Giorgio Vasari and the Renaissance Trombone

vasari window

I just added the top image and caption (c. 1545) to the 16th century timeline. Giorgio Vasari is a well-known Italian painter, architect, and historian. His book, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, is one of the most frequently-cited art history texts of all time. Vasari springs up multiple times in relation to [...]

3 Views of Renaissance Trombone Painting by Frei Carlos

frei carlos detail

I recently came across Assumption of the Virgin, the painting from which Musical Angels, a relatively common detail of the Frei Carlos painting, is extracted (see 16th century trombone history timeline). The full painting (the bottom image, below) can be purchased from Superstock and is helpful because it provides context for the subject matter. The middle [...]

Missing Something? Bell-less Trombones in Art

matarana detail 1

The slide is one of the most identifiable visual characteristics of the trombone in artwork. However, when a slide turns up without a bell, it can be problematic. Could it still be a trombone? Are we trying too hard to make it a trombone? Was it just artist error? Artistic license? A mistake in a [...]

How Early Should You Start Playing Trombone? A Young 17th-Century Trombonist

Semplice detail

Just added another trombone image to the 17th century timeline (first half). He doesn’t look much older than my one-year-old son! c. 1629—Venice, Italy: Veronese artist Fra Semplice da Verona includes a depiction of a cherub playing trombone in Infant Jesus and Musical Angels, an image framing a pre-existing Madonna in the Convento del Redentore. [...]

This, That, or the Other: Labeling in Early Music

I just finished adding nearly 40 new entries to the 17th century (2nd half) timeline from Charlotte Leonard’s very thorough “The Role of the Trombone and its Affekt in the Lutheran Church Music of Seventeenth Century Saxony and Thuringia: The Mid- and Late Seventeenth Century” Historic Brass Society Journal 12 (2000), 161-209. One of the [...]

Bethlehem Moravians in Trombone History

Moravians at Bethlehem

The influence of the Moravians on the history of the trombone has been widely documented. For entries in the timeline, for example, see 1754, 1760, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1770, 1771, 1781, 1783, 1822, 1874, 1903, and 1944. More entries will undoubtedly be forthcoming as I continue to add to the timeline. I recently added [...]

Trombone Iconography: Young Trombonists in Four Montserrat Paintings

Chihuantito detail

In my search for images for the Trombone History Timeline I’ve come across some pretty interesting little trends and groupings—trombones in altarpieces, trombones on organ cases, angel-trombonists, trombones in Antwerp, early rear-facing trombones, early female trombonists, etc. Another noteworthy little grouping is a set of four trombone images referencing Spain’s Montserrat. The first two paintings are [...]

Trombone History: The Trombone and Altarpieces

I recently added the below altarpiece to the 16th century timeline. The religious significance of the early trombone is actually reflected in several altarpieces from the 16th and early 17th centuries; I’ve included 5 others in this blog post, all of them currently shown in the timeline. Unlike the trombones on organ cases, which are [...]

CD Cover Art

Just noticed today that the cover jacket for Christian Lindberg’s new CD, The Baroque Trombone, released last September, uses one of the images included in the Trombone History Timeline. The image, shown below, was added to the 17th century timeline in October 2008. I came across the painting for the first time while tracking down another [...]

Earliest Depiction of Black Trombonist?

Detail, The Engagement of St. Ursula and Prince Etherius

Today I added a color version of the below image, along with a nice detail of the musicians, to the 16th century timeline. An apt example of the trombone in the wind band tradition (alta ensemble, waits, pifferi, Stadtpfeifer), it is one of only a small handful of trombone paintings from late 15th/early 16th century, [...]