Wind Instrument Ensembles in Italy from 1450 to1620

By the Beauteous Brenda Flynn

     A neat fact of music history trivia is that one of the first composers (though not the very first) to specify both specific wind instruments to specific musical lines in ensemble compositions and dynamics is Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612). I have always been curious, however, why more attention wasn't payed to the instruments thus honored! These wind and string musicians, however, did not only exists in Gabrieli's home cathedral of San Marco (St. Marks) during this period; they were a phenomenon across Europe! Not only did churches, like St. Marks, have resident wind ensembles, but any court or municipality worth its salt had one too. Even the Kiwanas Clubs of the day, the Venetian Scuole, or confraternities, had ensembles. (Gabrieli moonlighted as organist for the Scuole de San Rocco!) These ensembles go by many names, one of them appearing to be pifarri. Another common name is alta or alta capella. (Although pifarri is more specifically Italian.) I am studying these ensembles, and their relatives. While both 'pifarri' and 'alta' may be unspecific or poorly defined, what I am studying (specifically) are some ensembles in Italy, specifically between 1450-1620, which include winds.

     Basically, these are an understudied but fascinating part of the history of music (especially for the dispossesed brass player). Some of the music written for these ensembles is still being played today, especially the great polyphony by Giovanni Gabrieli. A glance at any brass ensemble or quintet's repitoire will show that. Unfortunately, it appears as though much of the music played was part of an oral tradition, or that the musicians simply adapted vocal music to their convenience. What written music there was tended to be for special occasions, and was thus lost because it could never be used again. (Call this a hunch, but this may be WHY no one has ever written a specific book on the subject!)

     I leave you with my favorite quotation regarding the importance of the pifarri. I found it in David Barber's "Bach, Beethoven and the Boys: Music History as it Ought to be Taught" (which is, by the way, a great and relatively accurate overview of music history--just don't believe what he says about Wagner).

"Church musicians were not as prestigious as musicians at the royals courts, but they were higher on the social ladder than the town minstrels, or 'pifarri', whose job it was to follow the mayor around and blow trumpets just before he said anything important or cut a ribbon or something." (pgs. 37 and 38)

     Now tell me that's not an intriguing subject!

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