Trumpet

The trumpet has existed in some form since as early as 1500 BCE, when its portability and volume made it ideal for signaling across large distances for hunting or in battle. The instrument has maintained those associations today. Composers often employ trumpets at the most climactic moments of a piece, but many works also show how versatile it can be. Stravinsky understood the breathless tension of a quiet trumpet in The Rite of Spring, while Verdi wrote hushed passages for the instrument in his Requiem. As with all brass instruments, the sound of a trumpet is produced by the player vibrating their lips into a metal mouthpiece. It requires years of muscle training, and a good player can achieve a wide range of notes using nothing but lip tension. Early trumpets—or natural trumpets—could only be played this way as there were either no keys or just a few fingerholes. Listen to Handel or Purcell and marvel at the agility of those instruments and players. At the end of the 18th century, valve technology allowed players to redirect the airflow through different lengths of tubing to create pitches, in combination with their lips. Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto was one of the first pieces written to show off this new wizardry.