Review

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer
Sonata XII: for 10-part Brass Ensemble

Arranged by Adam Woolf

4 B-flat trumpets, horn in F, 3 trombones, 1 bass trombone (or tuba), 1 tuba

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2019
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 6+ brass (choir)

Baroque composer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer was well-known in the 17th century as a violinist and composer. Employed for many years by the court of the Hapsburg dynasty, his work influenced other baroque composers. His compositional versatility is attested to by a body of work that includes vocal and instrumental works, for large ensembles as well as for solo and small chamber configurations. In 1675 he published Sonata duodecima (12) scored for seven players: two cornettinos, two clarinos, and three trombones plus continuo. Trombonist and early music specialist Adam Woolf has taken Schmelzer’s work and arranged it for a modern brass ensemble consisting of four trumpets, horn, three trombones and two tubas. Though the original piece was in the key of C, Woolf has changed it to the key of B-flat for his setting.

Woolf has divided Schmelzer’s parts up into two, five part choirs. The first is a typical brass quintet instrumentation of two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba. The other has two trumpets, two trombones (one of which can be substituted with a provided horn 2 part), and tuba or bass trombone. Woolf uses the two choirs separately and together, giving the cori spezzati dynamic and spatial effects so prevalent in the Venetian music of the Gabrielis and others. The range of some of the parts and the technical passages they contain makes this arrangement most suited to relatively advanced groups.

The score and parts are all laid out in an easy to read fashion, benefiting from both modern music notation software and careful attention by the arranger and publisher. The conductor especially will appreciate the care given to the distribution of the parts and their layout in the score. This arrangement by Adam Woolf should prove to be a nice addition to the repertoire of large brass ensemble music.