In Europe there were masters who made metal instruments; eminent experts in this field, the Heinlein Schmidt family, the Nagel family, English masters Dudley, U. Bullem worked in Nuremberg from the 15th and up to the 19th century. The emergence of a slide trumpet, a trumpet with a sliding crook, is connected with the attempts to improve the instrument for the sound production of more chromatic sounds (we must distinguish the achievements of Anton Weidinger). An important step in the evolution of the chromatic trumpet was the use of horn invention (croooks). In the mid-nineteenth century, having improved the inventory system with a valve mechanism, the trumpet finally gained its place in the orchestra as a chromatic instrument. At the present time, a trumpet with a piston valve mechanism (in jazz, variety, modern music) has become very popular. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, trumpets of different structures, such as in C, in D, in Es, in F, were constructed; the designs of these trumpets are almost indistinguishable from the design of the modern trumpet. The piccolo trumpet was designed for a solo performance of ancient music (clarinet style); to amplify the low sounds, the alt trumpet in F and the bass trumpet became popular. Compared to fixed-mode instruments, the trumpet is a semifixed-pitch instrument. Therefore, a skilled performer is able to adjust the pitch within a certain area and correct defects in the setting of separate modeless sounds. The "planned" inaccuracy of the trumpet intonation is related to the use of a third valve. To correct the intonation associated with this, the trumpet has a device for extending an additional pipe of the third valve. There is no precise theoretical prediction of the given problem, so the correction of modeless sounds requires from the performer well-developed musical ear and knowledge of the specific features of their instrument. Conclusions. The summarized results of the presented article indicate that the organological aspect of the research in the field of performance on wind instruments, in particular, on the trumpet, is important and illustrative. It is an indispensable link that binds the theoretical and practical vectors of the study of trumpet art as a single set of knowledge; helps to identify the connection between the historical, organological and practical aspects of the performance on the trumpet, both past and present; promotes awareness of the specificity of playing a particular instrument, especially, understanding and assimilation of the design features of the trumpet in all its historical variants, and the corresponding principles of sound production with technical-acoustic and artistic effects; outlines the theoretical, scientific and methodological tasks for performers and composers whose work is related to the art of playing the trumpet. These are the directions in which further avenues for researching music related to the performance on the trumpet of different times, styles and genres can be seen.