1466—Milan, Italy: The civic wind band consists of 4 pifferi and 2 trombones (D’Accone, Civic Muse 527).

1468—Milan, Italy: 6 trombones, 11 pifferi, and 33 trumpets play for a political gathering (Kurtzman, Trombe).

1469—Milan, Italy: Trombonists from Germany or the Low Countries are in the service of the Duke of Milan (Galpin, The Sackbut).

1490—Milan, Italy: At the Sforza court, a Festa del Paradiso is held in honor of Isabella d’Aragona. Shortly before the festa begins, “When everyone was seated, the piferi and trombones began to play. After they had played for a while, they stopped, and some tambourin players were ordered to play…” (Merkley 419).

1502—Louis XII of France travels to Milan, returning with 6 trombonists and shawmists, whom he employs at his court for 120 livres per year (Dobbins, Music 126; Cazeaux 240).

Milan, 1572

1553—Milan, Italy: Ferrante Gonzaga, governor of Milan, maintains a wind band that includes at least one trombone. When a trombonist by the name of Orfeo requests to be released from his service to play elsewhere, the leader of the ensemble expresses alarm, writing to the governor that it “would be in grand damage to the music of your Excellency” (Getz 170).

1559—Milan, Italy: Carnival celebrations at the Milanese court include “an excellent music of bowed viols, trombones [tromboni], cornets, and voices…playing their instruments so sweetly and harmoniously [soavemente che all'armonia]” (Getz 201).

1574—Milan, Italy: A mascherata held in honor of Duke Johann of Austria includes a pastoral scene in which numerous instruments are used: “5 trombetti…cornetto, trombone, cornamusa, fifre, dolzana, flauto, diana, spinetta, viola di gamba, violino, liuto, lira, cetera, piva, doulcemele, contralto di viola, triangolo, tamborino e zufolo, arpa, buttafoco, sordina e mantica, tiorba, quattro viole da braccio” (Boydell, Crumhorn 296).

Luini, Musical Angels

c. 1580—Milan, Italy: Aureliano Luini depicts an angel playing trombone in his fresco, Musical Angels (see facing image; public domain) (Milan, S. Simpliciano; Kendrick, Sounds of Milan 77).

1605-06—­­Milan Italy: During a diocesan inquiry about monks’ use of outside musicians at St. Amrogio, witnesses, including a paid trombonist himself, testify to the presence of singers, violins, trombones, and cornetto, along with an occasional lute (Kendrick, Sounds of Milan 79).

1610—Milan, Italy: Giovanni Paolo Cima specifies trombone in works from his collection Concerti ecclesiastici, including Sonata (trombone or violone) and Cappriccio d’Andrea Cima a 4 (1 trombone) (Collver 47).

1620—Milan, Italy: Francesco Rognione’s improvisational treatise, Selva di varii passaggi,includes a setting of Lassus’s song, Susanne un jour. Marked “Modo di passegiar il violone over trombone alla bastarda,” it features rapid technical passages to be played on either violone or trombone (Baines, Brass 114; Guion, Short History; Herbert, Trombone 87).

1649—Milan, Italy: Biagio Marini calls for trombone in a collection of his works (Selfridge-Field, Instrumentation).

1808—Milan, Italy: The Milan Conservatory is founded. A studio of horn, trumpet, and trombone is established, taught by the horn instructor. The first trombone class is established in 1882, with Gaetano Falda as instructor (Herbert, Trombone 130).

La Scala, 19th century

1814—Milan, Italy: La Scala orchestra includes 1 trombone (Herbert, Trombone 333).

1824—Milan, Italy: Francesco Mirecki, a Polish musician active in Italy, mentions trombone in his treatise, the earliest known Italian orchestration treatise. He considers bass trombone a useful alternative to serpent as the effective bass of the brass family (Meucci).

1825—Milan, Italy: La Scala orchestra includes 3 trombones (in contrast to 1 in 1814) (Herbert, Trombone 334).

1844—Milan, Italy: Fermo Bellini’s Teoriche musicali discusses the use of trombone with ophicleide: “The modern custom, adopted by some composers, of forming a quartet consisting of three trombones and an ophicleide does not seem very sensible, given that the tone colour of the trombones, so dominant and in high relief, is very different from that of the ophicleide; it would be better for this instrument to double the bottom line, or else to find some way to give the trombones a good cantabile bass whenever they are on their own” (Meucci).

Giuseppe Verdi

1871—Milan, Italy: Giuseppe Verdi makes the following comment about bass trombone in a letter to his publisher about the forthcoming Italian premiere of Aida: “I must insist on the fourth trombone. That bombardon is impossible. Tell Faccio [the conductor] to consult the first trombonist if he thinks fit, to see what should be done. I should prefer a bass trombone, which is of the same family as the others: but if it proves too tiring and difficult to play, take one of the usual ophicleides which go down to low B. In short, do whatever you please, but not that devil of a bombardon which does not blend with the others” (Leavis, Cimbasso).

1874—Giuseppe Verdi composes his Manzoni Requiem, often called his “greatest opera,” in honor of poet-patriot Alessandro Manzoni. Premiered a year later at the Church of San Marco, Milan, the work calls for 3 trombones. The “Dies irae,” in particular, in which “volcanic anger is depicted by the powerful brass and timpani,” utilizes trombone prominently (Chase 300).

1881—Milan, Italy: The newspaper Gazzetta Musicale di Milano runs an article titled “Visit by Verdi to the Pelitti factory,” detailing Verdi’s interest in the contrabass trombone. It says, in part, “Verdi having, however, expressed certain wishes regarding the range of the trombone basso, Cav. Pelitti undertook to build a new one for the following Thursday which would satisfy the Maestro’s requirements. Verdi, accompanied by maestro Boito and signor Giulio Ricordi, went accordingly on that day to the Pelitti factory where repeated experiments were made with the new trombone in B flat pitched one octave lower than the tenor. The new instrument gave splendid results regarding range, timbre, sonority, power, ease and facility of execution, blending perfectly with the other trombones. Resulting from this, two B flat tenor trombones, a bass trombone in F and the new bass trombone in B flat are necessary in order to achieve a trombone quartet that is perfect, homogeneous and effective without bringing into the orchestra a timbre from the band that would affect the instrumental blending of the various instruments” (Meucci).

1893—Milan, Italy: Giuseppe Ascalone says the following about the timbre of trombones in his Manualetto: “While on its own the bass tuba is an excellent orchestral instrument on account of its gentle voice, both agile and weighty, its dark sound is unpleasing to the ear when heard in conjunction with the clear tone of the trombones” (Meucci).

1912—Milan, Italy: In Ettore Panizza’s 2nd revised and updated Italian edition of Berlioz’s orchestration treatise, Panizza discusses contrabass trombone: “Berlioz does not mention the contrabass trombone. Its pitch corresponds to an octave below that of the tenor trombone. In Italy the introduction of a new instrument of this type was due to Giuseppe Verdi, and it adopted the name of this great musician. I refer to the ‘trombone basso Verdi’ in B flat. Its tone is fine, mellow and homogeneous, especially in its middle range, while being slightly weak in the bottom and high register. It is notated at concert pitch, that is the written note is the actual note sounded, in spite of the instrument being pitched in B flat. Verdi, who, as we have seen, had been its inspiration, wrote an important part for it in his Otello and later in Falstaff. Today this trombone has become very common in Italian orchestras, and almost all the parts for ophicleide or for tuba are played on the trombone Verdi” (Meucci).

Cazzani rotary valve trombone

1912—Milan, Italy: Rotary valve trombone by Giovan Battista Cazzani is manufactured sometime before this date (see facing image; used by permission of Brass Players Museum: www.neillins.com/brass.htm).

1920—Milan, Italy: Vittorio Ricci mentions bass trombone in connection with the term cimbasso in his orchestration text: “In Aida Verdi uses cimbasso (a kind of contrabass trombone) as the bass of the trombones” (Meucci).

Hans Dürer, Dances in the Open Air

Recently I came across an interesting image from the early 16th century that features an instrument bearing something of a resemblance to a trombone. Titled Dances in the Open Air, the painting, by Hans Dürer (brother of the more famous Albrecht Dürer) is a detail of a frieze located in the Hall of the Envoys of the Royal Castle at Wawel (Cracow, Poland). It dates from 1532 (see above image; public domain) (Suchodolski pl. 428).

Giorgio Vasari, Muse for Genealogy of the Gods

That image brought to mind another from the 16th century, this one featuring what Edmund Bowles labels an alto trombone. If it is indeed a trombone, it is a somewhat awkwardly-rendered depiction. The image, dated from 1566, is by Giorgio Vasari. It is associated with a performance of The Genealogy of the Gods for the wedding festivities of Prince Francesco de’ Medici and Johanna of Austria (see facing image; public domain) (Bowles, Musical Ensembles 55).

Both of the images could be proto-trombones: instruments marking the evolution of trumpet into what we know as trombone. They could also simply be awkwardly-rendered trombones by artists not overly concerned with being literal. Or they could be separate instruments entirely. The images do call to mind some descriptions that scholars suspect may refer to very early trombones:

1407—Siena, Italy: German musician Angelo d’Arrigo joins the Palace trumpeters as a player of tuba grossa. There is speculation that this term, tuba grossa (Latin: large trumpet), could be a clerk’s best effort at describing a trombone, which would have been a very new instrument at the time (D’Accone, Civic Muse 443, 517).

1445—Florence, Italy: An account describes the trombone as “trombon grosso…che e tromba torta” (a “large trombone…that is a twisted trumpet” (Polk, Foreign 326; Polk, Archival Documents).

1518—The betrothal of Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, to François, eldest son of François I, King of France, takes place in Greenwich, with a repeat performance in Paris. Festivities include a dance performed by a wind band that probably consists of 3 shawms and 2 trombones (“two brass which were bent back”) (Shaw).

TROMBONE-SPECIFIC SOURCES

Baines, Anthony. Brass Instruments: Their History and Development. New York: Dover Publications, 1993.

An old classic, originally published in 1976, that still features a good deal of useful information on all the brass instruments, including trombone.

Baines, Anthony. “Trombone,” in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 2001.

Encyclopedia article, written by Anthony Baines and revised by Myers and Herbert, containing a fairly large amount of useful information about the history of the trombone. Traditionally a common launching point for research on the trombone.

Carter, Stewart, ed. Perspectives in Brass Scholarship: Proceedings of the International Historic Brass Symposium, 1995. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1998.

A compilation of specialized, well-documented articles dealing with historical issues. Trombone-rich articles include “The Invention of the Slide Principle and the Earliest Trombone” (Polk), “Cornets & Sagbuts: Some Thoughts on the Early Seventeenth-Century English Repertory for Brass” (Duffin), “Georges Kastner on Brass Instruments” (Carter), “The Reconstruction of Nineteenth-Century Band Repertoire” (Herbert), “Trumpets, Cornets, Trombones, and Horns in the St. Petersburg Museum of Musical Instruments” (Koshelev), and others.

Dietrich, Kurt. Jazz ‘Bones: The World of Jazz Trombone. Rottenberg: Advance Music, 2005.

Thoroughly-researched history of jazz trombone, the best of its kind. Appropriately emphasizes major figures, while also including significant detail about lesser-known subjects, such as trombonists in early jazz history.

Guion, David. The Trombone: Its History and Music, 1697-1811. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1988.

Well-documented book that includes extensive quotations from primary sources, including several translations not easily found elsewhere.

Herbert, Trevor and John Wallace, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Like Perspectives in Brass Scholarship (above), this book consists of a number of specialized, thoroughly-referenced articles compiled into a single volume, although this volume includes more material about the recent history of brass instruments. Trombone-rich articles include “‘Sackbut’: the early trombone” (Herbert), “The low brass” (Bevan), “Brass in the modern orchestra” (Wills), “Brass solo and chamber music from 1800″ (Wallace), “Frontiers or byways? Brass instruments in avant-garde music” (Wills), and others.

Herbert, Trevor. The Trombone. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Excellent comprehensive study of the trombone. Only a few years old, it is already considered the instrument’s definitive history.

Naylor, Tom L. The Trumpet & Trombone in Graphic Arts, 1500-1800. Nashville, TN: Brass Press, 1979.

The best single-volume source for trombone iconography (the way the instrument has been portrayed visually throughout history). It should be noted that the images, although there are many, are limited to black and white prints and drawings. Paintings, sculptures, and other visual art are not included, leaving out some of our instrument’s most useful (not to mention beautiful) iconography; see, for example, paintings included in the 17th century timeline.

NON-TROMBONE SOURCES

Bowles, Edmund A. Musical Ensembles in Festival Books, 1500-1800: An Iconographical and Documentary Survey. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1989.

An in-depth study of festival books, records of important celebrations kept by rulers of state and other people of influence. Includes extensive mention and visual representation of trombones, particularly in the first half of the book. Oversized volume usually found in the “quarto” section of the stacks.

D’Accone, Frank A. The Civic Muse: Music and Musicians in Siena during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

As the subtitle of the book indicates, this is a history of music in Siena, Italy, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Written by a leading musicologist, the book features large spans in which trombone is mentioned on virtually every page, brimming with interesting details about the activities of Italian trombonists during the late Medieval and Renaissance eras.

Macdonald, Hugh. Berlioz’s Orchestration Treatise: A Translation and Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Excellent translation of Berlioz’s landmark orchestration treatise with extensive commentary by a prominent Berlioz scholar. Trombone is discussed in several contexts. A great source for information about the Romantic-era trombone in France.

Polk, Keith. German Instrumental Music of the Late Middle Ages. Cambridge, 1992.

A well-researched book that includes significant information about the early history of the trombone, documenting, among other things, the fact that much of the earliest history of the trombone took place in Germany.