THE BRASS

TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED

• Natural horns, mechanics & modern contrasts
• The music and its techniques
• Trumpets and trombones
• Compositions
• Friendship

But first....

Pop Quiz!!!

Can anyone define the word embouchure?

The use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of woodwind or brass instruments.

ON A NATURAL HORN

HAND TECHNIQUE

VALVES

IN A WORLD WITHOUT VALVES

• The Horn was the most versatile instrument of the brass
• It saw the most use outside of "effects"
• Crooks could be added/changed to alter overall key and color
• Great music was still made
• Some of it with a fair amount of chromaticism

Like this....

DID YOU NOTICE

That's where the hand positions
Comes in.

You're welcome.

NATURALLY...

• TRUMPETS OF THE TIME COULD NOT DO THIS.
• THE INSTRUMENT WAS TOO LONG TO EMPLOY HAND TECHNIQUES.

SO THE HORN

• Was the brass instrument Mozart wrote for the most
• Its tone could be altered with the hand positions
• Trumpets were mostly for use in ceremonies and marches
• Trumpet Concerto K. 47c may or may not have existed
• Only evidence is a brief mention in a letter by Leopold

Compositions for horn:

• Horn Quintet in Eb major K. 407, (1782) http://youtu.be/v3aKQBYELWw
• Horn Concerto no. 2 in Eb major, (1783) http://youtu.be/JGijhdfKmWM
• Horn Concerto no. 3 in Eb major, (1784-87)
• Horn Concerto no. 4 in Eb major, (1786)
• Horn Concerto no. 1 in D major, (1791, unfinished at his death)

JOSEPH LEUTGEB

• Horn player that Mozart had in mind for concertos
• Friends from when Mozart was 7. Colleague of Leopold.
• Verified by the annotations
• All of which are directed at Leutgeb
• Most of them call him a donkey or seem like jokes on sexual impotence

Written on the autograph score of no. 2 was
"W. A. Mozart took pity on Leitgeb, ass, ox and fool in Vienna on 27 May 1783."

THE HORN WAS USED QUITE OFTEN

• Most of the Mozart symphonies used 2 horns
• Beginning at about symphony 18, began using 4 horns
• Normally 2 horns in one key and two in another.
• As of symphony 20, Mozart began to use two trumpets.
• Two and two: Two trumpets would double strings

TROMBONES ARE GOD

SERIOUSLY.

• Don Giovanni, when the statue comes alive
• And again when Don Giovanni goes to hell
• In Gluck's Don Juan ballet, based on same legend
• Trombones are used for the first time in a stage work
• In Austrian stage works, trombone is the supernatural element

The sackbut was the instrument closest to the timbre of the voice. In the 16th cent, it was used to represent the seraphim, the fiery six winged angel choir, and God.

LINKS TO TROMBONE

• Don Giovanni http://youtu.be/shMKaRELm7g
• Requiem http://youtu.be/JpvDEfuwSOg

"NEVER LOOK AT THE TROMBONES,