Sonnez trompettes ! ou l’éclat du cuivre

Used since antiquity by all armies and codified from the 16th century in various martial arts treatises, celeustics is the set of techniques using musical instruments to transmit orders to troops. Thus, for a very long time confined to ordinance music, the trumpet, an instrument of the armies, began to emancipate itself with the advent of ceremonial music in trumpet and timpani ensembles, through the Italian tradition of the semi-improvised sonata described by the chief trumpet player of the Munich court Cesare Bendinelli (ca.1542-1617).

Then, with the Italian virtuoso Girolamo Fantini (1600-1675), the trumpet was gradually considered a real musical instrument accompanied by the basso continuo of keyboards such as the organ or melodic like the doulciane, but also capable of dialoguing with upper instruments such as the violin. Finally, the composers of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, such as Maurizio Cazzati (1616-1678), began to use it for solos framed by string ritornellos.

It is this astonishing journey of the flamboyant and luminous trumpet that we invite you to retrace with the Italian organ of Providence in magnificent works by Italian composers...