Roman Music: The Brass Section

 
Welcome to this week's blog! We are going to finish up my series on Roman Music and starting next week, I'll be featuring tidbits of material which will be included in my last book in the Antonius Trilogy, which will hopefully launch on Friday, October 16th.

It's time to focus on ancient Roman brass instruments, which were popular in gladiatorial games and the military. 

First, let's talk about the bucina or cornu. I have to state that these terms may be used interchangeably, and it is unclear whether they were one and the same instrument or two separate ones. 

The relief at right is in Osuna, Spain and is actually a copy of an original housed in the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid. Though this bucinator (horn player) is not mounted, there is evidence from other funerary steles suggesting that by the late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD, the bucina was used in association with cavalry units. But they were also used in camp life, probably to signal wake-up calls or meal-times.

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​During my visit with Walter Maioli of the ensemble, Synaulia, Maioli showed me a reconstructed bucina/cornu that his ensemble uses. Like with today's brass instruments, a player must have a very firm embouchure--taut muscles around one's lips which help produce the tone. The instrument itself was made of bronze, as Roman ones would have been, however, it was surprisingly light-weight. It's certainly easy to see where later instruments such as hunting horns and eventually the French horn got their overall appearance.

I was able to locate some bucina sound samples, but you'll need to pare away some light percussion and tibiae (woodwinds) in the mix. The bucinae are surprisingly mellow--very much the way a well-played French Horn player sounds. However, keep in mind that there are no valves whatsoever, so it's the embouchure that firms up or loosens around the player's mouth to change the pitch. What you'll hear will have some intonation problems to the western ear, but one has to be impressed at the precision that might have been achieved on this ancient wind instrument: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RFHor-CP-0

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Strangely, the funerary stele to the left is described as the Stele of the Bucinator, A. Surus. Maybe Surus forgot his bucina that day, or it's possible the inscription was simply incorrect, because he's portrayed holding a tuba--the ancient Roman trumpet. Please don't bother to ask why the modern tuba is named thus, because I have no idea how that came to be. But the tuba of ancient times was similar to a Medieval or Renaissance herald trumpet. It had no valves, and how any of these brass instruments were tuned, or whether they had standard sizes is all open to conjecture.

As was the bucina, the tuba was used in both gladiatorial games and in the military and was the preferred instrument for signaling large units of men on the battlefield. Along with their fellow bucinatores, tubicines (trumpet-players), eventually formed a collegium or guild. 

In my research, I was able to locate several references in ancient sources, in which the tuba was mentioned. One pertains to the moment in time when Sulla stormed Athens: 
     Upon entering Athens, Sulla used his tubicines to signal his army into the city, but, due to the nature of the text, it is obvious that there was an enormous intimidation factor involved if one considers all this noise taking place at midnight. The Athenians must have experienced mass panic.
     When they had thrown down the wall, and made all level betwixt the Piraic and Sacred Gate, about midnight, Sulla entered the breach, with all the terrors of trumpets and cornets sounding, with the triumphant shout and cry of an army let loose to spoil and slaughter, and scouring through the streets with swords drawn... Plutarch, Vit. Sull. 619.

The second reference will feature as part of the story in my next book, Antonius: Soldier of Fate. Following the Battle of Actium, Antonius sailed to the northern coast of Africa in Cyrene, attempting to gather more legionary support:
     "...he did not go thither, but proceeded against Gallus (in Cyrene), in the hope of winning over the troops without a struggle, if possible, inasmuch as they had been with him on campaigns and were fairly well disposed toward him, but otherwise of subduing them by force, since he was leading against them a large force both of ships and of infantry. Nevertheless, he was unable even to talk with them, although he approached their ramparts and raised a mighty shout; for Gallus ordered his trumpeters to sound their instruments all together and gave no one a chance to hear a word." Cassius Dio, 51.9.

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​In Rome, another magnificent frieze bears testimony to the use of the tuba. This time, the instrument was used in Titus's military triumph over Judaea. In the photo at right, the long tubae are easy to make-out, decorously crossed in front of the menorah, pillaged from the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem.

I am providing another Synaulia recording so that you're able to hear the tuba--the Roman trumpet on recreated instruments, which Maioli built. This recording is called "Imperium" and also features several other instruments we've covered. Listen for the "oom-pahs" of the softer bucina, and the shrill voices of the tibicines which join in midway through. 
​     Imperium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg5DKkDJ1X4 

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