This collection has everything written by Henry Purcell for the trumpet in one convenient resource. Why are his works so important to trumpeters? Henry Purcell’s music holds significant importance in the history of the trumpet due to its role in shaping the instrument’s evolution and its contributions to the Baroque era. Purcell, a 17th-century English composer, composed numerous works that prominently featured the trumpet, demonstrating its versatility and capabilities.

Purcell’s trumpet music showcases the instrument’s ability to express both regal grandeur and emotional depth. His compositions, like the “Trumpet Sonata” and “The Indian Queen,” incorporated the trumpet as a key element, highlighting its bright and majestic sound. These works helped establish the trumpet as an integral part of orchestral and ceremonial music.

Furthermore, Purcell’s music pushed the boundaries of trumpet technique and extended its range, thereby contributing to the development of the instrument. His compositions continue to be essential repertoire for trumpet players, serving as a testament to the trumpet’s historical significance and its enduring presence in classical music. Purcell’s legacy endures as an important chapter in the history of the trumpet, showcasing its unique and enduring musical voice.

Click to the left for the full list and some samples, then read the full foreword to this edition below. When you are ready, click above for an immediate digital download.

From the Foreword

The following collection of the Trumpet parts of Henry Purcell’s music has been compiled in order to make available in convenient form some of the most charming trumpet writing of the baroque era. Sir Jack Westrup has made the following observation on Purcell’s music. “What no one will fail to find in Purcell at his best is a spring of life, a vitality that glows with the effort of the whole man.” Trumpet players may count it their good fortune that these qualities are to be found in so much of the music in this volume.

The bulk of Purcell’s trumpet music dates from the last decade of the 17th Century. No doubt this attention to the trumpet reflects but one aspect of the general influence, to which Purcell was susceptible, of Italian fashions and interests. However, a more local influence was undoubtedly the composer’s friendship with Matthias Shore. Mr. Shore was employed as the “King’s Serjeant Trumpeter” by virtue of which post he had under his control an “office of sixteen trumpets in ordinary.” It seems improbable that so large a number of trumpeters was required for the performance of art music even allowing for the frequency and splendour with which the royal taste for musical productions was indulged. No doubt the majority of the sixteen were employed in their trumpet-playing capacity only on the more spectacular ceremonial occasions and for the rest of the time may well have doubled on other instruments.

Among Mr. Shore’s sixteen trumpeters were his son John and his brother William. The former in particular appears to have enjoyed some considerable reputation both as a trumpeter and a lutenist. Sir John Hawkins, writing in “A History of the Science and Practice of Music” offers the following note on John Shore’s capabilities. “By his great ingenuity and application, he had extended the power of that noble instrument, too little esteemed at this day, beyond the reach of imagination; for he produced from it a tone as sweet as a hautboy.” It seems likely that the abilities of the Shore family account for Purcell’s characteristic anticipation that both first and second trumpet players would-be artists of no small distinction. In the great majority of his works requiring two trumpets Purcell treated the players as equals in terms of technical facility, range and the ability to project a melody.

This peculiar characteristic of Purcell’s writing presents problems for the players in modern performance. Ideally, both should use the same type of instrument, the choice of which is, of course, a matter of personal preference. However, there is one aspect of performance that lends considerable weight to the case for the use of the Piccolo Bb Trumpet–namely the satisfactory execution of trills and other decorations. Although opinions of the instrument’s tonal qualities may vary, it is at least arguable that the improved facility for soft and delicate playing enables the performer to reproduce more closely those aspects of the Shores’ playing that were most admired by their contemporaries.