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Voxman Selected Studies - Trumpet

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394 views

Voxman Selected Studies - Trumpet

Uploaded by

dylanburrows12
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Form and Structure in Leroy Anderson’s "Trumpeter’s Lullaby"

Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) was an American composer of many short concert pieces,

writing many of them to feature a solo trumpet. He wrote A Trumpeter’s Lullaby in 1949, and it

was premiered by the Boston Pops Orchestra, with Roger Voisin, as the Trumpet Soloist. Leroy

Anderson was the arranger for the Boston Pops Orchestra, so having his works premieredby

them was a somewhat normal thing. One thing that sets this piece apart from other works for

trumpet is that the overall dynamic level is much softer throughout.

This piece perfectly highlights the quiet side of the trumpet while still using rhythms and

tones that have characterized the instrument for centuries. There was a large gap of soft pieces in

the trumpet repertoire at that time. Leroy Anderson was made aware of this by the principal

trumpet, at the time, of the Boston Pops Orchestra, Roger Voisin. Anderson states on his website

that Voisin asked him to write a trumpet solo for him to play with the orchestra that was different

from most trumpet solos which are all loud and triumphant. This gap in trumpet repertoire

somewhat makes sense. The trumpet is naturally a loud instrument, so it isn’t entirely out of the

ordinary for most of the repertoire for it to be loud as well. It occurred to Anderson that he had

never heard a lullaby for trumpet, so he set out to write one.

For a song to be considered a lullaby, it usually meets a few expectations. Such as, being

in triple meter or compound meter. This is to give the piece a characteristic swinging or rocking

feel. “For example, Wiegenlied by Johannes Brahms, one of the most famous lullabies ever

written, was composed in three-four. Another thing we expect is for the piece to have a simple

melody, especially one that can be sung. Lastly, we expect for the piece to be gentle and soft.

Afterall, lullabies are most commonly used to soothe young children.


A Trumpeters Lullaby meets a few of these expectations but doesn’t meet one of the

important ones. This piece is written in cut-time, with no evidence that it has any underlying

triplet rhythms throughout. This is interesting because, despite the abnormal time signature, for a

piece in this style, it still sounds very much like a lullaby. Instead, the form of this piece was put

together in a way that it gives it a circular feel. This is because we are constantly going back to

the same melodic idea through sequencing. This is due to the other two expectations. This piece

has a very catchy, easily singable melodic line that is repeated many times. It is also very soft

overall, with the loudest dynamic marking being mezzo forte.

The form of A Trumpeter’s Lullaby is best described by it being in three part (or ternary)

form. This is evident for a few reasons. First, when looking at how the melody and texture

changes, it is obvious that there are three distinct parts. Second, there are visual cues that signal

that something different is about to happen such as rehearsal markings, style markings, and

tempo markings. These exactly line up with where the three parts seem to be. This further

strengthens the idea that this piece is in a three part form. Lastly, when listening closely while

looking at the score, you can tell that the way that the performer interprets the staccato markings

is much different from Part A to Part B; this is especially evident in the Wynton Marsalis

recording. This also strengthens the idea that the parts are different in style.

Looking further, some of the parts have distinct sections within them. Just in Part A, there

are three sections. Each of these sections has a slightly different melody, but they are all in the

same key. Part B just has one section but is followed by a four measure figure that pulls the

listener into of the recap. of Part A. Here there is an identical form to Part A, other than the end.
Which is only different than Part A in that it slightly drawn out and the rhythms are different.

These changes create a sense of resolution to show the listener that the piece is over.

Part A both starts and ends in G major. This is evident because of the cadences we see in

measures nine, twenty-two, and twenty six. The harmonization found here is abnormal for this

style of piece. Usually in lullabies, we see very minimal chord differences; Often just alternating

between dominant and tonic chords, but that is not what we see here. On top of this, there are

many chord extensions present to add to the depth of each chord. This dissonance is also usually

not found in a Lullaby. When we get into Part B, we have modulated to the dominant key of C

major

By using sequencing, mentioned previously, Anderson was able to outline the chords

being played through his constantly repeating melodic line.

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