nickb2009 wrote:Although was there a significant difference in the design of these Baroque trumpets as compared to modern ones?
Most definitely.
Don't forget that up until about the time of Bach's middle age, the equal temperament scale did not really get much use. Pythagorean and then Just Intonation ruled the roost.
This meant that key changes "on the fly" could not be done in pieces.
The original "trumpets" were more like bugles, without valves and later on would have HOLES drilled in key places to allow for a bit of note changing, working much like clarinets or other woodwinds in that regard, I shudder to think about the tonality and temperament of such (grin).
The modern piston valve trumpet is predated by the rotary valve trumpet, too, which used the same kind of flat rotary valves controlled by lever keys that the modern French Horn still uses. The rotary trumpet is still used by the famous Vienna Symphony today, one brand is called the "Henckel" rotary trumpet. These have what I would describe as a mellower sound than the modern piston trumpet.
When discussing the kind of trumpet musics you are emulating, we must also know that the common Bb trumpet of modern times is not typically the instrument of choice for playing these either. The C trumpet, built exactly like the Bb piston trumpet only slightly smaller, is usually the horn used today, but not always.
Back when these baroque and classical pieces were written, to name it the "Trumpet Concerto in Eb" meant a lot more than just the key signature -- it also meant that the trumpet player was supposed to play the piece on an Eb trumpet! This would be a horn that open blows Eb as the root note rather than Bb.
Trumpet in F, D, C, Eb and A were most common "back then".
Today, the use of equal temperament allows the modern trumpet player to play any of these on the same horn -- and with a brightness that the original composers probably never heard nor envisioned.
Your synth patch emulates the sound of the modern trumpet playing these pieces, which is a good thing IMO. Sounds like a C Trumpet, incidentally.
--Mac
). Strange thing with Bach's Largo, I've never heard two versions in any way the same. Everyone chops and changes it. Almost with a hatchet. We did.....