Ophicleide History and Images

I recently came across two humorous ophicleide images from 19th century France (1847 and 1862, below) while doing some trombone history research. The ophicleide, by the way, is a fellow low brass instrument–a 19th century invention that is considered a predecessor to the modern tuba. An extension of the keyed bugle into the bass register, it looks something like a cross between a bari sax, a keyed bugle, and a tuba. Below are the two images I recently found, as well as several other images and entries that include ophicleide from the Trombone History Timeline. My personal favorite of all the ophicleide images is probably the one by French painter Fernand Pelez, an artist known for depicting characters from Paris’s everyday life (see 1888; notice especially the detail of the musicians). As always, full citations for sources can be found in the Trombone History Bibliography.

1842—Mannheim, Germany: Berlioz, on a tour of Germany, visits Mannheim, where he is forced to change his program because of the orchestra’s trombones. In his Memoirs he says, “I remember only that I wanted to give my second symphony (Harold) complete but that at the first rehearsal I had to suppress the finale (the Orgy) because the trombones were manifestly unequal to it.” A valve trombone is also adapted as a substitute for ophicleide: “There is no ophicleide; Lachner [the regular conductor] had attempted to devise a substitute for this instrument, which is used in all modern scores, by having a valve trombone made with a compass extending to bottom C or B. In my opinion it would have been simpler to send for an ophicleide and much better from the musical point of view, as the two instruments have little in common” (Berlioz-Cairns 288).

1842—Leipzig, Germany: Berlioz, on a tour of Germany, visits Liepzig. He reports in his Memoirs that “the ophicleide, or rather the meager brass object masquerading under that name, bore no resemblance to the French variety, having practically no tone,” so it was “replaced, after a fashion, by a fourth trombone” (Berlioz-Cairns 300).

1843—France: A depiction of a theatre orchestra includes a prominently-positioned dragon-bell trombone (buccin). The image is printed in “La Parodie de la Vestale,” Chants et Chansons Populaires de la France II, 1843 (see below image; public domain) (London, British Library; Remnant, Musical Instruments of the West 216).

1843—Berlin, Germany: Hector Berlioz visits Berlin, where he hears 2 bass trombones in the opera orchestra. Complaining that there are none in Paris, he says, “Parisian musicians refuse to play an instrument that is so tiring to the chest. Prussian lungs are evidently more robust than ours.” He is not, however, impressed with the balance of the trombone section there; he reports: “Their combined volume of tone is so great as to obliterate the alto and tenor trombones playing the two upper parts. The aggressive tone of one bass trombone would be enough to upset the balance of the three trombone parts as written by composers nowadays. But there being no ophicleide at the Berlin Opera, they give the part to a second bass trombone. The effect of having two of these formidable instruments one above the other (the ophicleide part being frequently written an octave below the third trombone) is disastrous. You hear nothing but the bottom line; even the trumpets are all but drowned. When I came to give my concerts I found that the bass trombone was much too prominent—although in the symphonies I was using only one—and had to ask the player to sit so that the bell of the instrument was facing into his stand, which acted as a sort of mute, while the alto and tenor trombonists stood up to play with their bells pointing over the top of their stands. Only in this way could all three parts be heard” (Macdonald 213).

1844—Boston, Massachusetts: Simon Knaebel publishes brass quartet arrangements for 2 bugles in B-flat, trombone, and ophicleide in Keith’s Collection of Instrumental Music (Dudgeon, Keyed Bugle 173).

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).

1844—France: Another illustration by J. J. Grandville in Un autre Monde depicts a Concert of Steam (Concert a la vapeur) in response to a prediction about steam changing the world. Included in the “steam orchestra” is a trombone (see below image; public domain) (Fromrich 133).

1847—Paris, France: Eugene-Hippolyte Forest’s satirical print, The Conservatoire, Classe d’Ophicléide, is published in Paris Musical. The subtitle reads “Court of the Tiny Ones–Section of the Prodigies” (see below image; public domain) (Fromrich, 139).

1849—London: England: A Promenade Concerte, one of 40 satirical drawings from Richard Doyle’s Manners and Customs of Ye Englyshe in 1849, depicts a large orchestra that includes trombone (see below image; public domain) (Doyle pl. 40).

1853—London, England: H.G. Hine’s The Waits at Seven Dials portrays a group of “Christmas waits” or street musicians, including a trombonist. After the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, there were no more official waits as funded by British municipalities, but ad hoc musicians would often form at Christmas time in hopes of raising money (see below image; public domain) (Illustrated London News, December 1853).

1858—London, England: An illustration of the band of the French National Guard published in London’s Illustrated Times includes trombone (see below image; public domain).

c. 1860—Peru: Artist Pancho Fierro depicts a trombonist performing with a wind band for a Peruvian wedding celebration in Fiesta de Matrimonio (see below detail and full image below; public domain) (Lavalle 38).

1860—England: An early photograph of the famous Besses o’ th’ Barn band shows 2 trombonists among an ensemble of primarily brass instruments (see below image) (Baines, Brass pl. XIV).

1862—France: Consequence of the Tax on Pianos, a print by satirist Amédée-Charles-Henri de Noe, aka Cham, is printed in Journal pour rire (see below image; public domain) (Fromrich 150).

c. 1870—Carl Bernhard Schloesser’s Une Repetition General depicts a lively band rehearsal, probably set in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel. A mixture of young and old players are represented, the trombonist taking a break to refresh himself (see below lithograph by Thielly after Schloesser; public domain).

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).

1872—London, England: A humorous depiction of an ensemble titled German Band is published in The Graphic, an illustrated weekly newspaper (see below image; public domain).

1877—Artist Jules Worms depicts an ensemble of musicians with animal heads for the cover the piano score of La Lutte Artistique (The Artistic Struggle), a quadrille by E. Marie. The trombonist has what appears to be the head of a rooster. The conductor, of course, is represented by a monkey (see below image; public domain) (source: Library of Congress).

1888—Paris, France: Fernand Pelez’s Grimaces and Misery depicts poor circus workers situated on a platform, including a group of three seated musicians (see below detail and full image beneath; public domain) (Musée du Petit Palais, Paris).

1889—London, England: Author George Bernard Shaw, in his music criticism column, comments on his family exposure to trombone: “I believe that a taste for brass instruments is hereditary. My father destroyed domestic peace by immoderate indulgence in the trombone; my uncle played the ophicleide—very nicely, I must admit—for years, and then perished by his own hand. Some day I shall buy a trombone myself.”

c. 1895—Rome, Italy: Spanish painter José Gallegos y Arnosa (1857-1917) depicts the ophicleide as a member of a small sacred ensemble accompanying a young boy’s chorus in two paintings, Choir Practice and Chorus (see below images; public domain). For a print based on these paintings, see here.

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).