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Trombone

Brass instrument

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Yamaha tenor trombone in B♭, model YSL-891Z. This is a re-crop of File:Yamaha Tenor trombone YSL-891Z.tif made to satisfy criteria for Page Preview card images, for use with Wikipedia trombone article
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The word trombone derives from Italian tromba (trumpet) and -one (a suffix meaning 'large'), so the name means 'large trumpet'. The trombone has a predominantly cylindrical bore like the trumpet, in contrast to the more conical brass instruments like the cornet, the flugelhorn, the baritone, and the euphonium. The two most frequently encountered variants are the tenor trombone and bass trombone; when the word trombone is mentioned alone; it is mostly taken to mean the tenor. These are treated as non-transposing instruments, reading at concert pitch in bass clef, with higher notes sometimes being notated in tenor clef. They are pitched in B♭, an octave below the B♭ trumpet and an octave above the B♭ contrabass tuba. The E♭ alto trombone became less common as improvements in technique extended the upper range of the tenor, but it is regaining popularity for its lighter sonority. In British brass-band music the tenor trombone is treated as a B♭ transposing instrument, written in treble clef, and the alto trombone is written at concert pitch, usually in alto clef.

A person who plays the trombone is called a trombonist or trombone player.

History

Etymology

Trombone comes from the Italian word tromba (trumpet) plus the suffix -one (large), meaning 'large trumpet'.

During the Renaissance, the equivalent English term was sackbut. The word first appears in court records in 1495 as shakbusshe. Shakbusshe is similar to sacabuche, attested in Spain as early as 1478. The French equivalent saqueboute appears in 1466.

The German Posaune, ultimately from Latin būcina, long predates the invention of the slide and could refer to a natural trumpet as late as the early fifteenth century.

Origin

The sackbut appeared in the 15th century and was used extensively across Europe, declining in most places by the mid to late 17th century. It was used in outdoor events, in concert, and in liturgical settings. Its principal role was as the contratenor part in a dance band. It was also used, along with shawms, in bands sponsored by towns and courts. Trumpeters and trombonists were employed in German city-states to stand watch in the city towers and herald the arrival of important people to the city, an activity that signified wealth and strength in 16th-century German cities. These heralding trombonists were often viewed separately from the more skilled trombonists who played in groups such as the alta capella wind ensembles and the first orchestral ensembles, which performed in religious settings such as St Mark's Basilica in Venice in the early 17th century. The 17th-century trombone had slightly smaller dimensions than a modern trombone, with a bell that was more conical and less flared. Modern period performers use the term "sackbut" to distinguish this earlier version of the trombone from the modern instrument.

Composers who wrote for trombone during this period include Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz, Giovanni Gabrieli and his uncle Andrea Gabrieli. The trombone doubled voice parts in sacred works, but there are also solo pieces written for trombone in the early 17th century.

When the sackbut returned to common use in England in the 18th century, Italian music was so influential that the instrument became known by its Italian name, "trombone". Its name remained constant in Italy (trombone) and in Germany (Posaune).

During the later Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel used trombones on a few occasions. Bach called for a tromba di tirarsi, which may have been a form of the closely related slide trumpet, to double the cantus firmus in some liturgical cantatas. He also employed a choir of four trombones to double the chorus in three of his cantatas (BWV 2, BWV 21 and BWV 38). Because of the relative scarcity of trombones, their solo parts were generally interchangeable with other instruments.

Classical period

The construction of the trombone did not change very much between the Baroque and Classical period, but the bell became slightly more flared. Christoph Willibald Gluck was the first major composer to use the trombone in an opera overture, in the opera Alceste (1767). He also used it in the operas Orfeo ed Euridice, Iphigénie en Tauride (1779), and Echo et Narcisse.

Early Classical composers occasionally included concertante movements with alto trombone as a solo instrument in divertimenti and serenades; these movements are often extracted from the multi-movement works and performed as standalone alto trombone concerti. Examples include the Serenade in E♭ (1755) by Leopold Mozart and Divertimento in D major (1764) by Michael Haydn. The earliest known independent trombone concerto is probably the Concerto for Alto trombone and Strings in B♭ (1769) by Johann Georg Albrechtsberger.

Mozart used the trombone in operas (notably in scenes featuring the Commendatore in Don Giovanni) and in sacred music. The prominent solo part in the Tuba Mirum section of his Requiem became a staple audition piece for the instrument. Aside from solo parts, Mozart's orchestration usually features a trio of alto, tenor and bass trombones, doubling the respective voices in the choir. The earliest known symphony featuring a trombone section is Symphony in C minor by Anton Zimmermann. The date is uncertain but it is most probably from the peak of the composer's activity in the 1770s. The earliest confident date for introducing the trombone to the symphony is therefore Zimmermann's death in 1781.

Transition to Romantic period

Symphony in E♭ (1807) by Swedish composer Joachim Nicolas Eggert features an independent trombone part. Ludwig van Beethoven is sometimes mistakenly credited with the trombone's introduction into the orchestra, having used it shortly afterwards in his Symphony No. 5 in C minor (1808), Symphony No. 6 in F major ("Pastoral"), and Symphony No. 9 ("Choral").

Romantic period

19th-century orchestras

Trombones were included in operas, symphonies, and other compositions by Felix Mendelssohn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Hector Berlioz, Franz Berwald, Charles Gounod, Franz Liszt, Gioacchino Rossini, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Giuseppe Verdi, and Richard Wagner, and others.

The trombone trio was combined with one or two cornetts during the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. The replacement of cornetts with oboes and clarinets did not change the trombone's role as a support to the alto, tenor, and bass voices of the chorus (usually in ecclesiastical settings), whose moving harmonic lines were more difficult to pick out than the melodic soprano line. The introduction of trombones into the orchestra allied them more closely with trumpets, and soon a tenor trombone replaced the alto. The Germans and Austrians kept alto trombone somewhat longer than the French, who preferred a section of three tenor trombones until after the Second World War. In other countries, the trio of two tenor trombones and one bass became standard by about the mid-19th century.

Trombonists were employed less by court orchestras and cathedrals, who had been providing the instruments. Military musicians were provided with instruments, and instruments like the long F or E♭ bass trombone remained in military use until around the First World War. Orchestral musicians adopted the tenor trombone, as it could generally play any of the three trombone parts in orchestral scores.

Valve trombones in the mid-19th century did little to alter the make-up of the orchestral trombone section. While its use declined in German and French orchestras, the valve trombone remained popular in some countries, including Italy and Bohemia, almost to the exclusion of the slide instrument. Composers such as Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Bedřich Smetana, and Antonín Dvořák scored for a valve trombone section.

As the ophicleide or the tuba was added to the orchestra during the 19th century, bass trombone parts were scored in a higher register than previously. The bass trombone regained some independence in the early 20th century. Experiments with the trombone section included Richard Wagner's addition of a contrabass trombone in Der Ring des Nibelungen and Gustav Mahler's and Richard Strauss' addition of a second bass trombone to the usual trio of two tenors and one bass. The majority of orchestral works are still scored for the usual mid- to late-19th-century low brass section of two tenor trombones, one bass trombone, and one tuba.

19th-century wind bands

Wind bands began being created during the French Revolution of 1791 and have always included some form of trombones. These instruments became more established in the 19th century and included circus bands, military bands, brass bands (primarily in the United Kingdom), and town bands (primarily in the United States). Some of these, especially military bands in Europe, used rear-facing trombones with the bell pointing behind the player's left shoulder. These bands played a limited repertoire that consisted mainly of orchestral transcriptions, arrangements of popular and patriotic tunes, and feature pieces for soloists (usually cornetists, singers, and violinists). A notable work for wind band is Berlioz's 1840 Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, which uses a trombone solo for the entirety of its second movement. Toward the end of the 19th century, trombone virtuosi began appearing as soloists in American wind bands. Arthur Pryor, who had played in the John Philip Sousa band and eventually formed his own band, was one of the most famous of these 19th century trombonists.

19th-century pedagogy

In the Romantic era, Leipzig became a center of trombone pedagogy, and the instrument was taught at the Musikhochschule founded by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The Paris Conservatory and its yearly exhibition also contributed to trombone education. At the Leipzig academy, Mendelssohn's bass trombonist, Karl Traugott Queisser, was the first in a long line of distinguished professors of the trombone. Several composers wrote works for Queisser, including Mendelssohn's concertmaster Ferdinand David, Ernst Sachse, and Friedrich August Belcke. David wrote his Concertino for Trombone and Orchestra in 1837, and Sachse's solo works remain popular in Germany. Queisser championed and popularized Christian Friedrich Sattler's tenor-bass trombone during the 1840s, leading to its widespread use in orchestras throughout Germany and Austria.

19th-century construction

Sattler had a great influence on trombone design, introducing a significantly larger bore (the most important innovation since the Renaissance), Schlangenverzierungen (snake decorations), the bell garland, and the wide bell flare. These features were widely copied during the 19th century and are still found on German made trombones.

The trombone was improved in the 19th century with the addition of "stockings" at the end of the inner slide to reduce friction, the development of the water key to expel condensation from the horn, and the occasional addition of a valve that was designed to be set in a single position but later became the modern F-valve. The valve trombone appeared around the 1850s shortly after the invention of valves, and was in common use in Italy and Austria in the second half of the century.

Twentieth century

With the rise of recorded music and music schools, orchestral trombone sections around the world began to have a more consistent idea of a standard trombone sound. In the 1940s, British orchestras abandoned the use of small bore tenors and G basses in favor of the American/German choice of large bore tenors and B♭ basses. French orchestras did the same in the 1960s.

Use in jazz

In the 1900s the trombone and the tuba played bass lines and outlined chords to support improvisation by the higher-pitched instruments. It began to be used as a solo instrument during the swing era of the mid-1920s. Jack Teagarden and J. J. Johnson were early trombone soloists.

20th-century construction

The trombone's construction changed in the 20th century. Different materials were used, mouthpiece, bore, and bell dimensions increased, and different mutes and valves were developed. Despite the overall trend towards larger bore instruments, many European trombone makers prefer a slightly smaller bore than their American counterparts.

One of the most significant changes was the development of the F-attachment trigger. Through the mid-20th century there was no need for orchestral trombonists to use instruments with the F attachment trigger. As contemporary composers such as Mahler began to write lower passages for the trombone, the trigger became necessary.

Contemporary use

The trombone can be found in symphony orchestras, concert bands, big bands, marching bands, military bands, brass bands, and brass choirs. In chamber music, it is used in brass quintets, quartets, and trios, and also in trombone groups ranging from trios to choirs. A trombone choir can vary in size from five to twenty or more members. Trombones are also common in swing, jazz, merengue, salsa, R&B, ska, and New Orleans brass bands.

In contemporary experimental music, John Cage's collaboration with Frank Rehak, Solo for sliding trombone (1957/58), and Luciano Berio's Sequenza V (1966) for solo trombone, influenced composers and performers such as Stuart Dempster, Vinko Globokar, and Mike Svoboda. Solo and chamber music compositions in this style may utilize extended techniques, including vocalized, multiphonic, and percussive sounds. The trombone's slide enables the use of microtonality, and modifying the F-attachment can be used to control a second bell or other instruments.

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