1689—Seville, Spain: The church of the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes, with walls and ceiling painted by Juan Valdés and his son Lucas Valdés, is completed. Among the numerous instrument-playing cherubs depicted on the ceiling is a cherub playing the trombone (see detail and full image below; public domain).

1638—Schleiz, Germany: A painting on the left organ shutter in the Bergkirche includes an angel trombonist among several angel musicians (see below image; public domain).

For 45 more historical pictures of angels playing trombone, see Angel Trombonists Throughout History.

1591—Rome, Italy: Artist Ferrau Fenzoni includes an angel playing trombone in a ceiling painting in the chapel of St. Francis in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere (see lower-middle of below image; public domain) (Schwed, New Drawings by Ferrau Fenzoni).

c. 1550—A leaf of various studies by artist Solis Virgit (1514-62) includes 2 trombones (see upper-right and lower-middle of below image—click for larger version; public domain) (Louvre).

c. 1650—German artist Joachim von Sandrart draws a red chalk “angel concert” that includes a trombone (see below image; public domain) (source: Deutsche Fotothek).

c. 1645—Campione d’Italia, Italy: Isidoro Bianchi paints Gloria d’angeli, a fresco in the sanctuary of S. Maria dei Ghirli. The painting includes an angel playing what may be an awkwardly-rendered trombone, with a slide clearly visible but without the rear bow of the instrument extending behind the head (see detail and full image below) (Angelis 43). For a similar rendering by the same artist, see 1623.

1617—Milan, Italy: Bartolomeo Roverio includes 3 trombones among many angel musicians in a ceiling fresco at San Marco (see below image; public domain) (Perer 172).

Augsburg, 1493, from Schedelsche Weltchronik

Augsburg, second only to Trier among Germany’s oldest cities, has been the site of considerable trombone activity since the trombone’s beginnings in the 15th century. A painting of the Augsburg Cathedral that I recently added to the Trombone History Timeline (17th century, 1st half) spurred me to put together this post. This fairly specialized post illustrates, on a small scale, some noteworthy trends in the early history of the trombone. Notice, for example, early trombone activities and images related to the civic wind band/alta capella, dance music, and sacred music. Many of the sources are from Keith Polk, who has done extensive research on early trombone history in Germany. As usual, full citations for the sources can be found in the Trombone History Bibliography.

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1447—Augsburg, Germany: Trombone is mentioned as part of a civic wind band (Polk, German 112).

1460s—Augsburg, Germany: The city is temporarily without a trombonist for their civic wind band, but continues to hire a trombonist “for especially important dances” (Polk, German 118).

1477—Augsburg, Germany: Augustein Schubinger begins his career as a trombonist, although he is also recognized as a player of lute and cornett during various stages of his career (Polk, Voices and Instruments).

1482—Augsburg, Germany: Ulrich Schubinger, Jr., begins his career as a trombonist. A versatile musician like many of his day, he is later described as a player of “Geigen, pusaunen, lawten, und andern instrumenten” (Polk, Voices and Instruments).

1488—Augsburg, Germany: Renowned trombonist Augustein Schubinger is termed a trumeter in his own home town, highlighting the continuing ambiguity in terminology between trombone and trumpet (Polk, The Trombone).

1509—Augsburg, Germany: A musician by the name of Caspar Egkern serves as trombonist. He later becomes a member of the viol ensemble of Maximilian I (Polk, German 71).

1591—Augsburg, Germany: A woodcut on the title page of Adam Gumpelzhaimer’s Neue Teutsche Geistliche Lieder (re-used for at least one subsequent work) includes a depiction of a female trombonist as part of an apparently all-female ensemble (see below detail; public domain) (Naylor 221; Kinsky 85).

1592-9—Germany: An anonymous painting from the Album of Hieremias Buroner of Augsburg depicts a consort consisting of trombone, 2 singers, positive organ, cornett, bass viol, violin, and lute (see below image; public domain) (Remnant, Musical Instruments of the West 202; London, British Library).

c. 1600—Augsburg, Germany: An oil painting by Abraham Schelhas titled Augsburger Geschlechtertanz depicts an aristocratic dance in Augsburg. The 4 wind musicians providing the music play from a balcony and include a trombonist; the other instruments appear to be cornettos or shawms (see below detail and full image; public domain) (Augsburg, Städtische Kunstsammlung; Salmen, Tanz im 17 151).

c. 1616—Augsburg, Germany: A painting by Thomas Maurer, The Diocesan Synod of 1610 in the Cathedral of Augsburg, includes what may be two trombones situated on opposite sides of the group of musicians, with only the rather long rear bend of the instruments visible (see below detail and full image; public domain) (Chevalley 142; painting housed in choir sancrisy of Augsburg Cathedral; photo by Eberhard Lantz).

c. 1720—Augsburg, Germany: An engraving by Martin Engelbrecht titled Trompeten, Paucken, Posaunen depicts men playing trumpet and kettledrums, with a trombone on a nearby table. The text below the picture says, “Here one demonstrates music for devotion, pleasure and dancing for various types of musical instruments…Music about men and horses can only be satisfied by fighting. Trumpets, timpani, muskets, Barthaune! They make the right sound together. On the other hand, zinken and trombones [posaunen] are needed always in peacetime, as well as in sorrow and times of joy whenever music is well presented” (see below image) (Naylor 100, 197).

I am not going to try to come to any real conclusions with this post, but I would suggest the early rear-facing trombone as one possibility. There are at least two iconographical examples of rear-facing trombones from the 17th century or earlier (see here), as well as many others from the 19th century (see here). In the case of the first three examples below with no apparent bells, the bell on a rear-facing instrument could easily be obscured by the player’s head and/or other parts of the image, such as cap, halo, and wings. In the final example, from the 19th century, the bell is very likely obscured by the player’s helmet; there are multiple other examples of rear-facing trombones in iconography of this precise period and region.

c. 1474—Asciano, Italy: Matteo di Giovanni’s The Assumption of the Virgin, the center panel of an altarpiece in S. Agostino, includes what may be an angel-trombonist along with several other angel-musicians. The instrument has what appears to be a slide but no visible bell (see below detail and full image; public domain) (Belán 111).

1503-1529—Spain: Joan Gascó’s painting, God the Father and the nine angelic choirs, includes what appears to be a trombone-playing angel, grouped with 2 other wind-playing angels, although no bell is apparent on the trombone (see below detail and full image below that; public domain) (Ballester).

1598-1606—Valencia, Spain: Bartolomé Matarana paints a fresco of angel musicians in the the church of Real Colegio–Seminario de Corpus Christi that includes what are probably 2 trombones. Only the slide portions are obvious, although possible bell flares can be seen upon close inspection (see details and full image below) (Olson, Angel Musicians).

c. 1850—Brussels, Belgium: Musicien et trompette de cuirassiers, a lithograph by Henri Hendrickx, portrays a Belgian infantry musician playing on what may be a rear-facing trombone, the bell obscured by the player’s helmet (see below image; public domain) (Bibliotheque royale Albert I; Wangermée vol. 2, 263). See other Belgian rear-facing trombones from the same time period at this post: Belgian Military Trombonists.