The Trumpet

With its martial character, the trumpet is the sound of the fanfare. Whether heralding the troops or ushering in the orchestral might of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, the instrument provides a call to arms. After an evolution of thousands of years—a precursor of the trumpet was made by Moses on God’s orders in The Book of Numbers—the modern trumpet received two early and enduring concertos at the hands of Hummel and Haydn. Incorporated into the symphony orchestra in the classical era, its sonorous tones were only really exploited with imagination by the Romantics, such as Berlioz and his successors. As the trumpet family grew beyond the B-flat instrument, jazz musicians further developed new techniques, producing legendary players. In the classical field, the trumpet has been used by modern composers to extraordinary effect—and how much poorer film scores would be without it.