Wurm study No. 9
This is one of the shorter of Wurm's studies, but nonetheless somewhat challenging, with a mixture of slow and faster notes and odd and/or wide intervals.
Article on Wurm's life.
Wurm lived from 1826 to 1904, spending most of his life after 1847 working in Russia. He performed with many orchestras in St. Petersburg, including the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, was an outstanding pedagogue and soloist.
I love nineteenth century studies in slow tempos. We trumpeters do not share in any of the great nineteenth century repertoire. There are no trumpets in Brahms' chamber music, Schubert did not write any works for trumpet and voice, you will not hear Strauss' trumpet concerto, nor Tchaikovsky's, nor Schumann, nor Dvořák's. There are some cornet solos (some of which I actually like), a concerto by Oskar Böhme, and the cornet sonata by Thorvald Hansen. Some of these pieces afford the trumpeter a chance to play a true 'Romantic' melody, ala Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Brahms, but for smaller fare one goes to studies such as this one.
It is no surprise (nor accident) that most of the study consists of intervals of the perfect Fourth, Fifth, and the octave. Wurm must have been influenced (as most trumpeters are, from my experience) by all the literature where the trumpeters play nothing but scale degrees 1, 3, and 5, an octave away from the other trumpeter. Old habits die hard.
But Wurm did write a lovely opening melody, in addition to the very expressive and fast cadential gestures. And we thank him for taking the time to write such a great little study, full of Romantic energy and beauty.
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