A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Trompette, La
TROMPETTE, LA. A musical institution in Paris, for the performance of chamber music, founded by M. Emile Lemoine in Jan. 1861, and now (1884) holding its meetings at 84 Rue de Grenelle-St. Germain. In some respects it differs from all other institutions of similar object. Having sprung from the strictly private meetings of its founder and a handful of friends, then students of the École Polytechnique, it retains the traces of its original domestic character. M. Lemoine is careful to announce that he is not a manager or director, but a host; by a pleasant but transparent fiction the audience are not subscribers (though the amount they pay is fixed, and they are constantly reminded of it); they are the friends of the host, and are invited to réunions at his house. The communications between M. Lemoine and his friends, in the programmes, are all couched in the tone, often almost a brusque one, of personal intimacy.—As Mr. Ella adopted for the motto of the late 'Musical Union' the words 'Il più gran ommaggio alla musica sta nel silenzio,' so M. Lemoine's most frequent and earnest injunctions are directed towards silence during the performances. The name of 'Trompette' arose from a phrase of the École Polytechnique, and the flavour of that famous school is maintained in the 'heure militaire'—military time—which is observed in the hour of commencement.
The meetings began, as already said, in a room at the École. As the number of invitations increased, the locale was changed, until it arrived at its present one, where the audience often reaches 1000. The number of concerts appears to vary from fifteen to twenty, on alternate Fridays and Saturdays, from the beginning of the year onwards. The hour of meeting is 8.30 p.m. The amount of annual contribution invited from each guest is 35 francs. The 'Quatuor de la Trompette' consists of MM. Marsick, Rémy, Van Waefelghem, and Delsart, with solo singers and players. We give one of the programmes of 1882 as a specimen:—
| Quartet, No. 5 (A major) | Beethoven. |
| Air and Gavotte for Cello | Bach. |
| a. Polonaise in B | Chopin. |
| b. Gavotte in G minor | Handel. |
| Trio, No. 2, in F | Schumann. |
| 'A la bien aimée,' op. 98 | Beethoven. |
Piano, M. Raoul Pugno.Vocalist, M. Lauwers.