Added another article, Top 20 Brass Trios, to HubPages. It is basically a list I draw from as coordinator of brass chamber music at BYU. As I note in the article, I generally steer students toward forming into quintets, but that’s not always logistically possible, and trios are a good alternative. There are more and more nice works for trio, as you’ll see in the article.
Brass Trio List
August 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
List of Standard Brass Quintet Repertoire
July 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Recently added another article, Top 50 Brass Quintets, to Hub Pages. The list is a starting point that I use in coaching brass chamber music at the college level. It’s not comprehensive by any means, but it provides college quintets an idea of some of the standard literature.
Circus Musicians: At Least They Have a Gig!
February 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I recently added a painting, Fernand Pelez’s Grimaces and Misery, to the 19th century timeline (2nd half). Dating from 1888, it is an exact contemporary of Georges Seurat’s Parade de cirque (which I’ve also included below). Although there are obvious stylistic differences, the similarities in subject matter of the two paintings have been noted by art historians. It is interesting (from my viewpoint, at least) that both depictions include trombonists. The musicians are situated on opposites sides of the platform in two the paintings, with a trombonist replacing a clown in the center of Seurat’s image. They all look pretty gloomy. Art historian Robert Herbert, discussing these two paintings, explains, “The clown and the parade stand not for pure joy, but for the contrast between joy and sorrow, between the entertainer’s act and the reality of life behind the mask” (Herbert, Seurat 152). The musicians in Pelez’s painting are more intensely downtrodden—but as my wife remarked, “At least they have a gig!”
Detail from Pelez, Grimaces and Misery
Pelez, Grimaces and Misery
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 above detail and full image; public domain) (Musée du Petit Palais, Paris).
Seurat, Parade de Cirque
1888—Paris, France: Georges Seurat depicts a circus trombonist in Parade de cirque (see above image; public domain). In contemporary photographs the circus that Seurat portrays, identified as the popular Cirque Corvi, reveals a trombone hanging from a pillar near its entryway. Advertisement posters of the time depict a clown standing on the central pedestal occupied by the trombonist in Seurat’s painting (Herbert, Seurat 137-143). An exact contemporary of Seurat’s work is seen in Fernand Pelez’s Grimaces and Misery, which depicts a similar scene, this time with two clowns on the central pedestal and three musicians, a clarinetist, trombonist, and ophecleidist, seated to the right of center (Herbert, Seurat 152).
One more thing might be worth noting. As trombone images move from the intensely religious, particularly in the 17th century (1st half, 2nd half), to the many humorous depictions of the 19th century (2nd half), the association of trombones with clowns begins to take shape. It can be seen not only in the above two paintings, but in images such as the the Anquetin lithograph (below), the “Old Virginia” cover (below), and, later, even in solos like the famous Berio Sequenza V (1966).
Anquetin, Marguerite Dufay, 1899
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Cover of Old Virginia, 1899
Trombone History: Bruckner and the Trombone
November 30, 2009 By 2 Comments
Added the below new entries to the 19th century timeline (2nd half) on Bruckner’s use of trombone with voices from Mary Rasmussen’s “A Bibliography of Choral Music with Trombone Ensemble Accompaniment, as Compiled from Eleven Selected Sources” Brass Quarterly 5 (Spring 1962), 109-113.
c. 1850—Anton Bruckner’s Psalm CXIV calls for 5 voices and 3 trombones. In addition, a manuscript fragment labeled Missa pro Quadragesima indicates a separate work scored for voices, organ, and trombones (Rasmussen, A Bibliography of Choral Music).
1854—Anton Bruckner’s Libera is scored for 5 voices, 3 trombones, and organ (Rasmussen, A Bibliography of Choral Music).
1861—Anton Bruckner’s Offertorium is scored for voices, 3 trombones, and organ (Rasmussen, A Bibliography of Choral Music).
1868—Anton Bruckner’s Inveni David is scored for men’s voices and 4 trombones (Rasmussen, A Bibliography of Choral Music).
1884—Anton Bruckner’s Christus factus est calls for 6 voices and trombones (Rasmussen, A Bibliography of Choral Music).
Trombone History: Mini-Bibliography
November 2, 2009 By 1 Comment
Where to start? Writing a trombone history paper and want to know where to begin? Below is a condensed bibliography listing some good introductory sources. The first category contains books on trombone (or brass in general), while the second contains a sampling of sources that are not trombone-specific, but are nonetheless rich in material about the history of the trombone.
TROMBONE-SPECIFIC SOURCES
Baines, Anthony. Brass Instruments: Their History and Development. New York: Dover Publications, 1993.
An old classic, originally published in 1976, that still features a good deal of useful information on all the brass instruments, including trombone.
Baines, Anthony. “Trombone,” in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 2001.
Encyclopedia article, written by Anthony Baines and revised by Myers and Herbert, containing a fairly large amount of useful information about the history of the trombone. Traditionally a common launching point for research on the trombone.
Carter, Stewart, ed. Perspectives in Brass Scholarship: Proceedings of the International Historic Brass Symposium, 1995. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1998.
A compilation of specialized, well-documented articles dealing with historical issues. Trombone-rich articles include “The Invention of the Slide Principle and the Earliest Trombone” (Polk), “Cornets & Sagbuts: Some Thoughts on the Early Seventeenth-Century English Repertory for Brass” (Duffin), “Georges Kastner on Brass Instruments” (Carter), “The Reconstruction of Nineteenth-Century Band Repertoire” (Herbert), “Trumpets, Cornets, Trombones, and Horns in the St. Petersburg Museum of Musical Instruments” (Koshelev), and others.
Dietrich, Kurt. Jazz ‘Bones: The World of Jazz Trombone. Rottenberg: Advance Music, 2005.
Thoroughly-researched history of jazz trombone, the best of its kind. Appropriately emphasizes major figures, while also including significant detail about lesser-known subjects, such as trombonists in early jazz history.
Guion, David. The Trombone: Its History and Music, 1697-1811. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1988.
Well-documented book that includes extensive quotations from primary sources, including several translations not easily found elsewhere.
Herbert, Trevor and John Wallace, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Like Perspectives in Brass Scholarship (above), this book consists of a number of specialized, thoroughly-referenced articles compiled into a single volume, although this volume includes more material about the recent history of brass instruments. Trombone-rich articles include “‘Sackbut’: the early trombone” (Herbert), “The low brass” (Bevan), “Brass in the modern orchestra” (Wills), “Brass solo and chamber music from 1800″ (Wallace), “Frontiers or byways? Brass instruments in avant-garde music” (Wills), and others.
Herbert, Trevor. The Trombone. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Excellent comprehensive study of the trombone. Only a few years old, it is already considered the instrument’s definitive history.
Naylor, Tom L. The Trumpet & Trombone in Graphic Arts, 1500-1800. Nashville, TN: Brass Press, 1979.
The best single-volume source for trombone iconography (the way the instrument has been portrayed visually throughout history). It should be noted that the images, although there are many, are limited to black and white prints and drawings. Paintings, sculptures, and other visual art are not included, leaving out some of our instrument’s most useful (not to mention beautiful) iconography; see, for example, paintings included in the 17th century timeline.
NON-TROMBONE SOURCES
Bowles, Edmund A. Musical Ensembles in Festival Books, 1500-1800: An Iconographical and Documentary Survey. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1989.
An in-depth study of festival books, records of important celebrations kept by rulers of state and other people of influence. Includes extensive mention and visual representation of trombones, particularly in the first half of the book. Oversized volume usually found in the “quarto” section of the stacks.
D’Accone, Frank A. The Civic Muse: Music and Musicians in Siena during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
As the subtitle of the book indicates, this is a history of music in Siena, Italy, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Written by a leading musicologist, the book features large spans in which trombone is mentioned on virtually every page, brimming with interesting details about the activities of Italian trombonists during the late Medieval and Renaissance eras.
Macdonald, Hugh. Berlioz’s Orchestration Treatise: A Translation and Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Excellent translation of Berlioz’s landmark orchestration treatise with extensive commentary by a prominent Berlioz scholar. Trombone is discussed in several contexts. A great source for information about the Romantic-era trombone in France.
Polk, Keith. German Instrumental Music of the Late Middle Ages. Cambridge, 1992.
A well-researched book that includes significant information about the early history of the trombone, documenting, among other things, the fact that much of the earliest history of the trombone took place in Germany.
Barlow Prize Announced: New Concerto to be Premiered by Joseph Alessi
September 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University has announced Benjamin Ellin as winner of the 2009 Barlow Prize, which includes a $20,000 cash prize and a commission to compose a new concerto for trombone and orchestra. The concerto will be premiered by Joseph Alessi with the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011.
British composer Benjamin Ellin’s recent projects include Tafahum, a concerto for ney and orchestra; a major viola work for Rivka Golani; a harp concerto; and the opera Welcome to Deen. His website can be found here. The official Barlow announcement can be found here.
Webpage Updates
October 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment
November 20, 2008
Trombone History Timeline: Posted an entry from another primary source. This one, an English dictionary titled A New and complete dictionary of arts and sciences, printed in London in 1763-64, is noteworthy because it describes the sackbut, even at this relatively late date, as “a sort of trumpet,” and because it mentions multiple sizes of trombones.
November 19, 2008
•Alto Trombone Timeline: Added an alto trombone entry from an important 17th century primary source, Syntagma Musicum, vol. III (1619), a treatise by Michael Praetorius. Praetorius mentions the alto trombone several times throughout this particular volume, suggesting it for a number of different musical settings.
•Added an entry in both the Trombone History Timeline and the Alto Trombone Timeline on Kresser’s 12 Quatuors (1844), which are scored for either 4 cornets or 3 cornets and alto trombone. This piece is interesting because it is from France, where alto was not as common as it was in other regions, and because the date represents a time period in which the alto trombone is normally said to be in decline.
November 17, 2008
•Trombone History Timeline: Added entries from 2 new primary sources: Francis North’s A philosophical essay of musick (1677) and a record of the coronation of George III from The Royal Magazine or Gentleman’s Monthly Companion (1761). Also added 2 lithographs of Belgian infantry trombonists (1831 and c. 1850), who seemed to favor rear-facing horns (see also Belgian infantry image of 1824). Also of note regarding trombone playing in Belgium during this period are comments by British travelers George Smart (see 1825) and Vincent Novello (see 1829).
November 7, 2008
•Trombone History Timeline: Finished posting works from the “Chronological Overview” of Klaus Winkler’s book, Selbständige instrumentalwerke mit Posaune in Oberitalien von 1590 bis 1650. The sheer number of instrumental pieces (Winkler lists more than 150) scored for trombone from this period and region (upper Italy from 1590 to 1680) is noteworthy. Why is it that one doesn’t hear more about early Baroque music for trombone? Most of us know Gabrieli’s music, for example, but what about all the sonatas of Castello and Buonamente or the canzoni of Banchieri and Picchi? There may be a body of original music we’re not really utilizing.
November 4, 2008
•Got a nice note about the historical parts of the site from Stewart Carter, Executive Editor of the Historic Brass Society Journal. (Added a link to Historic Brass Society under “Organizations” on front page.) He is working on a book on early trombone history, which I’m sure will be excellent. Stay tuned for details!
October 28, 2008
•Trombone History Timeline: Posted color images of The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, an oil painting from 17th century Mexico City by artist José Juárez. The painting depicts several angel-musicians, including an angel playing trombone. The numerous paintings and other entries indicating trombone activity in the region are noteworthy in trombone history because, for whatever reason, most brass historians make little or no mention of the trombone in colonial Latin America.
October 27, 2008
•Trombone History Timeline: Posted image from 18th century from the title page of Hirschberger’s Philomena Cisterciensis (Burghausen, 1743). Almost any trombone activity during this century is of interest, since historians point to this period as one of steep decline for the instrument.
October 24, 2008
•Trombone History Timeline: Posted several 19th century entries on Anton Bruckner, an important composer in the history of the trombone. Examples include his Zwei Aequale for 3 trombones, as well as numerous works for choir and trombones. The source is Keith William Kinder’s The Wind and Wind-Chorus Music of Anton Bruckner.
October 23, 2008:
•Trombone History Timeline and Alto Trombone Timeline: Added two entries about extant instruments from the 19th and early 20th centuries, with photographs used by the gracious permission of Brass Players Museum: www.neillins.com/brass.htm. The alto trombone, manufactured in England in the 1870s, is interesting in that it dates from the time of the supposed decline of the alto and is a valved instrument.
•Updated post about American Brass Quintet mini-residency at BYU. All events are open to the public! All events except the formal concert are free!
October 22, 2008:
•Trombone History Timeline: Posted entries from the 19th century on the career of German trombone virtuoso Carl Queisser, who performed as soloist at Leipzig’s prestigious Gewandhaus a remarkable 26 times–more than many of the era’s most famous instrumental soloists, including Paganini, Liszt, Hummel, and Clara Schumann. In light of the fact that many historians claim that trombone was never a solo instrument until well into the 20th century, the career of this prominent trombone soloist is truly intriguing. A respected music periodical of the time summed up Queisser’s influence thus: “Truly we live in an age of trombones.” Also added to the timeline are entries about trombone soloist Friederich Belcke, who seems to have paved the way for Queisser, as well as a few other soloists who followed Queisser. The information comes from Michael Lewis’s excellent article, “Solo Trombone Performances at the Gewandhaus” (ITA Journal, Summer 1992).
October 20, 2008:
•Added Spanish altarpiece with a young trombone-playing angel, dating from c. 1620-24 to Trombone History Timeline.
October 16, 2008:
•Added several entries about Moravian trombone playing in the 18th century to the Trombone History Timeline.
•Added 2 paintings by Italian artist Lionello Spada that include clear depictions of the trombone in the early 17th century.
October 13, 2008:
•Added newly-released Utah Trombone Authority CD to the Store. Check it out!