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O Vos Omnes by Carlo Gesualdo

on January 29 2012, by Jo

We are delighted to be making a return visit to Milverton, Somerset in February. The acoustics in this beautiful parish church are well suited to sonorous sacred music and so we have chosen to include music by Carlo Gesualdo (1566 – 1613), John Bull (1546 - 1623) alongside a new work by Helena Gascoyne.

O Vos Omnes by Carlo Gesualdo has been arranged for us specially by Paul Archibald and the words of the mass translate as:

O all you who walk by on the road, pay attention and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow. Pay attention, all people, and look at my sorrow if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.

The music is resonant and chromatic, ideally suited to the open sound of trumpets. There has been much speculation about the impact of Gesualdo’s life on his writings. If you like reading a life story worthy of a Shakeperean tragedy than Click here to see the decline of his reputation from Prince to Criminal.  We will be pairing this work with a Suite from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. On first hearing I loved John Bull’s The King’s Hunt, you can actually hear the horses galloping past. So much music from this period is pictoral rather than abstract and it’s lovely to play music that tells a real story.

Our premiere for this recital is Trumpet Quartet No.1 by Helena Gascoyne. Helena is currently studying composition at Goldsmiths, London. Trumpet Quartet No 1 by Helena Gascoyne. My previous post is an interview but here is a flavour of what to expect:

The first movement begins with a fanfare-like call.  Harmonically the music is modal in character, moving mainly between the aeolian and dorian mode.  Rhythmically the metre is constantly changing.

The second movement is slower in tempo and contrasting in mood.  The opening theme almost jazz ballad like with its 9th, 11th and occasional 13th chords.  This same theme heard again towards the end of the movement, re-harmonized and with the phrases extended in length.

The opening of the final movement is rhythmically jaunty in character.  However the music progressively becomes more and more sinister in mood.  Towards the end of the movement we hear distorted fragments of the fanfare-like call and main theme from movement one: in places this is heard simultaneously.

The return of the jaunty opening of movement 3 movement brings Quartet No 1 to a close.


From the start Bella Tromba has sought to develop the concept of brass as chamber music. Yes, we like tunes, can play quiet and have the stamina to deliver a full evening programme. The range of the regular trumpet is three octaves and much of our repertoire makes use of smaller trumpets, flugels or even Baroque trumpets. The concert at Milverton will feature a bass trumpet, a new addition to our line up. The bass trumpet is usually heard in the orchestral music of Wagner, Strauss or Stravinsky. We are really interested to receive feedback from our audience at Milverton about hearing this unusual instrument.