Review

Samuel Scheidt
Intrada: from "Ludi Musici"

Arranged by Neal Bennett

2 alto, 2 tenor, 1 bass trombone

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2020
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 5 trombones

This music comes from the Late Renaissance period, when tonality was in evolution. Scheidt (1587-1654) was one of the major contributors to its development. He attempted to formalise its principles in Ludi Musici, a collection of pieces written for an ensemble of cornetts, trumpets, sackbuts and continuo and published in 1621. The well-known Galliard Battaglia is also from this collection.

Intrada is unambiguously tonal; this arrangement is in E-flat with a strong B-flat dominant. Scoring is for two alto trombones, two tenor trombones and bass trombone. The tenor trombone parts are given in bass clef. The first and second sections are in common time, characterised by two measure phrases played in close imitation by the alto trombones. In the third section, second alto plays the inversion of the first part; these patterns are then imitated in the lower parts. The final section changes to 6/4 meter and is homophonic. The first two sections are then reprised and the piece ends on an E-flat chord spread over two and a half octaves. This is an interesting piece; the arrangement is well-written and all parts lie comfortably on the slide. The alto trombones have no notes beyond fourth position. Both parts top out at c².

Dr Bennett has extensively researched the music of this period. He is an alto trombone specialist and a founding member of iTromboni. This arrangement is published in Cherry’s iTromboni series.