Monteverdi's Overture to Orfeo

Blackquill · Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 8:26 pm Post subject: Monteverdi's Overture to Orfeo

Hi,

My orchestra is playing Overture to Orfeo. I have tried finding Youtube videos to satisfy this question, but haven't found one.

We are using C trumpets instead of the authentic baroque instruments to play this piece. The first section is muted. Do we simply use straight mutes and call that good, or does con sord mean something a bit different back in the early Baroque period? In the videos where the authentic instruments are used I don't see any mutes used.
_________________
Trumpet is for extroverts only... no, wait... Trumpet is also for introverts who need an avenue for extrovertism!

computrnerd · New Member Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 3

Brass Press edition edited by Edward Tarr has this translation from the original Italian:
"Toccata which is played with all the instruments three times before the curtain is raised, and which sounds a tone higher when the trumpets are played with mutes." My personal preference is to not use modern mutes.

Good luck and have fun !

Gabrieli · Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 11:09 pm Post subject:

L’Orfeo was first performed in a very small hall in the Mantuan Ducal Palace, accomodating perhaps only around 100 listeners!

Presumably for this reason the trumpets were muted. As baroque mutes raise the pitch by a tone, the toccata had to be played a tone higher than written (in D instead of C) by the other instruments.

Baroque mutes are incredibly soft. There is no point whatsoever in using them or similar qui9et mutes on a modern trumpet in a large modern concert hall. You don’t however tell us if you are playing in a big hall or whether you are performing it in C or D. Monteverdi’s D would actually be the same - more or less - as modern Eb.

What you are playing is effectively an "arrangement" of Monteverdi’s Toccata so do what you need to do to make it a positive experience for the listener.

Blackquill · Posted: Wed May 09, 2018 9:04 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the educational replies! I'll make it a positive experience for the listener, for sure! ...but I'm guessing at this point it's going to be cancelled, because the orchestra apparently needs to use all its rehearsal time for other pieces... (Carmina Burana and Tchaik's 4th, 1st movement, if you were wondering).
_________________
Trumpet is for extroverts only... no, wait... Trumpet is also for introverts who need an avenue for extrovertism!