A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Tromba Marina

by George Grove

TROMBA MARINA (Trummscheidt, Brummscheidt, Tympanischiza, Nonnen-geige, Marine Trumpet). A portable monochord played with the bow, probably the oldest bowed instrument known, and the archetype of all others. [See Violin.] The country of its origin is uncertain, but is probably Germany. Once extensively employed in Germany and France as a popular instrument, and even used in the service of the church, it was almost disused early in the last century: but it figured in the 'Musique des Escuries' of the French monarchs, down to the year 1767: and L. Mozart, in his Violin-school (1756), describes it as then in use. It was in use later still in German nunneries, and is still played in at least two, those of Marienstern, near Camenz, and Marienthal near Ostritz, both in Ober Lausitz (kingdom of Saxony).^[1]

Most existing specimens date from the latter half of the 17th century. In its latest form the instrument has a fiddle head fitted with an iron screw. Some heads have rack-wheels to facilitate tuning: others have iron screw button tops, a double iron ring working on the screw, into the outer ring of which the string is knotted. It has a round neck or handle about the size of a broomstick, dove-tailed into a top block or shoulder which forms the end of the body. The latter is a resonant box or drum (whence the name Trummscheidt) broadening towards the bottom, where it rests on the ground, and having a thin pine belly, quite flat. The back or shell of the drum is polygonal, being built up of very thin straight staves of maple. The number of staves in the shell is usually either five or seven: the joints are fortified internally, and sometimes externally also, with slips of cartridge paper or vellum.^[2] Three pine bars are glued transversely across the belly before it is glued to the outer edges of the shell. The belly is sometimes pierced with a rose. In some specimens the drum is constructed in two separate portions. In others, of later date, the bottom of the drum spreads out at the edges like the bell of a trumpet. The total length is usually somewhat less than six feet; some specimens are a few inches over that length.

The string is a very thick violoncello string, stretched over a peculiar bridge. This is of hard and close-grained wood, and rests firmly on the belly with the right foot only, upon which side the string bears with its whole weight. Properly, the bridge should be shaped something like a shoe, the heel being the right foot, the toe, the left. The left foot touches the belly lightly: and when the string is put in vibration this foot rattles rapidly on the belly, like an organ reed. To increase the tone, a thin metallic plate is sometimes attached to the foot, and some bridges have a mechanical apparatus for adjusting its tension.

The marine trumpet is played with a heavy violoncello bow, plentifully rosined. The open string is ordinarily tuned to CC: and when sounded with the bow, it yields a powerful note, of harsh and nasal character, something like an ft. wooden organ reed-pipe. Played by stopping in the ordinary way, the marine trumpet produces tones far less melodious than the bray of an ass. But this is not its legitimate use. It is properly played wholly in natural harmonics, .and by reference to the article Harmonics, it will be seen how the following scale arises.

Rühlmann omits the three last notes from the scale: but the writer has seen them marked on several specimens. The facility with which the marine trumpet yields the natural harmonics is due to its single string and its lopsided bridge. Paganini's extraordinary effects in harmonics on a single string, were in fact produced by temporarily converting his violin into a small marine trumpet. As is well known, that clever player placed his single fourth string on the treble side of the bridge, screwing it up to a very high pitch, and leaving the bass foot of the bridge comparatively loose. He thus produced a powerful reedy tone, and obtained unlimited command over the harmonics.^[3] According to information procured by Rühlmann from Marienthal, the Trummscheidt will bear lowering to B♭ and raising to E♭, but no more. According to him, it can also be made to yield the notes D and F in the lower octave, though less distinctly. The nuns use the instrument in their choral singing. On the festivals of the church, and sometimes as a special compliment to a new-comer on her matriculation they jubilate upon four marine trumpets accompanied by drums; one takes a principal part, the others are seconds.^[4]

An inspection of the scale will explain how the marine trumpet became par excellence the Nonnen-geige: its scale corresponds with the female voice, with which its tone, resembling that of a clarinet, but more piercing and nasal, has something in common. Added to this it is extremely easy to play: the neck being rested on the breast or shoulder, and the string lightly touched with the thumb where the letters are marked on the neck, it yields its few notes with absolute accuracy. It was anciently used as a street instrument by mendicant musicians: and those who have heard it will agree with an ancient author that it sounds best at a distance. M. Jourdain, in a well-known passage in the comedy of the 'Bourgeois Gentilhomme' (1670), expresses a preference for it, thereby proclaiming his uncultivated taste.^[5] About the end of the 17th century the acoustical peculiarities of the Trummscheidt were the object of much investigation by the learned societies of England and France: the reader who desires to pursue the subject will find the necessary clues in Vidal and Hawkins. The name 'marine trumpet' (tromba marina) was probably given to the Trummscheidt on its introduction into Italy, on account of its external resemblance to the large speaking-trumpet used on board Italian vessels, which is of the same length and tapering shape. Little doubt on this point can remain in the mind of any one who compares the figures of the two objects in old pictures and engravings, or the objects themselves as they stand side by side in the Munich museum. The name was perhaps confirmed by the character of the tone, and by the circumstance that both instruments have the same harmonic scale.

Specimens are not uncommon: several will be found in the museums of Bologna, Munich, Salzburg, Nuremberg, etc., and there are two good ones in the collection of the Conservatoire in Paris, one of which has sympathetic strings attached to the belly internally. The South Kensington Museum possesses a handsome but rather undersized French specimen (oddly described in the Catalogue as 'probably Dutch') also having sympathetic strings inside. A specimen was some years since exposed for sale in the window of Cramer's music shop in Regent Street, but the writer cannot learn what has become of it.

The Trummscheidt, in the middle ages, was sometimes fitted with two, three, and even four strings, one or more of which were Bourdons or drones. In this form it undoubtedly became the parent of the German 'Geige,' whence the viol and violin are derived. [See Violin.]

[ E.J.P. ]

1. Rühlmann, Geschichte der Bogeninstrumente, pp. 29, 31.
2. In Mersenne's time, and doubtless in the original instrument, the drum was merely a shallow triangular wooden box, tapering like a sword-sheath, and open at the lower end: hence the name scheidt (sheath).
3. The interesting experiments of Dr. Huggins, printed in a recent number of the Transactions of the Royal Society, tend to show that the principle of the violin bridge is radically identical with that of the marine trumpet bridge, one foot serving as a point d'appui, the other as the conductor of vibration.
4. The quartet of marine trumpets appears to be of ancient date. Hawkins (ch. 158) quotes from the London Gazette, Feb. 4, 1674, an advertisement of 'A rare Concert of four Trumpets Marine, never heard of before in England,' to be heard daily at the Fleece Tavern near St. James's.
5. The music-master recommends the citizen to have a concert at his house every Wednesday or Thursday, and thus describes the requirements: 'Il vous faudra trois voix, un dessus, une haute-contre, et une basse, qul seront accompagnées d'une basse de viole, d'un théorbe, et d'un clavecin pour les basses continues, avec deux dessus de violon pour jouer les ritornelles.' M. Jourdain: 'Il y faudra mettre aussi une trompette marine. La trompette marine est un instrument qui me plait, et qui est harmonieux.'