Ken Shifrin: The Alto Trombone in the Orchestra: 1800-2000

Part I: The Alto-Tenor-Bass Trombone Trio

Introduction

Although the trombone was the first of all modern wind instruments to come into existence, it was the last to join the ranks of the concert orchestra. It seems curious that while throughout history the trombone could be so favoured in tower music, in the church and for royalty, it did not become an established fixture in most orchestras until the 1820s.1 Whilst the trombone may have existed as early as 1430,2 it was not until the sixteenth century that the concept of a trombone 'section' began to develop, with the alto trombone as the uppermost voice followed by the gemeine rechte (tenor) trombone, the quart or quint (bass) trombone and the octav (contrabass) trombone, as described by Praetorius.3 Composers have historically tended to treat the alto trombone as the most treble member 4 of the trombone group, rather than as the soloist of the section. Therefore much of the alto's history is inseparable from that of the section as a whole, and I will review it in this context. According to Kunitz, during the sixteenth century the trombone section was consistently employed by Palestrina, Lasso, Giovanni Gabrieli and Monteverdi 'als selbständiger, homogener Klangfaktor'.5 Being fully chromatic, trombones were able to participate in many forms of music of the time, but their soft, sombre sounds were considered to be particularly suited to the accompaniment of voices. Perhaps most important was their use in liturgical music, stemming from Biblical associations as well as the playing of Abblasen by members of the German Stadtpfeiffer as part of their civic duties. In Monteverdi's Orfeo, which employs a section of five trombones (two altos, two tenors and a bass), another significant function of the trombones can be observed: that is, their usefulness to composers of dramatic music in depicting infernal and supernatural elements.

The first half of the seventeenth century witnessed a growing popularity of the alto-tenor-bass trombone trio with composers, and curiously the only exception to the instrument's otherwise widespread use appears to be its almost total absence from the opera orchestra. A high point in trombone writing was reached in the works of Heinrich Schütz: he exploited the trombone's tone colour to bring out the emotions behind the texts of his religious compositions, such as Fili mi Absalom and Meine Seele erhebt, through techniques learned from Giovanni Gabrieli and Monteverdi. But around the middle of the century a drastic change in the trombone's fortunes was brought about by a shift in musical taste throughout Europe, which now preferred the Italian violin ensemble and the tremendously popular French bassoon-oboe consort: this soon made the shawm obsolete and the Zink passé, and left the trombone bereft of its traditional music partners. Most likely the trombone survived this period of musical upheaval because of its proven usefulness as a support for voices, and its ongoing association with sacred music. Apparently only the Stadtpfeiffer played the instrument by now; they became the sole source of trombonists, albeit often of lacklustre ability. While Bach used trombones sparingly and unimaginatively, in part due to the dearth of skilled players,6 Fux and others in Vienna, influenced by immigrant Italian composers who favoured the instrument, and encouraged by a succession of musical monarchs, used the trombones not only colla voce7 with the voices but featured the alto trombone as a solo obbligato instrument in a new, creative and exciting manner. Ironically, a century that began full of promise for the trombone ended with its use dramatically reduced to the area known today as Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and Southern Germany.

The near-obsolescence of its traditional partner, the Zink, was just one contributing factor to the trombone's continuing decline. Its image as a symbol of Christian divinity that should not be profaned by use in secular music – an opinion held at the time by a number of influential music critics and composers – probably helped keep it out of the concert orchestra. Some viewed the trombone as an instrument of limited technical capability, suitable solely for the doubling of voices; the bassoon and horn, both capable of playing in the tenor-alto register, were seen as preferable in the orchestra. The decline of the German Stadtpfeiffer paralleled the decline of the trombone in that country. In the Austrian Empire, however, the standard of trombone playing continued to rise and leading composers such as Leopold Mozart, Michael Haydn, Georg Christoph Wagenseil and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger8 had a choice of virtuoso alto trombonists for whom they wrote concertos and serenades, as well as solo obbligato parts in liturgical works.

That composers of the stature of Handel and Gluck scored for the ATB trombone section in a number of important dramatic works, while significant, did not in itself bring about the revival of the trombone. Very likely it was military band music, the popularity of which soared during the French Revolution and spread throughout Europe in the wake of Napoleon's conquering armies, that paved the way for the 'resurrection' of the trombone section. Bandmasters, searching for more colour and carrying-power for outdoor performances 'discovered' the trombone just as they had previously unearthed the serpent. The key to this revivification was the construction by trombone makers of flared bells and wider bores in response to the insistence of bandmasters for yet louder and more robust sound. Thanks to military music the trombone developed a new, second personality – although the diminutive alto struggled to keep pace with the tenor and bass – that soon had repercussions in civic music. Opera composers, with the French in the vanguard, sought instruments of varied colour to underscore action on stage, and latched onto the trombone as a dramatic resource. In French opera9 the trombone section was no longer restricted to scenes of death and the supernatural, although in Vienna Mozart still employed the ATB trio in the tradition of Monteverdi, Cesti and Gluck with great success. By the end of the eighteenth century the trombone section had become established in military and civic music in France, Italy, Germany and England. The demand from composers for the instrument grew, and the stage was set for the introduction of the alto-tenor-bass trombone trio into the concert orchestra.

Although Beethoven is generally credited with the introduction of the ATB trombone trio to the concert orchestra in 1808 in his Fifth Symphony, he was not the first orchestral composer to score for it, nor even the first to include the section in a symphony. According to Robin Gregory, Franz Beck (1723-1809), born and trained in Mannheim, was the first composer to include the trio of alto, tenor and bass trombone in a symphony:

Trombones had been used earlier [than Beethoven] in some of the 'battle' symphonies popular at the time; their earliest symphonic appearance was in Franz Beck's Symphony in E flat, circa 1760.10

In 1990 Sarah Gordon, writing in The Trombonist, described a Beck symphony 'in the key of E flat, written in 1760, for two oboes, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and a full string section'.11 The Sinfonie in Es Dur, composed between the years 1760 and 1762, consists of three relatively short movements: Allegro con brio/Andante/ Funèbre - Menuett 1 and 2 - Funèbre. Beck does not use the trumpets until the beginning of the final Funèbre section, and the trombones do not appear until the ninth bar from the end (see Ex. I.1). It seems more than likely that these players would have doubled on other instruments until the last movement.

Another composer who appears to have used trombones in a symphony prior to Beethoven was the Salzburger Joseph Krottendorfer. According to T. Donley Thomas, a 1768 work scored for two oboes, eight trumpets, two trombones and strings is 'akin... to Beethoven's Finale [of the Fifth Symphony]'.12 Neither the Beck nor the Krottendorfer symphonies is part of today's standard repertoire and, according to Guion, it is doubtful whether either was 'ever widely performed even during the lifetime of the composers'.13

According to Carse and Schreiber, a few concert orchestras engaged a trombone section prior to 1800: the Kaiserliche Hofmusik Kapelle, Wien in 1782,14 the Kurfürstliche Hofkapelle of Mainz in 178215 and 1790,16 the Königliche Kapelle of Berlin in 1787,17 and the Royal Stockholm Orchestra in 1790.18 In orchestras that employed a section of trombones either permanently or from time to time, much music with trombone parts must have consisted either of overtures and extracts from operas and oratorios, as these were popular concert items at this time,19 or of religious music.20 Thus the importance of theatre music to the development of the orchestral trombone section can be seen as a crucial link in the chain which led to its eventual inclusion in symphonies and other types of purely orchestral music.

Thought to have been written in 1791, three symphonies with trombone parts were composed by Ignace Pleyel for London's Professional Concerts.21 However, these works were all scored for a single trombone. This raises the question of what was considered the optimum number of players of which a trombone section should consist.

Whereas the French composer and music critic François Henri Joseph Blaze (1784-1857) felt that one (the bass trombone) was sufficient, and that three (alto, tenor, bass) were needed only when the string section was unusually large,22 Berlioz contended that:

... un seul trombone dans un orchestre semble toujours plus ou moins déplacé. Cet instrument a besoin de l'harmonie, ou tout au moins, de l'unison des autres membres de la famille, pour que ses aptitudes diverses puissent se manifester complètement. Beethoven l'a employé quelque fois par paires, comme les Trompettes; mais l'usage consacré de les écrire à trois parties me pârait préférable.23

Hermann Zopff (1826-83), a German music critic, teacher and composer, agreed that a trombone section ideally consisted of three players; as far as a fourth trombone was concerned, more was definitely not better:

Die Gewalt des Posaunensatzes liegt zum Theil gerade in seiner Dreistimmigkeit, in der Macht des einfachen Drei-Klanges. Eine vierte Posaune bedeckt das ehrern Durchbringende des Tons schon durch überfüllung.24

According to Adolph Marx:

Gewöhnlich werden zu vierstimmigem Posaunensatze zwei Bassposaunen genommen, das scheint uns der überwältigenden Macht und Schwere diesen Instruments nicht angemessen. Gegen zwei Bassposaunen sind eine Tenor – und eine Altposaune zu schwach, wohl aber ist eine Bassposaune gegen zwei Tenorposaunen und eine Altposaune stark genug. Auch ist eine Bassposaune als Mittelstimme zu schwer und ausser Verhältniss mit der vom Tenor besetzten andern Mittelstimme.25

Although somewhat difficult to read, the autograph score of the 1807 Symphony in E flat Major (Ex. I.2) by the Swedish composer Joachim Eggert (1779-1813) reveals a section of alto, tenor and bass trombones that pre-dates Beethoven's use of the section in the Fifth Symphony. While for much of the time Eggert's trombones functioned as harmonic filler, he did employ the section in ways that were quite novel for the time. For example, in the 'Fugue' (Ex. I.3), the alto, tenor and bass have been given separate entries and the parts are rhythmically independent of each other. Additionally, at times the individual members of the section are assigned different articulations.

While there is much doubling of the trombones by the woodwinds, Eggert does give the section independent, thematic material, albeit of no great length. The alto's range is a comfortable f to c''.

The 1800s may have ushered in an age of trombones,26 but not without a chorus of critics who decried the craze. 'Posaunen, Posaunen – diese sind für unsere neusten Komponisten das Herrlichste, gerade wie Trommeln für die Kinder',27 lamented a Paris correspondent in 1802. These critics, performers and composers among them, found the new, boisterous sound of the trombone objectionable. Joseph Fröhlich, who felt the trombone's most important role to be vocal accompaniment,28 argued, like Mersenne nearly two centuries earlier, that:

Der Charakter des Instrumentes, besonders geeignet zum Ausdruck des Erhabnen, Feyerlichen, welchem auf der andern Seite das Sanfte Ruhige entspricht, so wie die gewöhnliche Bestimung desselben, jene der Begleitung von Singstimmen erfordert es, dass der Vortrag auf demselben gehalten, gesangvoll, und ja nicht zu grell seyn dörfe, um so die möglichste Annäherung an diejenige Stimme zu bewirken, welche jede dieser Posaunen im Satze begleitet, oder vorstellt, der Alt-Posaune an die Alt, der Tenor an die Tenor, und der Bass-Posaune an die Bass-Stimme. Soviele Wirkung eine schöne Harmonien folge auf diesen Instrumenten mit Seele und einem verhältnissmässig modificirten Ansatze vorgetragen immer hat, und haben muss, so wiederlich, und allen guten Eindruck verderbend ist es, wenn Posaunen mit einem wilden schmetterden Tone geblasen werden.29

Fröhlich, who as a respected trombonist and educator had intended his remarks for students and performers, might have been influential in putting the brakes on the development of the powerful new trombone sound; or perhaps he was influential in curbing its excesses. Echoing the words of Schubart in the previous century, the correspondent of the Morgenblatt lamented the sorry state of the trombone in 1819:

'Der Berichterstatter aus Paris im Morgenblatte Nr. 150, v.J. führt bey der Beschreibung der ländlichen Vergnügungen der Pariser an, dass dort bey den meisten Tanz-Orchestern die Posaune gebraucht werde, deren ernsthafter Basston, wie sehr treffend bemerkt wird, das übrige Geräusch durchdringe, und damit sonderbar contrastire.' Alle in dieser Gebrauch, oder richtiger Missbrauch eines ernsten, feyerlichen Instruments, das nach der biblischen Sage die letzten Dinge zu verkündigen bestimmt ist, und dazu unter allen Instrumenten am besten gewählt zu seyn scheint, ist nicht bloss in der Nähe der Glanz- und Prachtstadt des französischen Königreiches Sitte, sondern durch die französische Kriegsmusik, und die nach ihr gemodelte kriegerische Musik der heutigen deutschen, seit den Jahren der französischen Herrschaft, durch ganz Deutschland verbreitet worden, so dass z.B. in der Nähe von Leipzig fast überall kein Tanz ohne Posaunen-Bass gespielt und gehüpft werden kann.30

John Marsh, a violinist, organist, composer and conductor, cautioned composers to follow Handel's example and use the trombones 'sparingly'.31 According to Marsh, trombones and percussion 'degenerate into continued noise and clatter, with which the audience frequently becomes fatigued before the performance is over'.32 Especially offensive to some critics was the seemingly ubiquitous presence of the trombones. Around 1805 Burney complained that:

Tromboni and double-drums are now so frequently used at the opera, oratorios and in symphonies that they are become a nuisance to lovers of pure harmony and refined tones; for, in fact, the vibrations of these instruments produce noise, not musical sounds.33

Albrechtsberger, who would live to hear the momentous entrance of the trombone section in the Fifth Symphony (as well as the Sixth) of his former pupil, Beethoven, lamented the abuse of the trombones at the hands of most composers at the turn of the century:

Gluck und Mozart haben sie auch mit wunderbar herrlichem Erfolge in das musicalische Drama verpflanzt; die Nachkommen haben ihrer Nature sie entwürdigt; sie müssen gegenwärtig zu Allem herhalten, und fortwährend verstärken, gleich den übrigen Blechmassen, in ernsten und Komischen Opern, bey Regiments-Banden und Tanzmusiken, woselbst ein obligates Posaunen-Solo in einem Walzer oder Galopp so recht wie sarcastische Ironie sich ausnimmt.34

The sight of a trombonist experiencing 'the horrors of apoplexy [with] swollen veins and starting eyes',35 the 'sheer ridiculousness of the trombone as a virtuoso instrument'36 – something comically novel about the instrument thoroughly captured the public's imagination.

Indeed, 'the demand for trombones had reached such a degree in some places that no work could be performed without them, even if it did not provide for them in the original instrumentation'.37 Protesting the addition of the trombones to a performance of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony at Halle, the correspondent of the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung wrote:

Doch gar manche schöne Stellen durch den gewaltigen Posaunenton fast erdrückt... Wir leben freylich im Posaunenzeitalten. Aber, fragen muss doch: kann denn gar kein Tonwerk mehr ohne Posaunen Wirkung haben?38

  1. As we shall see later, although he was the first composer of stature to employ the trombone section in his symphonic works, Beethoven was not the first composer to use trombones in the concert orchestra. Return to Article
  2. Keith Polk, 'Instrumental Music in the Urban Centres of Renaissance Germany', Early Music History 7 (1984), p. 174. Return to Article
  3. Michael Praetorius, 'Von dem Instrumentation' in Syntagma Musicum II, Wolfenbüttel, 1618, pp. 35-6. According to Guido Adler, as the century progressed the trombone family 'beschränkte sich in der Regel auf die drei…..Größen, den Alt, Tenor, und Bass' ('became restricted, as a rule, to the three… sizes, the alto, tenor and bass'). Guido Adler (ed.), Handbuch der Musikgeschichte, erster Teil, Berlin, 1930, pp. 624-25. Anthony Baines adds that before the end of the century this nomenclature was rarely employed and the trombones were referred to as Klein, Mittel (or Gemeine) and Gross. Anthony Baines, Brass Instruments: Their History and Development, London, 1976, p. 109. Return to Article
  4. Despite the recent discovery of an historical curiosity, the short-lived soprano trombone most probably did not come into use until the late 18th century (contrary to claims by Terry: Bach's Orchestra, pp. 36, 40; Sachs: Handbuch der Instrumentenkunde, p. 298; Kunitz: Die Instrumentation, p. 714 and Bate: The Trumpet and the Trombone, p. 212), perhaps in response to the decline of the ATB trombone trio's heretofore treble partner, and the Zink, is indicated in the scores of Bach's Cantatas Nos. 2, 21 and 38. Hauptman (J. S. Bachs Werke, vol. 1, p. xvi), Galpin (The Sackbut, Its Evolution and History, pp. 19-20) and Carse (History of Orchestration, p. 18) incorrectly identify the soprano trombone as the single-slide tromba da tirarsi (or Zugtrompete) of Bach's orchestra. Return to Article
  5. 'as an independent, homogeneous element of sound'. Hans Kunitz, Die Instrumentation: ein Hand- und Lehrbuch 3rd edition, Leipzig, 1970, p.778-9. Trans. Helmut Braunlich. Return to Article
  6. Given the deficiencies of his trombonists, one remains sceptical of their ability to handle some of Bach's more florid, colla voce  lines, particularly in the strenuous upper tessitura of the alto part. It seems logical to assume that the trombone parts were not always played note for note and allowed for the discretionary omission of the more demanding and exposed passage. Return to Article
  7. In a statement attributed to Albrechtsberger he states: "Langsame, feyerlich getragene Accorde bringen stets die erhabenste Wirkung hervor; schnelle Wechselfiguren, Läufe u. dgl. müßen nothwendig einer klar verständlichen Deutlichkeit ermangeln und die alte Befahrungsweise, in Fugensätzen aus purer Bequemlichkeit die Posaunen mit den Singstimmen im Einklange fortschlendern zu lassen, dürfte weder zu billigen, noch zu rechtfertigen, oder nachzuahmen seyn. Die eigenthümliche Würde dieser Instrumente weiset ihnen zunächst den Ehrenplatz in der Kirche an." ("These instruments are best effective in slow, solemn-moving chords; rapid passages and runs must, of necessity, be wanting in clearness; and the ancient method of letting trombones play in unison with voices in fugue compositions is neither to be recommended, justified or imitated. The peculiar dignity of this instrument entitles it to a post of honour in church style.")

    Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Sämtliche Schriften über Generalbaß, Harmonielehre und Tonsetzkunst zur Selbsunterrichten, annoted and edited by Ignaz von Seyfried, Dritter Band, Vienna, 1837, pp.185-86. Trans. Novello, J. G. Albrechtsberger's Collected Writings in Thorough-Bass, Harmony and Composition for Self-Instruction, with many explanatory examples, verbally communicated to, and systematically arranged, enlarged and edited by, his pupil Ignaz von Seyfried, London, 1855, p.253. The above statement does not appear in the original German text of 1826 as Novello states, but in the 1837 German edition. Return to Article
  8. Some historians speculate that Albrechtsberger composed his 1769 Konzert für Alt Posaune for either Leopold Ferdinand Christian or Wenzel Thomas, who were the court trombonists at that time. (Ludwig Köchel, Die Kaiserliche Hofmusikkapelle in Wien von 1543 bis 1867, Vienna, 1869, p. 87). However, Christian was just two years away from retirement in 1769 (Robert C. Wigness, The Soloistic Use of Trombone in Eighteenth Century Vienna, Nashville, 1978, p. 41), and Thomas would have been sixty-one (ibid.), passing away six years later (Köchel, op. cit., p. 87). Also, in his Sämtliche Schriften, Albrechtsberger fails to mention either trombonist in his enumeration of those who 'haben dieses schwieriges Instrument kunstmässig behandelt' ('have mastered this difficult instrument with artistry': J. G. Albrechstberger, Sämtliche Schriften über Generalbass, Harmonie-Lehre und Tonsetzkunst, Vienna, 1826, p. 201). Those listed by Albrechtsberger (and surely added by Seyfried or the publisher) are: Ahlsdorf, Belke, Braun, Dueller, Fröhlich, Hörbeder, Micke, Pöck, Schmitt, Seeger, Segner and Ulbrich (ibid.). Segner, who was appointed to the Court Orchestra in 1807 and who died in 1834 (Köchel, op. cit., p. 95) was surely too young to have been an established professional in 1769. There were three trombonists by the name of Ulbrich who could conceivably have been Albrechtsberger's soloist from amoung those he had listed: Ignaz Ulbrich, although he would have been sixty-three in 1769 was considered sufficiently skilled to be selected fro the Court Orchestra three years later, a position he held for the next nineteen years (Wigness, op. cit., p. 43); Michael Anton Ulbrich, who would have been fifteen at the time, was appointed to the Court in 1793 (Köchel, op. cit., p. 95); and Johann K. Ulbrich, who was employed as a court trombonist in 1787 (Wigness, op. cit., p. 43). Return to Article
  9. "Plus ça change, plus ça reste" Theodore de Lajarte gives the following description of a typical trombone part of the time: Daphnis et Pandrose, de Mehul, la partie de trombones ainsi formulée: ACTE PREMIER. -- du 1er numéro au numéro 19, tacet. Numéro 11 (lent, en la), deux rondes, puis trente-et-une mesures de pause. ACTE II. -- Jusqu'au numéro 19, tacet. Numéro 20 (allegro vivace). dix-neuf pauses. Andante: trois mesures de pause, point d'orgue. Allego: soixante-quatorze mesures de pause. La mineur: douze mesures de pause. Ritournelle de violon: quatre mesures. Enfin, le tromboniste embouche son instrument; mais ce n'est que pour faire entendre quatre rondes et une noire fortissimo. Il attend cing autres mesures, joue deux mesures et demie avec trois fff et son role est terminé: dix notes chacun. Ah! Le beau temps que c'etait la pour les trombones!" ("Daphis et Pandrose, by Mehul, the trombone part is thus constructed: ACT I. -- From the first number to number 10, tacet. Number 11 (lento, in A), two semi-breves, then thirty-one bars rest. ACT II.-- Up to number 19, tacet. Number 20 (allegro vivace), nineteen bars rest. Andante: three bars rest, pedal point. Allegro: seventy-four bars rest. A minor: twelve bars rest. Violin ritornello: four bars. Finally, the trombonists put their instruments to their lips; but it is only to play four semi-breves and a crotchet fortissimo. After waiting five more bars, he plays two-and-a-half bars triple forte and his part is finished. Ah! What an easy life the trombones had in those days!"). Theodore de LaJarte, "Introduction du trombone dans l'orchestre de Opera," La Chronique Musicale vi (1874), p.79. Return to Article
  10. Robin Gregory, The Trombone: The Instrument and its Music, London, 1973, p. 127. Since there is no extant autograph score it is uncertain whether Beck actually did score for trombones. Return to Article
  11. Sarah Gordon, 'Das Sinfonische Werk von Franz Beck', The Trombonist, Spring 1990, p. 18. Return to Article
  12. T. Donley Thomas, 'Michael Haydn's "Trombone Symphony"', Brass Quarterly 6 (1962), p. 8. Return to Article
  13. David Guion, The Trombone: The Instrument and its Music, London, 1973, p. 135. Return to Article
  14. Ottmar Schreiber, Orchester und Orchesterpraxis in Deutschland zwischen 1780 und 1850, Berlin, 1938, p. 111. Return to Article
  15. Adam Carse, The Orchestra in the XVIIIth Century, Cambridge, 1940, p. 19. Return to Article
  16. Schreiber, op. cit., p. 107. Return to Article
  17. Carse, The Orchestra, p. 19. Return to Article
  18. Schreiber, op. cit., p. 110. Return to Article
  19. For example, the 'Dead March' from Handel's Saul. Return to Article
  20. The Salzburg Orchestra of 1757 engaged a trombone section with the proviso that they were to be used for church music only. Carse, The Orchestra, p. 26. Return to Article
  21. Guion, The Trombone, p. 268. Return to Article
  22. H.F. Blaze, De l'Opéra en France, Paris, 1820, p. 136. Return to Article
  23. '... a single trombone in an orchestra always seems more or less out of place. This instrument needs harmony, or at least, unison with the other members of its family in order that its varied attributes may be manifested. Beethoven sometimes employed it in pairs, like the trumpets; but the time-honoured custom of writing in three parts appears preferable to me.' Hector Berlioz, Grand Traité d'Instrumentation et d'Orchestration, 2nd edition, Paris, 1855, p.205. Trans. Mary Clarke, A Treatise upon Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration, 2nd edition, London, 1858, p.156 (trans. edited by A. C. Howie). Return to Article
  24. 'The power of a trombone passage lies precisely in its three-part texture, in the power of the simple triad. A fourth trombone obscures the quality of sound penetration... through overloading.' Hermann Zopff, Der Angehende Dirigent, Leipzig, 1881, p. 21. Return to Article
  25. 'Customarily, two bass trombones are designated in four-part trombone writing. This seems to us, unsuitable because of the overpowering might and weight of the instrument. Opposed to two bass trombones, a tenor and an alto trombone are too weak; indeed one bass trombone is strong enough to balance two tenor trombones and an alto trombone. Also a bass trombone as a middle voice is disproportionately too heavy with respect to the tenor which is the other middle voice.' Adolph Bernard Marx, Die Lehre von der Musikalischen Komposition, praktisch theoretisch, part iv, Leipzig, 1847, p.72. Personally, I find a fourth trombone (i.e. TTTB) adds immeasurably to the warmth and fullness of the section's sound (for example in Mahler's Second Symphony). Not only is the section capable of more power, as one would expect, but paradoxically the resulting tone-mix can be more gentle and solemn as a result of the breadth and sonority of the sound that derives from doubling the root of the chord at the octave, or the playing of four-part chords, which makes the trombone trio seem thin by comparison. However, in an ATTB section, the three lower voices must be vigilant not to overbalance the alto, which should just rest comfortably atop the cushion of sound. Return to Article
  26. For example, in 1810 a journalist singled out the trombones for mention in an article about the works to be performed in an up-coming concert: 'Eine grosse neue Ouvertüre fürs ganze Orchester (auch mit Posaunen) von Herr Spohr' ('A big new overture for the entire orchestra (including trombones) by Mr Spohr'.) G. L. P. Sievers, 'Nachricht von einem in Thurigen seltenen Musikfeste', Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung 12, no. 47 (August 22, 1810), col. 750. Return to Article
  27. 'Trombones, trombones – for our modern composers these are the most marvellous things, exactly like drums for children'. Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung 5 (1802/03), pp. 216-217. Return to Article
  28. Joseph Fröhlich, Vollständige Theoretische-Pracktische Musikschule, vol. iii 'Von der Posaune', Bonn, 1811, p. 27. Return to Article
  29. 'The instrument, particularly suited to the expression of the noble and solemn also suits the gentle and calm, as well as its usual role of doubling voices. Its character requires that its execution be kept melodious and not too shrill, in order to bring out the closest resemblance to the voice that each trombone doubles or represents: alto, tenor and bass trombones with alto, tenor and bass voices respectively. Just as beautiful resulting harmony always has, and must have, so much effect on this instrument when it is played soulfully and with gentle articulation, so it is revolting and spoils all the good impressions when the trombone is played with a wild, blaring tone…' Ibid., p. 27. Translated by Guion, The Trombone, p. 96-7 (trans. edited by A. C. Howie). Mersenne similarly wrote in 1636 that vicious sounds were inappropriate for trombones. Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle, Paris, 1636; facsimile edition, Paris, 1965, p. 272. Return to Article
  30. 'In the Morgenblatte no. 150 of this year the correspondent from Paris, in his description of the Parisians' rural diversions, mentioned that the trombone is used in most of the dance orchestras there, where its serious bass voice... sounds through the rest of the noise, making a peculiar contrast. But this use, or more properly misuse, of a serious, ceremonial instrument - which, according to the Bible, is ordained to pronounce the Last Judgement; and which, of all the instruments, seems the best chosen for this - is not confined to the vicinity of the magnificent and splendid capital of the French kingdom, but has spread all over Germany since the days of the French occupation, via the French military bands and the modern German military bands, which are modelled after them, so that, for example, in the vicinity of Leipzig almost no dance can be played without a bass trombone playing and cavorting about.' 'Die Posaune in der Mode', Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung mit besonderer Rucksicht auf den österreichischen Kaiserstaat, October 1819, pp. 671-72. Translation by Mary Rasmussen, 'Two Early Nineteenth-Century Trombone Virtuosi: Carl Traugott Quiesser and Friedrich August Belke', Brass Quarterly 5 (1961), pp. 15-16. Return to Article
  31. John Marsh, Hints to Young Composers of Instrumental Music, London, c. 1807; reprinted in the Galpin Society Journal 18 (1965), p. 69. Return to Article
  32. Ibid., p. 70. Return to Article
  33. Charles Burney, 'Trombone' in Abraham Rees (ed.) Cyclopaedia vol. xxxvi, London, 1819, no pagination. Return to Article
  34. 'Gluck and Mozart have transplanted them to dramatic style with excellent results. Trombones, however, have degenerated in the hands of successors; they are now condemned to continual service; for strengthening, combined with other brass instruments, serious or comic operas, in regimental bands, or dance music; in which a trombone solo for a waltz or gallop appears a mere ironical sarcasm.' Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Sämtlichen Schriften über Generalbass, Harmonie-Lehre und Tonsetzkunst zum Selbstunterrichte, vermehrt und herausgegeben von Ignaz von Seyfried, Band iii, Vienna, 1837, p.186. Trans. S. Novello, Thorough-Bass, Harmony and Composition, London, 1855, p.253. Ironically, the following curious statement attributed to Albrechtsberger seems to indicate that he was not particularly enamoured of the slide trombone: 'Die industriösen Instrumenten-Macher unsere Kaiserstadt haben nunmehr auch die Posaunen mit Grifflöchern und Klappen versehen, und dadurch die theilweise stets lästige Unsicherheit der Züge beseitigt.' ('The industrious instrument makers of our imperial city [Vienna] have added stop-holes and keys to trombones... and have thus obviated the former uncertainty of the slides.') Albrechtsberger, ibid., p. 185: trans. Novello, ibid., p. 253. This passage, which does not appear in the original text, seems unlikely to be Albrechtsberger's opinion, since the first valve trombones were not produced in Vienna until the 1820s (Anthony Baines, 'The Trombone', Grove's Dictionary of Musical Instruments, London 1984, vol. 3, p. 631): it must therefore be Seyfried's. See note 56, Chapter 2. Return to Article
  35. Edward Holmes, A Ramble among the Musicians of Germany, London, 1828, p. 254. Return to Article
  36. Mary Rasmussen, op. cit., p. 14. Return to Article

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Contents

 

ITF 2008