The Trombone and Death: 16 Requiem Settings

Feeling dark? I recently added quite a few more clips to the Trombone History Timeline, including 16 requiems–musical settings of the requiem mass, or mass for the dead. The trombone has a long history in sacred music in general, requiem settings in particular. It’s noteworthy how frequently and how prominently trombones feature in this very [...]

Clips Added to Trombone History Timeline

I decided to add audio/video clips to the Trombone History Timeline. This will probably be an ongoing thing, but initially I’ve added two dozen YouTube clips. Below is a breakdown by page, as well as a few highlights to grab your interest. New Clips: 16th century: Striggio, Gabrieli (multiple) 17th century (1st half): Monteverdi (multiple), [...]

Trombone History: The Trombone in Settings of the Crucifixus

Added the below entries to the 18th Century Timeline from Cameron’s The Crucifixion in Music (Cameron, Jasmin Melissa. The Crucifixion in Music: An Analytical Survey of Settings of the Crucifixus between 1680 and 1800. Contextual Bach studies, no. 1. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006). As it turns out, they are all works originating in Austria, which [...]

Added Trombones: Enjoying the Full Sound Potential

Added the below entry to the 18th Century Trombone History Timeline. I think Mr. Rey may have been on to something. 1799—Paris, France: Jean-Baptiste Rey conducts a revival of Gluck’s Armide. Composer C.H. Plantade, armed with a score of the work, notices that various trombone lines have been added in the performance. Plantade then complains in [...]

Trombone History: Mini-Bibliography

Baines

Where to start? Writing a trombone history paper and want to know where to begin? Below is a condensed bibliography listing some good introductory sources. The first category contains books on trombone (or brass in general), while the second contains a sampling of sources that are not trombone-specific, but are nonetheless rich in material about [...]

Update to Alto in Treatises Page: Summary of Alto Trombone Keys

Made the following update to the Alto in Treatises page, giving a summary of specific keys that writers have historically assigned to the alto trombone. For more on alto trombone keys, see also the Extant Altos page, which lists alto trombones manufactured before 1800, along with their respective keys. OVERALL KEY TOTALS: 40     [...]

Update to Alto in Treatises Page

Alb Seyfried

Made the below update about Seyfried’s edition of Albrechtsberger’s treatise to the Alto in Treatises page. This is a significant piece of the puzzle in the history of the alto trombone because 1) the original Albrechtsberger treatise does not provide enough information to definitively distinguish the key of the alto trombone, particularly if you acknowledge [...]

Trombone History Update

Added several new entries to the Alto Trombone Timeline, including Stössel (Germany, 1736), Eisel (Germany, 1738), Koch (Germany, 1802), Kastner (Germany, 1840), and the trombone article from the 1888 Encyclopaedia Britannica (Scotland, 1888). Also expanded the Daniel Speer entry (Germany, 1697). Like many, many other sources, these seem to add to the preponderance of evidence [...]