Valentine Snow, c 1753

"Valentine Snow", c. 1753
Artist: Unknown
Location: Fenton House

For the celebration of Christmas, I present to you a short biography of the man for whom parts of Handel's compositions - including the trumpet obbligato "The Trumpet Shall Sound" from "Messiah" in 1742 - were written. (1)




Valentine Snow (c. 1700-1770) was the Serjeant-Trumpeter to King George II and King George III from 1753 until his death in 1770. Prior to holding that office, he was one of 16 State trumpeters under the leadership of Serjeant-Trumpeter John Shore (the third successive Shore to serve in that capacity). His talent on the natural trumpet (seen in the portrait above) was legendary. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) frequently composed trumpets solos and duets with Snow in mind. Valentine Snow was born into a musical family already associated with the nobility. His father was Moses Snow, "Mus. Bac. of Cambridge University, a gentleman of the Chapels Royal and a Lay Vicar of Westminster Abbey". (2) Snow himself also was a composer and wrote trumpet duets, a sample of which can be seen here. (3)

Benefit concerts were occasionally held for musicians, and Snow was a frequent beneficiary of these concerts as evidenced by the following advertisements: 

Feb. 9, 1739: "a concert for the benefit of Mr. Valentine Snow .. to be given at Mr. Hickford's new Great Room in Brewer Street near Golden Square." (4)

February 18, 1741: "For the benefit of Mr. Valentine Snow. At the new Theatre in the Hay-market this day will be perform'd a grand concert of vocal and instrumental music by the best hands. . . . likewise the Dead March in Saul, to be perform'd with the Sackbuts." (5)

By this time of his appointment to Serjeant-Trumpeter to the King, "his reputation as a musician and executant stood very high, and it was for him that Handel [who had settled permanently in London in 1712] composed the various obbligati we find in his oratorios and operas : i.e., the 'Messiah,' 'Samson,' 'Judas Maccabaeus,' 'Dettingen Te Deum,' 'Atalanta' &c. Dr. Burney, in his 'History of Music,' specially notes that 'in the overture to " Atalanta" the obbligato trumpet part was intended to display the tone and abilities of Snow, who had returned to Handel's orchestra.' " (5)

According to A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Vol 3, page 469), the Serjeant-Trumpeter received an annual salary of ₤100. In addition to his regular income, he had the right to receive 12 pence per day from "every person sounding a trumpet, beating a drum, or playing a fife in any play or show without his license". The said license could be purchased at a rate of 20 shillings per year. Rather than personally benefiting from this arrangement, magistrates were authorized to collect the above fees "and apply them to the relief of the poor." (7)

Upon Valentine Snow's death around 1770, this epitaph was inscribed upon his gravestone:

"Thaw every breast, melt every eye with woe,
Here 's dissolution by the hand of death;
To dirt, to water's turn'd the fairest Snow,
O! the King's trumpeter has lost his breath." (8)

The above portrait of Valentine Snow shows the King's Serjeant-Trumpeter in all his finery. His scarlet coat, sans lapels and cape, are typical of the period before the sweeping clothing changes of the 1768 Royal Cloathing Warrant. The large blue cuffs match his long-skirted weskit. The coat is heavily laced in the Royal livery of gold tape edged with blue. It is unclear whether or not the sleeve darts point up, down, or run straight across. The coat and weskit both have edges reinforced with decorative gold tape. Gold buttons complete the single-breasted coat and weskit. Snow wears a simple white roller or linen neckstock, and his shirt is without ruffles at the neck and wristbands. The gloves appear to be made of buff-colored leather, the same as the waistbelt holding his silver-hilted sword. Snow's hat is a rather large-brimmed black cocked hat edged in gold tape. It is unclear if his hair is natural or a powdered wig; although, because Snow was around 53 years old at the time of this portrait, it could very well be his natural hair falling in loose curls to the side of his head. The Serjeant-Trumpeter's horn is a natural trumpet. You will notice that the trumpet has no valves and is decorated with a beautiful cord of red, blue and white. All-in-all, the man in this portrait most certainly evokes the stately bearing of a "Trumpeter to the King."

For a better view of a natural trumpet (also called a Baroque trumpet), the following is presented. This is a copy of a baroque trumpet after Johann Leonhard EHE II, 1746. The original resides in the Germanic National Museum, Nuremberg. (http://www.eggerinstruments.ch/ht_e.htm)

The natural trumpet may also have attachments in order to lengthen the tubing to achieve a different key, as shown below (http://www.ewaldmeinl.de/btrpeng.htm):

For further information on Valentine Snow and G. F. Handel, please see Valentine Snow and Handel's soloistic trumpet parts, Scott Sorenson 1978 Thesis/Dissertation 

End notes:

1. The Cambridge companion to brass instruments, page 95
2. The musical times, Volume 46, p 452 & A general history of the science and practice of music, Volume 2, p 752 & Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, page 491
3. http://www.editions-bim.com/valentine-snow-14-duets-for-2-natural-trumpets.html
4. Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, page 491
5. The Musical Times, Volume 43, p 731
6. The musical times, Volume 46, p 452
7. A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3, page 469
8. A Collection of Epitaphs and Monumental Inscriptions, Historical, Biographical, Literary and Miscellaneous, Volume 1, p 222
9. 
   

Drummer's Coat of the 1st Regiment Foot Guards

Drummer's Coat of the First Regiment of Foot Guards, circa 1784

From “The British Empire” website:

“The coat is of red cloth with blue facings. The lace is white with blue fleur-de-lys designs, which has been used on Guards drummers' coats ever since. The lapels are decorated with pewter buttons and the same bastion loops that were on the coats of the rest of the regiment. The back view shows the pocket flaps and the turnbacks which are the same colour as the lining of the coat which should be white but is now a light brown.”

Observations:

•Lace is all broad lace (approximately 1” wide) instead of narrow (1/2” wide).

•5 sets of sleeve darts point down.

•Cuff has an inverted point with a single button .

•Shoulder wings have a downward peak in the middle. They are the color of the facings and have narrow plain lace set vertically and fringe lining the bottom of the wings.

•Vertical edges of skirts are laced on the inside and outside, horizontal edge is not laced.

•Lapels consist of 9 buttons rather than the usual 10.

•Pockets are edged with lace and have 3 buttons.

**Note: top photograph is from The British Empire website. The bottom photograph was provided by Andrew Watson Kirk.