Trumpet Concerto

About the Piece

Concerto for trumpet and orchestra dedicated to the bicentennial of the independence of Peru, inspired by the figure of José de San Martín. It will have the typical three-movement structure, with the following titles:

  1. Arrival

  2. Reverie

  3. Proclamation

Each movement will be inspired by a literary work or an extract from one. This is just for inspiration when composing the piece, but the texts will be included in the full score, before each movement, so they can be read to the musicians for inspiration as well, or even to the audience during performance.

I selected the following texts. Each text will be associated with a movement of the piece, in the order presented above.

  1. The poem “Qué nos buscas, oh mar, con tus volúmenes” (What do you look on us, oh sea, with your volumes), by César Vallejo

  2. An extract from “El sueño de San Martín” (Saint Martin's Dream), by Abraham Valdelomar

  3. An extract from the proclamation of José de San Martín to the inhabitants of Peru, published in Santiago de Chile in November 1818

Musical Forces

The orchestra will be kept to a minimum to facilitate the performance of the piece within Peruvian territory, but outside of Lima; that is, in cities like Cuzco, Trujillo and Arequipa, which have small orchestras (almost chamber orchestras). The instrumentation will then be as follows:

2 Flutes
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets in B flat (A clarinets will be avoided because their availability is unknown)
2 Bassoons
2 Horns
Timpani
Percussion
Piano
Strings

There will also be a version for trumpet and piano, so that the work can be performed in places that don’t have an orchestra.