Jean-Luc Ho

Cast:

La Guilde des Mercenaires
Violaine Le Chenadec, soprano
Jean Bollinger and Adrien Mabire, cornets and trumpets
Jean-Luc Ho, keyboard

Born on the battlefield, the trumpet was initially a sound weapon: an instrument of command, signaling, and order. Since ancient times—from Roman tubae to medieval horns—its military use has forged its primary identity. But very early on, trumpeters, true “officers of sound,” perfected their art to rival the human voice. Their virtuosity made the “Announcement” not only a signal, but a symbol: that of power, earthly or heavenly.

The trumpet gradually made its way into the church. While during the Renaissance it was only tolerated for major celebrations—Te Deum, royal processions, solemn festivals—the 17th century saw its definitive consecration. Thanks to composers such as Schütz, Biber, Muffat, Charpentier, and Purcell, trumpeters became omnipresent in European sacred music. The instrument left the forecourt to join the nave, the altar, and even the vaults.

For when we look up in our churches and cathedrals, silent witnesses observe us: angel musicians, blowing trumpets and cornets, or brandishing the great “Principal” pipe of the organ. They announce the Judgments, proclaim royal authority, accompany the liturgy; and at their side, the cornets, their inseparable companions, dialogue with the tin pipes in a fusion of timbres unique to the European tradition.

In opera, brass instruments first make their entrance through the grand door of fanfares. However, their expressive nobility quickly inspires composers to write entire arias dedicated to the instrument: heroic celebrations, pastoral gentleness, or theatrical brilliance. The aim of this program is to showcase the richness of the European repertoire dedicated to the instruments that accompany the organ and the voice: cornets and trumpets. From one country to another, the names change—Clarino, Tromba, Cornetto, Trompette, Cornet, Tromba di Guerra, Principale, Corno e Tromba da Tirarsi—but the intention remains the same: to magnify the musical word, to carry it further, higher, more solemnly.

The Baroque period (1600-1750) represents the golden age of the natural trumpet. Its technique, developed particularly in imperial and princely courts, reached a peak of virtuosity. But the second half of the 18th century, with the rise of bourgeois musical discourse, the emergence of chamber music, and the gradual transformation of the orchestra, soon dominated by strings, ushered in a period of relative scarcity for these prestigious instruments. The trumpet declined, the symbolic cornet almost disappeared, and the organ itself was reinvented.

The question that has remained unanswered for centuries remains:
Can the voice surpass the instrument, or can the instrument rival the voice? The trumpet, cornet, and organ have been answering this question for over four hundred years. Our program proposes to ask it again, letting history, timbres, and sacred spaces provide their own answers.

Detailed program

For the Crown of England:

Henry Purcell - Sound the Trumpet
Georg Friedrich Handel - Let the bright Seraphim
G. F. Handel - Eternal source of Divine Light
G. F. Handel - Alla caccia
Maurice Greene - Voluntary
Thomas Arne - The Soldier Tired
G. F. Handel - Alle voci del Bronzo guerriero

For the Italian Campaign:

Giuseppe Torelli - Concerto per tromba
Alessandro Scarlatti - Si Suona La Tromba
Alessandro Marcello - Concerto per Cornetto
Tomaso Albinoni - Vie con nuova orribili guerra
Bernardo Pasquini - Toccata con la Scherzo del Cucco
Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto con due Tromba
Alessandro Scarlatti - Su le sponde