Brass Players in Rome

I had no intention of carrying out a large-scale enquiry into the current state of brass playing in Italy. Still, chatting with a few members of the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Rome gave me the opportunity of seeing something of the problems preoccupying them at the moment.

Like brass players the world over, our Italian colleagues know how to enjoy life. They know the good restaurants, and also the basic rules of the combinazioni — without which the visitor to Italy is lost — in both private and professional life.

I had asked David Short¹, who has been solo trumpet at the RAI for ten years, to arrange a small informal meeting with his brass colleagues from the orchestra.

In one of those trattorie which make Italy a culinary paradise I had a lively discussion with Renzo Brocculi, Anne de Francesco (trumpet), Stefano Aprile, Gianni Mazoni (bass trombone), Sandro Verzari (trumpet) and Massimo Bartoletti.

Stefano Aprile²: What we lack in Italy is a proper musical culture. The political authorities are incompetent and are not aware of the fundamental importance of this field of culture. It’s chaos. There are people here who laugh when they see a horn case...

David Short: That’s quite true. The RAI, for example [which employs musicians throughout the country] is trying to get rid of its orchestras by closing down professional jobs. Salaries are being held at their lowest level ever, which makes recruitment particularly difficult and impairs the quality of the orchestras.

Gianni Mazoni³: True, the situation is certainly difficult but you can’t ignore the terrible economic situation throughout the country. There are about twenty professional orchestras in Italy. Maintaining them costs money. So, what can you do if there isn’t any? And another thing: the word “incompetence” has been used of the political and cultural authorities; that’s true, but similar incompetence is also to be found in purely musical institutions. Too many good musicians who are active players are unable to get teaching jobs because these jobs are held by “musicians” incapable of playing in an orchestra. You can imagine the effect that has on young pupils.

The David Short Brass Quintet. Stefano Aprile, Massimo Bartoletti, David Short, Renzo Brocculi, Carlo Ingrati. — *The David Short Brass Quintet.* Stefano Aprile, Massimo Bartoletti, David Short, Renzo Brocculi, Carlo Ingrati.

Stefano Aprile: Ten years ago musicians in Italy used to earn about the same as a general. Today they get about the same as a captain. Our purchasing power is dropping more and more. It is impossible to live in Rome on an orchestral salary alone. I myself am in a privileged position: I come from Rome and so I have the advantage of being able to live in the family home. But anyone coming from elsewhere to join the orchestra faces serious financial difficulties. He has to do extra work, give private lessons, teach in a school, do chamber music etc. There isn’t much of the day.

Massimo Bartoletti⁴: I am a typical case too. I play in the orchestra and I teach but it would be impossible for me to live on either one alone. You have to realise that our highest cultural authorities have dreamt up “solutions” which defy common sense and may even prove to be the last straw for all professional musical life in Italy: in order to increase the number of jobs they intend quite simply to ban musicians from holding orchestral and teaching jobs concurrently. We will all end up broke. Our unions are powerless and badly organised. They can’t even obtain basic salary readjustments.

Renzo Brocculi⁵: [with a broad smile] My story is quite simple. I only have to give you my weekly timetable: I work at the RAI orchestra from Tuesday evening to Saturday evening; on Saturday night I go home to Cesena, 350 kilometres from Rome; Sunday is devoted to my family; on Monday I teach at the conservatoire in Pesaro, 70 kilometres from there; I leave Pesaro around midday on Tuesday to be in Rome for the 8 p.m. rehearsal... and start all over again!

What will a musician earn in the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Rome in 1983? (Monthly)

on recruitment (1st player, principal): approx. 800 000 lire (approx. $ 500.00)
after 30 years’ service: approx. 1 300 000 lire (approx. $ 840.00)
2nd player, sub-principal: approx. 700 000 lire (approx. $ 400.00)

We can see that life is not easy for these musicians, yet they are happy, enthusiastic, and good company. They are still artists and their staple diet is still the music which is in their blood. They all work incredibly hard to keep themselves going. That’s one way to stay healthy! The “incompetent authorities” are lucky to have in their charge musicians for whom music is more important than social tranquillity and wellbeing.

Luciano Giuliani is such a good horn player it’s just not fair. He has the perfect combination of exceptional technique and real musicality. He was born in Forli in 1945. He received his diploma at the age of eighteen at the G.B. Martini Conservatoire in Bologna. He won many national competitions for solo horn jobs: La Scala in Milan, Rome Opera Theatre. He is currently solo horn at the RAI Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the Santa Cecilia Conservatoire in Rome.

New Polyphonic Trumpet Ensemble

This new trumpet ensemble is made up entirely of promising young Italian trumpet players who have studied with maestro Sandro Verzari, the group’s director, who is also 1st trumpet with the Rome Symphony Orchestra (RAI).

Their common musical background provides the ensemble with an impressively homogeneous sound, essential to any group of this type. By offering programs that include music from the 16th to the 19th centuries, the New Polyphonic Trumpet Ensemble hopes to change the all too common misconception of the trumpet as an essentially military rather than musical instrument.

Having been received enthusiastically by audiences and the press in various regions of Italy, this group is presently preparing its first commercial recording which should be available by the end of the year.

The New Polyphonic Trumpet Ensemble — Rome. Mauro Marcaccio, Patrizio Felici, Guido Pezzotti, Mario Colombi, Sandro Chic... — *The New Polyphonic Trumpet Ensemble — Rome.* Mauro Marcaccio, Patrizio Felici, Guido Pezzotti, Mario Colombi, Sandro Chicarella, Giuseppe Mascali, Roberto Pietrolini, Loreto Cardarelli, Giovanni de Cillis, Gianluca Impei, Marco Boncompagni, Carlo A. Campana. *Direttore: Sandro Verzari.*

Carlo Ingrati was born in Falciano in 1947 and studied with Professor R. Citro. He is a member of the RAI orchestra in Rome and of the David Short Brass Quintet. He is in great demand in the City’s recording studios.

¹ David Short, an American trumpeter, is a former pupil of Louis Davidson at Indiana University in Bloomington (we will be presenting a portrait of him as a composer in the near future). David Short has adapted completely to the Roman way of life and to Italy where he intends to stay and whose nationality he plans to adopt soon. His brass quintet, whose repertoire includes some of his own very original compositions and arrangements, already has a good and growing reputation in Europe. He deserves the credit for bringing his American knowledge to Italy, sharing it widely with his friends and thus indirectly stimulating brass technique and performance in the peninsula.

² S.A. was born in Rome in 1957. He studied with Domenico Ceccarossi and took his diploma at the Santa Cecilia Conservatoire in Rome. He began his solo career very young, recording for Italian radio and television. He is 1st horn at the RAI in Rome and a member of the David Short quintet.

³ G.M. is bass trombone at the RAI in Rome.

⁴ M.B. is considered one of the most talented trumpet players of the Italian younger generation. He plays the most varied kinds of music: the RAI Symphony Orchestra, big bands, chamber music etc. He is also a member of the David Short quintet. He obtained his diploma in 1972 at the Santa Cecilia Conservatoire after studying with Professor Fulvio Meldini. He is also to be found improvising in the most prestigious of Italian jazz circles. He teaches trumpet at Perugia conservatoire.

⁵ R.B. is a genuine wandering minstrel! He spends most of his life in a carefully fitted camper. He was born in Borghi in 1946 and took his diploma at the G. Rossini Conservatoire in Pesaro after studying with Professor G. Franchi.

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What will a musician earn in the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Rome in 1983? (Monthly)

New Polyphonic Trumpet Ensemble

Women and Brass

Conversation by the fireside

The tuba in Europe

The Trumpet in the USA

The Trumpet in the USA

What will a musician earn in the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Rome in 1983? (Monthly)

New Polyphonic Trumpet Ensemble

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