18 News - Historic Brass Society

and violone on the one side, and two violins, two violas, and bassoon
on the other) jubilantly toss trumpet-like motives back and forth. With
two instrumental sinfonias, an ensemble of seven trombones sets the
stage for and gives weight to the entreaty for strength and protection
be gracious to me”) is a song of thanks; on the printed page this piece
makes a rather pedestrian impression, though if performed well it is
holy ones, sing praises”), on the other hand, looks like it would be fun
to perform and a delight to listen to. Besides imaginative scoring for
an unusual formation of violin, (alto/tenor) trombone, bass trombone
or bassoon, and STB voices, the composer supplied optional embellished
passages in the voice parts to emphasize key words:
(holiness), Leben (life), and Frewde
(“O dear child”) would undoubtedly do good service as a companion
The edition is prefaced by an extensive introduction in which Leonard
discusses many aspects of seventeenth-century Lutheran church
music, providing valuable background information on religion and
the theology of music, as well as on the composers and performance
practice. It is in this otherwise well-written introduction, however,
various details of performance practice, Leonard quotes texts by
Hammerschmidt and Michael as well as by Heinrich Schütz and
Christian Bernhard, but unfortunately her translations of some of these
admittedly archaic texts often leave much to be desired. Fortunately,
Leonard understands the gist of these texts, so her discussion of them
does not suffer from the incorrect translations. The song texts also
display some faulty translations, but only in a very few places. Since
it is to be hoped that these texts will soon begin to appear in program
booklets, I would like to offer the following corrections: “O liebes
Kind,” versus 1, “zum tümmen Vieh” / “with the dumb beasts”; versus
7, “Ich wil dich träncken mildiglich” / “I want to gently give you to
drink”; versus 9, “das Asahel, mit dir nicht dörfte wetten” / “that Asahel
would not dare to compete with you”; “Du Tochter Zion,” versus 6,
“Der dir weist den Himmels Steg” / “that points you toward the bridge
to heaven.” Apart from these translation problems, this is an excellent
edition that will hopefully call attention to and inspire performances
of a repertoire still largely unknown today.
— Howard Weiner
1
Charlotte A. Leonard, “The Role of the Trombone and its in
the Lutheran Church Music of the Seventeenth-Century Saxony and
Thuringia: The Early Seventeenth Century,” HBSJ 10 (1998): 57-91;
idem, “The Role of the Trombone and its in the Lutheran Church
Music of the Seventeenth-Century Saxony and Thuringia: The Midand
Late Seventeenth Century,” HBSJ 12 (2000): 161-209.
2
For example,ligen
Seelen, erster Theil, Dresden 1645, in
in Österreich 16; and
Stimmen, in 49.
Martial Music in the Age of Lewis and Clark: Band Music of
America Between 1790 and 1812. 26 selections in score form arranged
for 2 clarinets, 2 natural horns, basso, and percussion. By
Randolph W. Cabell. RCabell-Bookseller, c2004. ISBN 1889663956.
Includes three volumes: Score for two clarinets, two natural horns
(in Eb or Bb basso), basso (bassoon and/or serpent), and percussion.
the twenty-six selections recorded in a midi format.
Contents: Roast Beef of Olde England—Dinner Call. Yankee Doodle.
Quickstep. The Dusky Night. The Anacroeontic Hymn. Bellisle
March. Marseilles March. American Commerce and Freedom March.
London March. Quick March from The Demolition of the Bastille. The
Louisiana. 1 st and 2 nd
Emancipation. Delaware County Fencibles March.
This is a nice, representative collection of colonial American military
music, including marches, quicksteps, and melodies by Mozart and
Handel. The tunes are arranged for an ensemble that would have existed
during the colonial period, and Mr. Cabell makes an excellent
case for these arrangements with the extensive historical information
he provides. The arrangements are done well, and capture what colonial
military music must have sounded like. I especially like that he
included the idea of playing the basso part on serpent, and included a
brief passage about the serpent as a military instrument, even though
reproduces several facsimiles of the music arranged and discussed. It
also includes a bibliography/discography.
In the section on performance suggestions he gives somewhat dubious
advice on how to create “an un-natural low Bb natural horn” from a
standard double F-Bb horn, by pulling out all the tuning slides and
the valve slides of the F horn as far as they will go, depress all three
valves, thereby claiming to create a Bb basso horn: “…The
still be a little sharp. Without too much straining at the top, you should
on such an instrument—creating a sharp Bb basso horn would only
exacerbate the situation, and perhaps even make it discouraging for a
player new to the idea of natural horn playing, and he does go on to
suggest playing these parts in this manner in the ensemble. I would
suggest transposing the Bb basso parts on valved horn. However, his
much more accessible suggestion in the next paragraph, “A more
natural Eb natural horn”, is much more reasonable and accessible to
the F side of the horn]. This will drop the horn to Eb.” This would
make a much more satisfying experience for the impromptu natural
horn player. Mr. Cabell correctly assumes that most horn players
I appreciate his enthusiasm for encouraging players trying to play
choice would be for you to experience the joys (and challenges) of
those horn players two hundred years ago in playing natural horns.”
HISTORIC BRASS SOCIETY NEWSLETTER - WINTER 2005 | 25