How Did The Trumpet Change Throughout The 19th Century

The trumpet went through many changes up until the nineteenth century. More changes continue to happen from this time forward: changes in design, style, and performance practices. These changes were not accepted at first, but overtime became part of the trumpet playing that is seen today.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, changes were starting to be made. The Haydn and Hummel concertos brought new ways of playing to the trumpet idiom but also brought a new horizon, chromaticism. After the invention of the keyed trumpet and the playing of the Haydn and Hummel Concertos, this style was forgotten for many years. The trumpet was still seen as an instrument of nobility, and the players did not want to change what they had been doing for

Until, in the 1810’s and 20’s, the industrial revolution was at its peak in Europe. This helped trumpets become mass produced and brought about the invention of the valve. The valve was the invention needed to help the trumpet unlock new styles of playing, but it was not accepted. Same as with the keyed trumpet, professional players want to keep playing natural horns because they have been playing them all their life. The valve did lead to a new instrument being created, named after the renaissance instrument: the cornet. This instrument had three valves and was a conical instrument. The metal was wrapped that gave it the appearance of the trumpet today, only a little smaller. The creation of the cornet tore trumpet, playing in two. The trumpet was seen to be the “highbrow” instrument used in orchestras, and the cornet was deemed “lowbrow” and said it was easy to play. With the cornet came the brass band, and thanks to the mass production of instruments, brass bands started to spread all throughout Europe. In these bands, the cornet started to become a solo instrument; the most famous being Jean-Baptiste Arban, Louis St. Jacome, Jules Levy, Herman Bellstadt, and Alessandro Liberati.

Adolf Scherbaum was the first classical soloist to make a sustained impact in Europe. After Scherbaum came the greatest trumpet soloist of the time, Maurice Andre. Andre’s success in his career had many effects: composers started to write more for trumpet, Maurice and other trumpet players started to transpose parts from other instruments, and Maurice's use of piccolo trumpet brought Baroque music to a large audience. Maurice's success and the beginning of the avant-garde era began a time of trumpet experimentation. Composers and players pushed the instrument to its limit and found new ways to play the