Belgian Military Trombonists
February 17, 2010 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
Added another Belgian military trombone image (Madou, 1832) to the 19th century timeline. It’s shown below, along with the other entries from the timeline related to Belgian military trombonists. There are 4 images total, all of them from the first half of the century and all showing rear-facing trombones. An interesting little slice of the history of the trombone.
1824—Belgium: A pen and ink drawing of a Belgian military trombonist depicts a player in full military regalia with a rear-facing trombone (see below image; public domain) (New York Public Library Digital Gallery).
1825—Belgium: Sir George Smart, a British traveler, observes, “We heard a very good military horse band which was all trumpets, bugles and tromboni” (Smart 66).
1831—Belgium: A lithograph titled Musiciens d’infanterie belge, or “Belgian infantry musicians,” portrays a musician holding what appears to be a rear-facing trombone (see below image; public domain) (Bibliotheque royale Albert I; Wangermée vol. 2, 264).
1832—Belgium: A print by Belgian artist Jean-Baptiste Madou titled Officier Garde Civique Premier depicts an officer of the Belgian Civil Guard. Behind the officer stands a military musician who appears to be holding a rear-facing trombone (see below image; public domain) (New York Public Library Digital Gallery). For a similar image, see 1831 (above).
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).
Trombone History: early rear-facing trombones
November 12, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
Found the below Italian fresco that features a rear-facing (or over-the-shoulder) trombone and added it to the early 17th century timeline. I know of only one other pre-19th century image that clearly shows such an instrument; I’ve included that image in this post as well (1578). (I have seen a few others that seem to suggest a similar instrument but are more vague, sometimes simply showing what appears to be a slide portion with no bell at all.) The fresco from c. 1615 is also of interest because it has only recently been restored (and, indeed, at the base of the photograph you can see what appear to be some restoration materials). Also noteworthy is the trombone’s bell flare, which is more prominent than usual for this early date. Finally, as I have mentioned several times, it is quite arresting just how many trombone images originate from the 50-year period of 1601-1650.
c. 1615—Cislago, Italy: The Church of Santa Maria della Neve contains an anonymous fresco lunette featuring several angel musicians, including a trombonist. The trombone is particularly noteworthy because it is a rear-facing (sometimes called “over-the-shoulder”) instrument, an unusual configuration for this early date (see facing image; public domain) (Morandi; Farioli). For another early rear-facing instrument, see 1578 in the 16th century timeline, where a cherub-trombonist is featured. In later centuries, particularly the 19th century, rear-facing trombones become much more common; the 19th century timeline includes at least 9 such images.
1578—Antwerp, Belgium: A set of masses by George de La Hele includes an image–an initial D in front of a group of cherub musicians–that features a rear-facing trombone being played by a cherub (also rear-facing) (see facing image; public domain; Wangermée vol. 1 167).
Trombone History: Pity and Donations
August 21, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
Added the following image and its caption to the 19th Century Trombone History Timeline. There are two things that are interesting about the print, in my opinion. The first is that the instrument is a rear-facing trombone, which, it turns out, is surprisingly common in 19th century iconography. The second is that it belongs to a group of caricatures or otherwise humorous images from the 19th century that seem to reflect something of a shift in the way people view the trombone (see J.J. Grandville, 1845; Honoré Daumier, 1865; A. Forester, 1896; and the cover of “She was Born in Old Virginia,” 1899).
1871—Paris, France: A lithograph titled A propos de la crise monétaire (“about the currency crisis”) from a series of prints by French caricaturist B. Moloch (B. Colomb) called Les Silhouettes de 1871 depicts a woman playing a rear-facing trombone, along with a well-dressed man wearing a sign asking for pity and donations (see facing image; public domain).
The Trombone in 1830
May 22, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
I just added an entry for the year 1830 to the Trombone History Timeline: Auguste Bertini, an international musician previously active in Italy and France, relocates to England and publishes his New System for… All Musical Instruments, an instruction book for a variety of instruments. He mentions alto, tenor, and bass trombones, the alto apparently pitched in E-flat.
There are several other significant trombone-related events from the year 1830. 1830 is the year that Hector Berlioz writes Symphony Fantastique, of course, a work that employs trombones prominently. Regarding the orchestration of the uppermost trombone part, Berlioz demands, in an early document listing the instrumentation, “The alto trombone part must not be played on a big trombone, as is often done in France: I demand a true alto trombone.”
In Leipzig, Germany, a correspondent for the well-recognized music periodical Allgemeine musikalischeZeitung proclaims, “Truly we live in an age of trombones.” This observation is largely in response to the remarkable solo career of trombonist Carl Queisser, who performs often to great acclaim at Leipzig’s famous Gewandhaus and is a member of the Gewandhaus orchestra. Carl Queisser’s colleague in the orchestra, concertmaster Ferdinand David, later writes the well-known Concertino for Trombone for Queisser.
Gewandhaus
In addition, around the year 1830 some interesting trombone manufacturing events take place. In Austria, Uhlmann, a Viennese brass manufacturer, improves on Riedl’s valve design, making B-flat and G trombones with the double Vienna valve. In Strasbourg, a city on the border of France and Germany, manufacturer Charles Kretzschmann makes a rear-facing trombone, an instrument now held in the Metropolitan Museum. Rear-facing trombones, in fact, enjoy a certain vogue during the century, as a number of graphic representations depict (see 19th Century of the Trombone History Timeline).
Belgian military trombonist
Czech lithograph with 2 rear-facing trombones
(For sources on all of the above information, see Trombone History Timeline and Bibliography.)