Trombone
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 [...]
I just added another image to the 19th century timeline (2nd half), another depiction of a wedding celebration that includes trombone (c. 1885, shown below). Wedding celebrations constitute a fairly common theme in trombone history, with a total of 14 related images spread throughout the Trombone History Timeline. They’re shown together below. The bulk of [...]
Added another image to the 19th century timeline. This one, a print from France’s L’Illustration, features a buccin, or trombone with a bell in the shape of a dragon head (see 1873, below). The instrument apparently saw its creation and heyday in the 19th century (1st half, 2nd half), fizzling out in the 20th century. Kind [...]
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 [...]
Added the below image and caption to the 20th Century Timeline. The artist spent the bulk of his career in Paris, so the depiction is as likely to be a French trombonist as a Spanish one. c. 1901—Spanish artist and writer Santiago Rusiñol i Prats (1861-1930) draws a series of musicians, including a valve trombonist [...]
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, [...]