Closeup of tuba valve
We’re continuing our series on the history of the orchestra with an exploration of the brass section. (But first, be sure to revisit our articles on the string and woodwind sections as well as our overview of the evolution of the orchestra.)
“Brass” instruments are technically labrophones, a category of instruments that are played by vibrating one’s lips. The brass section in a typical modern symphony orchestra includes at least four horns, two or three trumpets, three trombones (two tenor and one bass), and a tuba, though these numbers may vary depending on the repertoire. Other specialty brass instruments such as the euphonium, cornet, and flugelhorn may also be added.
Predecessors of modern brass instruments date back to the Neolithic period (7000–1700 BCE). Early labrophones included animal horns or seashells into which a hole had been bored at the end. One of the best-known examples of an early labrophone is the shofar, an ancient instrument made of a ram’s horn still used in Jewish religious rituals today. Later manufactured instruments were based on these natural models but were made of material such as wood, bamboo, bone, ivory, clay, and eventually metal. These early instruments were not “musical” in the modern sense but functional, as they had a limited range of just a few notes. Their penetrating sound made them useful for transmitting messages over long distances, so they were often used in war, hunting, and ceremonial or religious events.
We continue our historical exploration of the brass section through the earliest instrument to emerge from these early labrophones, the trumpet.
Trumpet
The oldest surviving metal trumpets, constructed of silver and copper, were discovered in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (1326–1336 BCE). These straight natural trumpets, called shenebs, were largely used for military purposes, but some murals also show them accompanying dance, constituting the earliest depiction of the trumpet in a “musical” setting. Trumpet-like instruments could be found across the ancient world. For instance, in Ancient Greece, players of the salpinx competed in the Olympics in 396 BCE to see who could play the loudest.
While the Ancient Romans had multiple trumpet-like instruments, including the buccina, cornu, and lituus, the modern trumpet’s most direct ancestor stems from the tuba, a straight trumpet made of bronze with a detachable bone mouthpiece and slightly flared bell. After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE, trumpets disappeared from Europe for the next half century as the necessary metalworking techniques were forgotten. During the Crusades, the Saracen armies reintroduced the trumpet to Europe, impressing the Christian armies with their long military trumpets. These may have derived from the Roman tuba, having continued to flourish in the Islamic world in the intervening centuries.
During the Middle Ages, the trumpet began to take its familiar shape as techniques for bending metal were rediscovered. Long, straight trumpets were unwieldy, but lengthening the instrument allowed more pitches of the harmonic series to be played. The invention of U-bends, S-curves, and folding around 1400 ensured longer instruments were not too cumbersome to hold and play. Interchangeable tubes and slides were added to vary the instrument’s length and thus open up more pitches and keys, transforming the trumpet from a utilitarian device into a musical instrument. (The slide trumpet evolved into the sackbut, the predecessor of the trombone—more on that later.)
Besides an increase in the flare of the bell, which created a louder, brighter sound, the trumpet stayed more or less the same throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Baroque trumpets are what we call “natural trumpets,” meaning they have no valves or fingerholes but are limited to the notes of the harmonic series. The player accesses different notes in the series by adjusting their embouchure (lipping) and airspeed. The natural trumpet has two registers: principale and clarion. The notes of the harmonic series are further apart in the lower principale register, making it best suited for playing arpeggiated fanfares of octaves, fifths, and fourths. Melodies are thus played in the upper clarion register. As the harmonic series ascends, the intervals get progressively closer together, allowing for step-wise motion and thus more florid music.
Attempts were made in the late 18th century and early 19th century to access a complete chromatic scale with keyed, stop, and slide trumpets. In 1814, German horn player Heinrich Stölzel introduced a valved horn, kicking off a period of great innovation in brass instrument construction. The valve system was first applied to the trumpet in 1820. Valves work by redirecting the air into different lengths of tubing when depressed, thus opening up different sets of pitches. The valve system quickly became the preferred method of achieving chromatic pitches because it created a more homogenous tone and was easier to handle than the alternatives. Two different valve systems—piston and rotary—are in use today. Check out this video for a demonstration and comparison of both.
Trombone
As we already alluded to, the Renaissance slide trumpet evolved into the double-slide trombone, or sackbut, during the 15th century. The word “sackbut” derives from two Middle French verbs, sacquer (to pull) and bouter (to push), describing the arm motion of the player as they move the slide. In Italy, these instruments were always known as trombones, and in Germany, Posaune, with both terms deriving from words for “trumpet.” Today, we use the term “sackbut” to distinguish historical-style instruments from their modern counterparts. The trombone changed relatively little over time—perhaps the least of any other instrument in common use today. The biggest change was that the flare of the bell increased over time, leading to a louder, brighter sound.
Because of its ability to play both loudly and softly and in any key or temperament—a rare asset at the time—the trombone was a highly versatile instrument. They were often used in town and royal court bands, with King Henry VIII’s court boasting 11 sackbut players on the payroll in 1532. Early trombones were also popular accompanimental instruments for sacred vocal music, especially in Germany and Italy, doubling the lower voices. The trombone gradually waned in popularity at the end of the 17th century as French string orchestras became the fashion and the practice of doubling vocal lines fell out of favor. During the 18th century, the instrument survived in Germany and Austria as predominantly a church and theater instrument.
The trombone resurfaced as a part of the orchestra in the late 18th century, gaining further prominence in the 19th century as wind and brass bands emerged.
Horn
The modern orchestral horn derives from hunting horns, an association that has colored the instrument’s use in music throughout its history. The word “horn” derives from its original material—animal horn. Different styles of hunting horns in various materials and shapes could be found across Europe. These horns were used to send signals to fellow hunters and assemble the hounds during a hunt. In 17th-century France, a large hooped hunting horn called a trompe de chasse emerged. The coiled metal body allowed the hunter to carry the horn over their shoulder and play it while riding a horse.
The first documented instance of trompes de chasse being used in a musical context is in a hunting scene in Jean-Baptiste Lully’s comedy-ballet La Princesse d’Élide, performed at Versailles in 1664. Count Franz Anton von Sporck, a late-17th-century Bohemian nobleman, was so taken by the horns he heard while in France in 1680 that he left two of his servants behind to learn about these instruments, which differed in construction and playing technique from those back home. Sporck is often credited with cultivating French-style horn playing in Bohemia, which then spread throughout Europe by the 18th century.
Like natural trumpets, these early horns were valveless, meaning only pitches of the harmonic series were playable. The adoption of crooks in the early 18th century allowed horn players to play in different keys. Crooks are pieces of tubing of various lengths that can be inserted to adjust the instrument’s pitch. Another way players could manipulate pitch was by placing their hand inside the bell and moving it to varying degrees. German hornist Anton Joseph Hampel is often cited as having invented or at least codified hand-horn technique around 1750, though players across Europe were probably experimenting with similar techniques before him. Nonetheless, the proliferation of hand-stopping allowed more complicated music to be composed for the horn during the Classical period than was previously possible. That said, this technique still resulted in an inconsistent, muffled tone, and the range of pitches was still limited.
The introduction of the first valved horn in 1814 allowed for a stable and complete chromatic scale to be played across the instrument’s range. (While modern instruments no longer need hand-stopping to create the chromatic scale, stopping is still used to make minor adjustments to the tuning and timbre of the instrument.) During the 19th century, the horn became further differentiated from the trumpet and took on the tone quality we associate with it today. The tube was lengthened, the bore became more conical, and the bell was widened, resulting in a lower, mellower, and more sonorous tone.
Given the instrument’s origins in France, the common name “French horn” is apt. However, most professional musicians refer to the instrument as simply a “horn” to avoid confusion. This is because French-style horns have piston valves, whereas the more ubiquitous German-style horns employ rotary valves.
Tuba
The tuba is the newest and lowest-sounding instrument of the brass family. Originally called the “bass-tuba,” the instrument was invented in 1835 by German military bandmaster Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht and musical instrument inventor Johann Gottfried Moritz. Their design featured a conical bore, upward-facing bell, and valves. Subsequent instrument makers riffed on Wieprecht and Moritz’s design, resulting in such instruments as the euphonium and sousaphone. Today, the tuba exists in multiple sizes and features across diverse musical genres, from classical and jazz to polka and Mexican banda.
The tuba was invented to serve as the bass voice of the orchestra or brass ensemble. Previous instruments that had fulfilled this role included the ophicleide and the serpent. These instruments were still used widely until the mid-19th century, overlapping with the tuba for a time. While serving a similar musical function, their structures were different, employing keys or fingerholes to change pitch (like woodwind instruments) instead of valves. In the video below, you can see the famous tuba solo from Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique played on different combinations of instruments, first with the serpent and ophicleide as Berlioz originally intended, and ending with two tubas, as it most often played by contemporary orchestras.
We hope you have enjoyed this brief overview of brass instruments. Stay tuned for our final article of this series on the history of the percussion section.
