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References to Trumpet Music in the Battle Chansons of Clement Janequin
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This paper is an examination of the battle chansons of Clement Janequin for references to Renaissance trumpet music. The following issues are addressed: dating the early use of the clarino register; the history and evolution of the courtly trumpet ensemble; and the transition from the shorter trumpet of the Middle Ages to the longer instrument of the middle Renaissance and Baroque eras. Because the earliest Janequin battle chanson predates all known written trumpet sources by over fifty years, musical evidence gleaned from these battle chansons can help to establish the existence and character of trumpet performance practices in the first third of the sixteenth century. The first chapter summarizes all of the known primary sources of information on Renaissance trumpet performance, and identifies important issues worthy of further investigation. The second chapter examines trumpet music and trumpet style in the Renaissance, including trumpet ensemble performance, military trumpet calls, and the imitation of trumpet style in purely vocal music, and contains eight musical examples. The third chapter discusses the battle chansons of Janequin and their influence on other sixteenth-century works. Chapter £our analyzes the battle works of Janequin for allusions to trumpet music and includes eleven musical examples. The fifth and concluding chapter places the musical allusions into the context of trumpet history. The musical references pointed out in these chansons provide the first musical evidence that trumpeters in the early sixteenth century were performing in the clarino register. Clear references to unequal articulation, military calls, characteristic: trumpet rhythms, and to the music of the courtly trumpet ensemble are demonstrated. The chansons also provide evidence of the simultaneous use of trumpets in at least two different keys, probably for two different styles of playing.