Bruce Dickey, master of cornetto, brings Renaissance instrument to Tacoma

In 16th-century Italy, the cornetto was the pop star of wind instruments: popular, sexy and virtuosic. The few musicians who mastered it were highly regarded, and highly paid at venues like St. Mark’s in Venice. Then, as other instruments improved their technology, the cornetto — a thin, curved instrument with recorder fingerholes and a trumpet sound — faded from use.

But as musicians in the 1970s began to rediscover early music, the haunting, royal sound of the cornetto returned, largely thanks to Bruce Dickey. Next week, the man widely regarded as the world’s cornetto master plays a concert of Italian Renaissance music here in Tacoma.

It’s no accident that Dickey — an American who’s based in Bologna, Italy, and has had a long international teaching and performing career — is coming here. It’s because of an organ — specifically, the John Brombaugh organ at Christ Episcopal Church. Dickey is touring North American with Dutch organist and harpsichordist Liuwe Tamminga, and for both of them the beauty of the Brombaugh instrument, modeled as it is on 17th- and 18th-century European organs and featured in national conferences, was reason enough to skip Seattle and perform in Tacoma. As Christ Episcopal’s organist Mark Brombaugh puts it, “My brother’s instruments are pretty famous.”

The church’s expansive, cathedral-like acoustics are another draw: The cornetto, a wooden instrument with a soft trumpet sound, sings beautifully in such a space.

To make it even better for early music fans, the concert, called “That Lascivious Cornetto,” is free, with donations accepted. The program includes 16th- and early 17th-century music by Palestrina, Gabrieli, Sweelinck, Josquin des Prez, Samuel Scheidt and more.

Dickey spoke on the phone about what he’ll play in Tacoma, how he puts his own spin on the Renaissance practice of improvisation, and just why this 400-year-old instrument still sounds so “lascivious.”

Q: How did you and Liuwe come to be playing in Tacoma?

A: We’re in the middle of a multi-year project to play with as many of the mean-tone organs in North America as we can, either pure ¼-comma mean tone or close, or just extremely beautiful instruments. They include some beautiful organs in Oaxaca, Mexico. Tacoma is the last stop.

(Editor’s note: ‘Mean-tone’ is a 16th-century system of tuning keyboard instruments that results in narrow fifth intervals and perfect thirds. The Christ Episcopal organ is tuned in Kellner temperament, with seven perfect fifths and five narrow ones.)

Q: Tell us about the title “That Lascivious Cornetto.”

A: I used it for my first solo CD and for other concerts since then. It’s a quote from Benvenuto Cellini, who as well as being a goldsmith and artist was, in his own words, “a reluctant cornetto player.” He writes that in his youth his father would call him to “get that lascivious cornetto” and play him some tunes.

The instrument is expressive, sensuous — a cornetto needs to imitate the human voice. It’s happiest when playing vocal lines, with step-wise motion rather than leaps, even if it’s fast. It’s a very vocal instrument.

Q: How do you incorporate that when you play?

A: What I like to do playing with organ is not so much be a soloist with accompaniment as become a part of the organ itself. There’s an expression in Italian, ‘suonare nell’organo,’ meaning to play inside the instrument. The cornetto gives life to the organ — it’s dynamic, expressive.

Q: So what’s on the program at Christ Episcopal?

A: Many of the pieces are canzonas. I play the top part; the organ plays the rest. The (Gioseffo) Guami – “Canzon La Brillantina” – is brilliant and florid, so are the (Giovanni Maria) Trabaci canzonas.

Q: You’re playing quite a few pieces with divisions (the baroque form of improvising over and over on a set tune) including Palestrina’s “Nigra sum” and Josquin de Prez’ “Mille regretz.” Do you improvise completely during the performance or work out in advance what you’ll play?

A: Well, for example, there’s a motetto passeggiato by Trombetti, a famous cornetto virtuoso. I imagine he played with the organ, and I ask myself what kind of improvisation would he have done? They wrote a lot of them down, both to be performed and as a guide to other musicians learning how to improvise, and I’ve studied divisions from the end of the 16th century before making my own.

Q: Do you have different cornetti for the one concert?

A: I have many different instruments with me, depending on the pitch of the organ: A 392, 415, 440 or 466 Hz. But I’ll just play the one per concert.

Q: Do you have a favorite piece?

A: Well…maybe “Canzon La Novellina” by Guami. It has very elegant lines and inner parts, and … the ornaments Guami has written are also elegant.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Bruce Dickey, master of cornetto, brings Renaissance instrument to Tacoma."