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King Tut's Trumpet
King Tut's Trumpet The history of the trumpet goes back at least as far as the Egyptian King Tutankhamun. Among the treasures found in his tomb, during its discovery in 1922, was a silver trumpet (left), dating from around 1352 B.C.

Download 'The Trumpet of Tutankhamun' Due to its fragile state, the silver trumpet has only been played twice, with the use of a modern mouthpiece. The first playing shattered the trumpet, though it was immediately restored. BBC Radio recorded the subsequent brief performance at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in 1939. Click the image, shown left, to download the audio and educational program -- 'The Trumpet of Tutankhamun'.

Through the centuries, over millennia, the trumpet could be ceremonial. It could be a call to arms. Above all, its clean, piercing notes just sound good floating above an orchestra.

Other Resources

  • History of the trumpet

  • At the Tomb of Tutankhamen

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