Elite Female Brass Band
February 26, 2010 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
Yesterday I added the below images and entry in the 20th century trombone history timeline. The detail of the poster only shows one trombonist, and the full image is hard to see, but there are actually two trombonists included.
The creation of numerous “Damen Blasorchester” and “Ladies’ Brass Band” ensembles seems to constitute something of a small trend in the early 20th century. The IBEW website (Internet Bandsman’s Everything Within), which is an excellent brass band history source, shows 3 photographs of the Janietz Elite Damen Blas-Orchester (the group shown in the poster below). They also have photos of numerous other “Damen Blasorchester” and “Ladies’ Brass Band” ensembles from the early 20th century, many of which include trombones.
1911—Germany: A poster advertising “Janietz, Elite Damen Blas-Orchester,” a female brass band, includes 2 trombonists (see detail, far left, and full image, adjacent; public domain).
Trombone History: Painting of Female Trombonist
Although it has perhaps not been widely known, there are records of female trombonists throughout trombone history, dating back to the 16th century. The Trombone History Timeline shows, for example, entries from 1594, 1600, 1613, 1618, 1630, and 1632 that detail activities of trombone-playing nuns in the Italian cities of Ferrara, Venice, and Bologna. The following painting by Italian Pietro Paolini (or his school), dating from c. 1625, offers a rather clear representation of a female trombonist among a group of musicians (source: Patrizia Giusti, Pietro Paolini: pittore lucchese, 1603-1681. Maria Pacini Fazzi editore in Lucca, 1987, p. 158).
Pietro Paolini, Gruppo di giovani suonatori con vaso di fiori