It’s near the end of the semester when I’m doing this blog, so my final project is pretty much already done/turned in. For those of you reading, the research project included us finding a classical era piece and doing an arrangement for it into another instrumentation. I decided to take 4th movement of Joseph Haydn’s Op. 33 No. 2 titled “The Joke” from the traditional String quartet into a rocking socking Trumpet Quartet. I’m sure Haydn would’ve wanted it so had possessed the modern day trumpet. My project began with finding the perfect resources. Since the project has been done, instead of talking about what will be useful, I’m gonna talk about what resources WERE useful. Enjoy!
Coming in hot with my number one resource is Fanfares and Finesse: A Performer’s Guide to Trumpet History and Literature. I found this resource through Jstor. This resource talks in detail about the history of brass ensembles in general. When I first began the project I had to decide what kind of ensemble I was going to put the arrangement into. With the original piece being a string quartet, I found it the most practical to use a brass quartet(Eventually I would use purely a trumpet quartet). This source was pretty well-written when it came to describing the types of brass ensembles that were available. A typical arrangement would be a Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, And a Tuba. I didn’t have much experience with any type of brass quartet group, so this source gave me some helpful insight.
The second source that was useful to me was actually a live recording. I watched a live recording of the Attaca Quartet performing the piece. Since this piece is idiomatic to a string quartet, I had to make sure that some of the typical performance practices would still be upheld. This included the appropriate tempos, atmosphere, weight of phrasing, and other performance factors. I found this source by just searching the piece on youtube. Even though it may not be the the best audio recording, it gave me the best idea about how to write for and perform the piece.
The last source that I utilized was “Engaging Strategies in Haydn’s Opus 33 String Quartets. Eighteenth-Century Studies” Due to the nature of this project, the source did not provide that much information in regards to the actual arrangement of the piece. The source did, however, provide very clear and detailed information about the various themes and forms of the piece. I feel as though deep down having a better idea of the piece and its construction assisted in me keeping the piece as authentic as possible.
William Joiner's Music World 