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“Tra Sacro e Profano”, Unpublished Italian Works of 18th
Tra Sacro e Profano
Unpublished Italian Works of 18th Cent. from Fondo Venturi (Montecatini) and other works
Igino Conforzi, baroque trumpets
Claudio Brizi, organ
[Arts 47508-2]
This recording shows in what manner a fruitful treatment of the music from this epoch can be achieved.
As a first step it had to be ascertained to what degree compositions written for keyboard instruments were suitable to be performed on the baroque trumpet. This practice is not new, but appears to be particularly at home in England and France. The Italian repertoire of organ music from the 18th and 19th century intended for liturgy, remains on the other hand, to a large degree un-edited.
The inclusion of wind instruments in liturgical compositions did not only occur ad libitum, but it is often the composers themselves demanding an obligatory inclusion of these instruments in the score. In other cases liturgical compositions for solo organ are found, often with additionally written pages of manuscript for trumpet or horns included. This underlines the assumption, that these instruments were often also added independently of the composer’s intentions. The regular use of wind instruments in liturgy influenced the musical arrangements of mass celebrations beyond the end of the 18th century.
It is these described factors, which make this approach to the repertoire for organ and trumpet interesting and constructive, although research was concentrated on the regions around Florence and Pistoia.
A small collection of manuscripts including a number of short compositions, immediately attracted our full attention. Here the characteristics of the trumpet are often, directly visible in the written form, which now and then uses typical stylistic methods of baroque music. The manuscript comprises 98 short pieces by anonymous composers including also pieces written for one or several undefined instruments mostly based on folk songs and dances, together with several works for keyboard instruments as well as liturgical pieces. It is not dated and is estimated by archivists to be from around the mid 18th century, although it needs to be considered that the stylistic elements make it appear older.
Particularly worth mentioning is a very short composition written for an undefined solo instrument, which without exaggeration we regard as an example of that epoch’s great virtuosity, when the heyday of the trumpet had reached its peak. One cannot avoid emphasising that this piece is similar to the one depicted on the portrait of Gottfried Reiche (1727).
The preceding pieces are of different character and· in some aspects stand in contrast to this virtuoso piece. The first, estimated between the 18th and 19th century, was intended for liturgy and stylistically influenced by 19th century opera, which points towards a fanfare chorus. The second, probably from the end of the 17th century, is in line with the tradition of music played by ordinary people, with clear and linear forms of the baroque, which is characterised by plain and simple phrasing.
