Alta cappella

Analta cappellaoralta musica(Italian),haute musique(French) or justaltawas a kind of townwindband found throughout continental Europe from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries, which typically consisted ofshawmsandslide trumpetsorsackbuts.Waitsis the British equivalent. These were not found anywhere outside of Europe.^[1]^[2]

History

Modern reconstruction of a fifteenth-century slide trumpet

Alta musiquein general refers to the "loud music" of instruments likeshawms,sackbuts,trumpets, anddrums,in contrast tobasse musique,the "soft music" ofrecorders,viols,fiddles,harps,psalteries,and the like.^[3]These ensembles first appeared in Europe in the thirteenth century, taken from the ceremonial loud bands of the Arab World, consisting of small shawms, nakers, and other percussion, together with pairs of straight trumpets functioning as something of a cross between drone and percussion. In Europe, these instruments were sometimes augmented by bagpipes and pipe andtabor.^[4]

By the fifteenth century, these bands had come mainly to consist of three musicians, two playing shawms and the other a slide trumpet or (later) sackbut, but in the sixteenth century the size gradually increased and the instrumentation became more varied.^[3]After about 1500 in Germany, thealtadeveloped into the kind of band that came to be known asStadtpfeifer(town pipers).^[5]

Many English cities in the 1500s had town waits, as did rich individuals and institutions. In 1571, London ordered its waits to play "upon their instrumentsupon the turretat the Royal Exchange every Sunday and holiday toward the evening "(with winter break, between September and late March, excepted). These may have been London's first regularly scheduled public concerts.^[6]

Present-day descendants of this tradition are the Catalancoblabands, who play music forsardanadancers, and which feature a modern version of theshawmwith melodies traditionally played by the tenor member of the family.^[3]In addition, in the same Catalonia, specially in Tarragona area, the use of a shorten shawm called "gralla"is used for the human tower"castells"and"cercavila[ca]",an event that takes place in the streets, always festive parade, which involved a variety of elements and Town Hall representatives, including musical (grallers), audio (fireworks) and visual type (giants, dwarfs, costumes, representations of animals or mythological beings or invented, etc.).

Repertoire

Two shawms of the fifteenth-century type

There is one surviving composition from the late-fifteenth or early sixteenth century actually titledAlta.It is an untexted piece for three (presumably instrumental) voices byF[rancisco?] de la Torre,in the Spanish manuscriptCancionero de Palacio(E-Mp 2–1–5), and is assumed to be a typical example of theimprovisatory styleof this ensemble. It sets the popularbasse danse tenorLa Spagnain long notes with a contratenor in more or less note-against-note motion and a highly decorated fast-moving upper part.^[3]Similar cantus-firmus settings from this period, mostly in three parts and in improvisatory style, may also be associated with these bands. Examples include pieces found in MS Trent 87,5 such asAuxce bon youre,Tandernaken,and the setting of the basse danse melody,Je suy povere de leesse.^[7]During the sixteenth century, cantus firmus settings gave way to other kind of dances, sometimes improvised and sometimes composed. Music in four parts had become a normal texture by the early sixteenth century, and the bands accordingly increased in size.^[3]

References

^Iain Fenlon,Music and Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Mantua,2 vols., Cambridge Studies in Music (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980–82):^{[full citation needed]}:2008,^{[verification needed]}ISBN 978-0-521-229050(vol 1);ISBN 978-0-521-23587-7(vol. 2) "It is not until a few years later, in 1468, that the names of the Mantuan court alta cappella, a group of four players, are recorded. From its origins as a simple band used on ceremonial occasions, this ensemble seems to have been transformed..."
^Roy C. Strong(2002).Feast: A History of Grand Eating.London: Jonathan Cape. p. 123.ISBN 978-0-224-06138-4.In the hall it was haute musique, itself divided between musica alta for wind bands and basse musique for soft instruments accompanied by voices.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eHoward Mayer Brown,and Keith Polk, "Alta (i)", Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root (accessed 28 January 2015)
^Herbert W. Myers, "Slide Trumpet Madness: Fact or Fiction?",Early Music17, no. 3 (August 1989): 382–89. Citation on 383.
^Margaret Sarkissian andEdward H. Tarr,"Trumpet", Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root (accessed 28 January 2015).
^Will Kimball (2020)."Trombone History: 16th Century".Retrieved2023-02-20.
^Ross W. Duffin,"The Trompette des Ménestrels in the 15th-Century Alta Capella",Early Music17, no. 3 (August 1989): 397–402. Citation on 399.

External links

International Guild of Town Pipers

[1] Iain Fenlon,Music and Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Mantua,2 vols., Cambridge Studies in Music (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980–82):^{[full citation needed]}:2008,^{[verification needed]}ISBN 978-0-521-229050(vol 1);ISBN 978-0-521-23587-7(vol. 2) "It is not until a few years later, in 1468, that the names of the Mantuan court alta cappella, a group of four players, are recorded. From its origins as a simple band used on ceremonial occasions, this ensemble seems to have been transformed..."

[2] Roy C. Strong(2002).Feast: A History of Grand Eating.London: Jonathan Cape. p. 123.ISBN 978-0-224-06138-4.In the hall it was haute musique, itself divided between musica alta for wind bands and basse musique for soft instruments accompanied by voices.

[Brown-3] Howard Mayer Brown,and Keith Polk, "Alta (i)", Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root (accessed 28 January 2015)

[4] Herbert W. Myers, "Slide Trumpet Madness: Fact or Fiction?",Early Music17, no. 3 (August 1989): 382–89. Citation on 383.

[5] Margaret Sarkissian andEdward H. Tarr,"Trumpet", Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root (accessed 28 January 2015).

[kimball_15-6] Will Kimball (2020)."Trombone History: 16th Century".Retrieved2023-02-20.

[7] Ross W. Duffin,"The Trompette des Ménestrels in the 15th-Century Alta Capella",Early Music17, no. 3 (August 1989): 397–402. Citation on 399.

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History

Repertoire

References

Further reading

External links