Apple: A(n) (Un)Missing Link Between Keys and Valves: Three Keyed Trumpet Solo Works Arranged for Early Valved Trumpet, Flügelhorn, and Valved Trombone by Joseph Kail for the Prague Conservatory

Additional Materials

• Apple, Robert Warren. "The Music Composed for the Keyed Trumpet." PhD diss., The University of Memphis, 2022. ProQuest (ISBN 9798426825789).

Citation

Abstract

A prevalent misconception regarding the music composed for the keyed trumpet is that it had little influence on that performed on and written for the valved instruments that eventually replaced it. In past conference presentations, however, I pointed out that much of the military band and church music that originally made use of the keyed trumpet was later performed using the early valved trumpet and flügelhorn. This ensured that much of the keyed trumpet’s ensemble repertory continued to be performed long after the instrument fell out of use, which is perhaps unsurprising given the pragmatic nature of many music directors.

What is unexpected, however, is that Joseph Kail—an early proponent and the first conservatory professor of the early valved trumpet—arranged three solo works originally composed for the keyed trumpet for the early valved trumpet, valved trombone, and flügelhorn with piano accompaniment for use at the Prague Conservatory. These works are the Divertimento currently attributed to Joseph Fiala,[1] and an Introduction et Polonaise for solo keyed trumpet and orchestra[2] and an Adagio sammt III Variationen for obbligato keyed trumpet and Harmonie by Joseph Höffner.[3] All of the surviving arrangements of these works made by Kail can be found in the Prague Conservatory library today.[4]

In creating his arrangements of these works, Kail did far more than simply produce keyboard reductions of each piece’s accompaniment and adjust their tessitura and key to better fit the valved trumpet, valved trombone, and flügelhorn. He also altered and ornamented their solo parts to demonstrate these valved instruments expanded playing capabilities over those of the keyed trumpet. Kail’s arrangements of these works represent a link between the music composed for the keyed trumpet and that later written for its valved successors, and their existence further builds a case for the transition from keyed to valved brasses not being a clean and immediate break as some believe, but rather one of overlapping and gradual change.

Footnotes

1. Fialla, “Divertimento,” manuscript set of parts, February 7, 1831, Národní muzeum-České muzeum hudby, hudebně-historické oddělení, Prague, XLIX-D-410.
2. In addition to the Kail arrangement of this work, it also survives in three other sources: Joseph Höffner, “Polonaise in D,” manuscript parts, Národní muzeum-České muzeum hudby, hudebně-historické oddělení, Prague, X.D.170 (No. 70); Joseph Höffner, Introduction et Polonaise für die chromatische oder Klappen-Trompete mit Begleitung des Orchester (Prague: Marco Berra, 1833), printed set of parts, Národní knihovna České republiky, Prague, 59 A 4322; Joseph Höffner, “Polo: für die Trompete in D v Jos: Höffner,” manuscript score, Národní muzeum-České muzeum hudby, Prague, II.E.14.
3. Joseph Höffner “Adagio sammt III Variationen,” manuscript set of parts, Národní muzeum-České muzeum hudby, Prague, X.D.169.
4. Bellolli, “Concertino,” arr. Joseph Kail, manuscript score, Knihovna Pražské konzervatoře, specializovaná knihovna, Prague, 3 C 83. This is an arrangement of the Divertimento currently attributed to Joseph Fiala; Joseph Höffner, “Polonaise,” manuscript score, Knihovna Pražské konzervatoře, specializovaná knihovna, Prague, H 1142; Joseph Höffner, “Variationen für Trompete in D v. Höffner, ” arr. Josef Kail, manuscript score, Knihovna Pražské konzervatoře, specializovaná knihovna, Prague, H 1441.

Return to Research Room