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1 The Musician’s Experience of Brass Instruments
While the exact meanings of the Hebrew words translated here as ‘trumpet call’ and
‘fanfare’ are uncertain, it is clear from this passage that the trumpeters were required
to sound a number of signals which were audibly different. If only one pitch was
sounded on the trumpets, as some scholars have suggested, variations in rhythm
could have been used to differentiate the signals.
In 1797 three pairs of bronze lurs dating from around 700 BCE were discovered
at Brudevaelte in Denmark; one of these pairs is illustrated in Fig. 1.7a. Subsequently many other instruments of this type have been found, mainly in Scandinavia.
Fig. 1.7 (a) A pair of bronze lurs found on Brudevaelte Moor in 1787 (National Museum of
Denmark 8115 and 8114, photograph: Roberto Fortuna and Kira Ursem, courtesy of National
Museum of Denmark). (b) John Kenny holding copies of the Tintignac carnyx (left) and the
Loughnashade horn (right) (photograph: Francesco Marano). (c) Roman tuba (left) and two cornua
(right) being played with a hydraulis (organ), from a Roman floor mosaic, c. second century CE,
Zliten, Libya. Photograph: Nacéra Benseddik, licensed under Creative Commons 1.0
1 The Musician’s Experience of Brass Instruments
While the exact meanings of the Hebrew words translated here as ‘trumpet call’ and
‘fanfare’ are uncertain, it is clear from this passage that the trumpeters were required
to sound a number of signals which were audibly different. If only one pitch was
sounded on the trumpets, as some scholars have suggested, variations in rhythm
could have been used to differentiate the signals.
In 1797 three pairs of bronze lurs dating from around 700 BCE were discovered
at Brudevaelte in Denmark; one of these pairs is illustrated in Fig. 1.7a. Subsequently many other instruments of this type have been found, mainly in Scandinavia.
Fig. 1.7 (a) A pair of bronze lurs found on Brudevaelte Moor in 1787 (National Museum of
Denmark 8115 and 8114, photograph: Roberto Fortuna and Kira Ursem, courtesy of National
Museum of Denmark). (b) John Kenny holding copies of the Tintignac carnyx (left) and the
Loughnashade horn (right) (photograph: Francesco Marano). (c) Roman tuba (left) and two cornua
(right) being played with a hydraulis (organ), from a Roman floor mosaic, c. second century CE,
Zliten, Libya. Photograph: Nacéra Benseddik, licensed under Creative Commons 1.0