Konzert D-Dur Nr.3 für Trompete, Streicher und Bc Johann Wilhelm Hertel / Arr. Edward Tarr

Partitur und Stimmen

This work was without a doubt composed during Hertel's tenure in Schwerin. Reine Dahlqvist estimates on stylistic grounds that it was composed around 1760. Like his works in general and his Trumpet Concerto No. 2 in particular, this concerto possesses a very clear form. Hertel's individual movements are usually in three parts a first section at the tonic, preceded by a long multi-partite orchestral introduction; a second one at the dominant, preceded by a somewhat shorter orchestral introduction, also at the dominant; and a third section at the tonic, the orchestral introduction of which is still more compact. The last, cadenza-like trumpet flourish brings in an orchestral conclusion taken from the opening material. All three movements of the Concerto No. 3 are faithful to this scheme, whereby the middle movement is in B minor with a middle section in D rather than the dominant. B minor was at least theoretically an "impossible" key for the natural trumpet, since the tonic is not present in the 3rd octave of the harmonic series and in the upper octave (13th partial, b") is too flat. Again and again in the course of the Baroque trumpet's glorious history we find composers who tried to escape the ubiquitous D major straightjacket by coaxing delicate minor modes from this heroic instrument. In the 17th century, for example, it was H. 1. F. Biber (Sonata X a 5 and duets nos. 11 and 12 from Sonatae tam aris quam aulis servientes, 1676) and P. J. Vejvanovsky (c. 1640-93, Sonata a 4 Be mollis) in Bohemia and P. Franceschini (Sonata a 7 con due Trombe, 1680) in Bologna who wrote long passages or even entire works in the minor mode. Even Bach and Handel tried their hand at this kind of composition. Handel's aria, With honour let desert be crowned (from Judas Maccabaeus, 1747) lies in A minor (for the trumpet in D), as does the chorus no. 1 from the Bach cantata BWV 126, Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort(first performed on 4th February 1725 in Leipzig). In other works, Bach tended to ask for the chromatic slide of the so called tromba da tirarsi in order to achieve this kind of affection (for example, chorus no. 3, Alles, alles, from BWV 24, first performed on 20th June 1723; or the aria no. 5, Ach, es bleibt in meiner Liebe from BWV 77, first performed on 22nd August 1723). Like his contemporary Molter, who also wrote three trumpet concertos, Hertel allows the trumpet to participate in the minor rmode by having it begin on a long sustained f#" (the fifth degree of the scale). Modulations lead for a short time to D, the parallel major, a key in which the trumpet can more easily move around; but the dramatic culmination with a risky upward leap leads back again to B minor.

Inhalt / Content:

I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Largo
III. Vivace