Early music question

[tuba.bobby]

Hi folks!

I know this isnt really tuba related and would probably fit better on a different forum but i thought id try the serpent players here first;

Does anybody know where i can hold of any duets? I will soon be looking at buying a serpent, and my other half has a cornettino - is there any rep for these as a duet short of arranging things? And if so, do you know where i could get hold of them?

Bob

[imperialbari]

I have worked somewhat with renaissance and baroque music, but never met that constellation. One rule of thumb used to be that sonatas for string instruments would have the bass viol/cello on the bass line and sonatas for wind instruments would have the bassoon on the bass line with the option of using the bass trombone on solemn stuff.

However music of the renaissance and baroque often was very flexible in choice of instruments. Basically you could choose any sonata fitting you technical capabilities and the range of your instruments.The range may be a problem, but then there is all the vocal stuff for solo voice and basso continuo. Whether the lead is for soprano, alto, or tenor isn’t really important as long the range fits within the range of the cornettino. There may be problems with music for a bass vocalist, as the true bass line shall always be the lowest. But then bass solos like ‘The trumpet shall sound’ have the solo and bass lines being so similar, that there isn’t too much fun in a two part performance.

Which old stuff would you play in a duet for trumpet and tuba with optional added continuo instrument (harpsichord/piano/guitar)? Maybe aside from choice of key the same stuff would go for your pairing of instruments.

Klaus

[tuba.bobby]

I'd never thought of just using pastiche trumpet/tuba works. I'm not sure what there would be out there but ill certainly have a look

But you reckon I should just find any solo work with basso continuo and arrange that for both instruments?

Thanks Klaus

Bob

[imperialbari]

Maurice André built himself a repertory for trumpet and organ partially from the baroque repertory for solo oboe. He used strings or organ as accompaniment. Playing the exact same stuff as he did may be less than inventive, but as I understand it, there are libraries full of baroque manuscripts.

The catch is that a lot of it was written to formulas by composers obliged to produce a lot of music to their royal or nobility employers. So even if I like baroque music, I find much of it boring. So you have to select carefully. One good thing about the baroque style is that it is fully OK to match movements from various works into Sonatas or suites, so that a stellar movement hasn’t to be scrapped just because the other movements of that given work are of the sedative type.

Klaus