The Trumpet Resounding: Music from the Italian Baroque

From the 1670s through the 1730s, the Northern Italian sonata/concerto for solo and multiple trumpets with string ensemble could be heard resounding in the courts and cathedrals across Europe. Originating in Bologna and brought to glory in Venice, these instrumental works con tromba and per tromba laid the harmonic and stylistic foundations for the concerto as a whole. A confluence of trends toward functional, triadic harmony and formal clarity found a happy meeting ground in the harmonic and melodic characteristics of the natural trumpet. The works on this recording span the whole period when both the concerto as a form and the trumpet, as much a style as an instrument were ascendant.