Loughnashade Trumpet
The Loughnashade trumpet is a 1.8 m long historical natural trumpet made from several sheets of bronze . It consists of two quarter-circle segments, the front conical and the rear cylindrical, which are rotatably connected in the middle. The two in the Iron Age , in the 1st century BC. The halves produced in the 2nd century BC are half-shells that are connected with a sheet of bronze sheet metal and more than 600 rivets. The trumpet is an exhibit at the National Museum of Ireland on Dublin's Kildare Street .
description
The bell or bell of the trumpet is decorated with a chased La Tene design based on the classic lotus bud motif. The trumpet was found in 1798 near the silted Lake Loughnashade (Irish Loch na Séad , "Lake of Treasures") in County Armagh in Northern Ireland , along with a human skull and three other trumpets, which have since been lost. The lake is overlooked by the Navan Fort (Emain Macha), one of the largest Celtic fortifications in Ireland. It is one of the earliest trumpets found and still functions as a musical instrument. One tube was clearly later replaced and poorly executed, while the other is a masterpiece.
Style of play
If the player holds the trumpet in such a way that the quarter circles form a semicircle, the trumpet can hardly be held or played. However, if you twist the trumpet in the joint so that it looks like a Carnyx in an S-shape , it works much better.
See also
literature
- Peter Downey: Lip-blown instruments of Ireland before the Norman Invasion . In: Historic Brass Society Journal , Vol. 5, 1993, pp. 75-91
Web links
- Loughnashade Trumpet Hidden Heritage - Series 4 2010 (Northern Ireland Environment Agency - NIEA. ) Youtube Video
- Loughnashade Horn . National Museum of Ireland