Trumpet tunes are frequently found in theatre and church music of the seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. They were used for ceremonial occasions, royal pomp or scenes of battle and many fine examples exist by Purcell. Perhaps one of the most widely known is the prelude to the
Te Deum of Charpentier, which gained wide currency as the signature tune for the Eurovision organization. The Texan-born organist David Johnson, who was Professor of Music at Arizona State University for many years, produced no fewer than nine affectionate tributes to the genre, the present one, in D major, dating from 1962. For the solo lines he generally restricts himself to the diatonic notes which would be available on the natural trumpet while allowing a little more spice in the accompaniment. The piece is in ABA form, with each trumpet phrase of the opening section being repeated orchestrally, as it were. A contrasting middle section in the minor leads back to a reprise of the whole first section.
from notes by Stephen Westrop © 2004
