Good King Wenceslas Trumpet Duet

Description

Important Note: This trumpet duet is also available in the Trumpet Christmas Duets book. It’s a book of 21 Christmas carols arranged for trumpet duet. Click HERE to go buy that book.

Good King Wenceslas Trumpet Duet

Tune: TEMPUS ADEST FLORIDUM

By John Mason Neale, John Stainer

Arr. Eddie Lewis

Opening with a simple fanfare and maintaining this style throughout the arrangement, this trumpet duet of Good King Wenceslas is perfect for two herald trumpets at a posh Christmas party or a church Christmas event. I have performed both! In fact, this very duet was performed at a church party long before the Trumpet Christmas Duets book was published. And the congregation really enjoyed it!

As I said, this Good King Wenceslas trumpet duet opens with a simple fanfare. Flavors of that fanfare are inserted into the first verse.

The second verse is an elaborate synthesis of the fanfare and the original Christmas carol. Wonderful material for a lively Christmas event!

Going into the third verse is a short restatement of the fanfare.

The third and last verse is faster and revisits the original melody of the Christmas carol, but with some rhythmic twists. The melody is traded between the two parts, alternating with new statements of the fanfare from the intro.

The arrangement comes to an end with a sixteenth note run, leading to a final statement of the rhythmic alteration of the last bars of the carol, and finally ending with an “amen”.

This Good King Wenceslas trumpet duet arrangement is enjoyable for the performers and enjoyable for the audience.

Trumpet Christmas Duets book

Good King Wenceslas trumpet duet is number nineteen in our Trumpet Christmas Duets book. This is a book of traditional Christmas carols arranged for trumpet duet. The book is something of a sequel to the Trumpet Hymn Duets book. Both books strive to honor the mood and harmonies of the original carol/hymn.

If you like this arrangement of Good King Wenceslas and would like a book of twenty similar trumpet duets, then we encourage you to visit the Trumpet Christmas Duets page on this website.

We would also like to encourage you to check out our other duet books as well by clicking HERE (Trumpet Duet Books). We currently publish six different trumpet duet books (as of 2023).

Trumpet Apprentice Skill Level

The most obvious aspect of the Trumpet Player Skill Level is that the highest note is written B flat above the staff. Some of the duets in the Trumpet Christmas Duets book, including this Good King Wenceslas trumpet duet, observe this restriction. There are two written As and one written B flat (above the staff) in the first part.

In the second part, the highest written note is fourth space E flat. There is are four of these and the rest of the part is on the bottom side of the staff.

The length of this duet is three pages long and can be a bit of a blow if you are weak on the endurance side.

Practice Suggestions

Here are a few recommendations for working on this trumpet duet of Good King Wenceslas.

• These are not tongue stopped staccatos. The piece sounds best with a “lifted” staccato.
• Be aware when you have the melody and when you have a fanfare counterpoint.
• Don’t play the piece faster than what you can play without errors.

Good King Wenceslas Trumpet Duet Play-Along

There is a free trumpet play-along video for this Good King Wenceslas Trumpet Duet. We publish these free play-along videos for educational purposes, but they also offer a wonderful opportunity for prospective buyers to take the piece for a “test drive”.

Click the following button to go to that video:

Good King Wenceslas Trumpet Play-Along Video

If you are interested in more of these play-along videos, then the best way to access them is on our other website, EddieLewis.com.

Good King Wenceslas Trumpet Duet Score Video

Here is a score video of our Good King Wenceslas trumpet duet arrangement.