So we are watching CBS News Sunday Morning this morning. Wynton Marsalis plays the familiar trumpet theme. I muse to my wife how Wynton must be cleaning up on royalties.
I explain to her how Wynton had composed the theme for the show, and surmised they must have asked for something in the style of Haydn. She asks if I'm sure; she thinks it sounds really authentic to the period. Pretty sure, I reply. But I check.
Well, not. The theme was actually transcribed from the little bit of manuscript visible in this picture of Gottfried Reiche:
Reiche's claim to fame was his stint as J.S. Bach's chief trumpeter during the latter's Leipzig years. It's not clear whether the theme is due to Reiche himself or to Bach. Either way, it clearly ain't due to Wynton.
Still, at least I got the era wrong. (I'd meant to say Händel. Really.)
