Trombone
Added the following to the 19th century timeline (2nd half):
1864—Paris, France: Two prints in the illustrated newspaper L’Illustration depict instruments by Adolphe Sax. The first, Audition des nouveaux instruments d’Adolphe Sax, shows a man demonstrating instruments on a stage. The second shows several instruments up close, including a “Nouveau trombone,” the six-valve instrument situated between the two drums (see facing image; public domain) (L’Illustration vol. XLIV, July 16, 1864, p. 48).
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 of a Romantic-era concept. I personally think it would be a real eye-catcher in a marching band. I’ve included all of the other timeline references to the buccin in the listing below, along with the new picture that was posted. Update: I’ve also added, at the very end of this post, an interesting modern performance on a buccin.
The Buccin in Trombone History (References from Trombone Timeline)—
c. 1840—Paris, France: A “buccin trombone” with a dragon-head bell is manufactured. The instrument is now held in the Edinburgh University Collection (Bevan 46).
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—Madrid, Spain: A dragon-bell trombone (buccin) is made by manufacturer José Ramis (Heyde, Metropolitan).
1873—Paris, France: Christmas Eve in a Spanish Church, a print after Miranda appearing in the Paris illustrated newpaper, L’Illustration, features a buccin, or trombone with a bell in the shape of a dragon’s head (see below image; public domain) (L’Illustration, January 4, 1873, pp. 10-11).
1942—Photograph, held in Köln, Germany, of “virtuoso” Paul Kaiser-Reka, playing a “buccin” valve trombone with a dragon-head bell (Kölnisches Stadtmuseum 302).
Below is an interesting video clip of a modern buccin performance. Enjoy!
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
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 (see facing image; public domain; source: wikimedia commons).
Added the below entry to the 18th Century Trombone History Timeline. I think Mr. Rey may have been on to something.
1799—Paris, France: Jean-Baptiste Rey conducts a revival of Gluck’s Armide. Composer C.H. Plantade, armed with a score of the work, notices that various trombone lines have been added in the performance. Plantade then complains in a letter to the Courrier des spectacles, saying, “masterpieces should be left alone.” Rey replies in his own defense that he sees no problem with enjoying “the full sound-potential” of his ensemble (Charlton).
Added the following image and entry to the 19th Century Trombone History Timeline (2nd half):
c. 1883—Paris, France: Jean Beraud’s painting, The Box by the Stalls, offers a view, through a patron’s box seat, of a Parisian orchestra. Included is a clear depiction of a trombone (see facing image; public domain).
Added the following image and its caption to the 19th Century Trombone History Timeline (2nd half). There are two things that are interesting about the print, in my opinion. The first is that the instrument is a rear-facing trombone, which, it turns out, is surprisingly common in 19th century iconography. The second is that it belongs to a group of caricatures or otherwise humorous images from the 19th century that seem to reflect something of a shift in the way people view the trombone (see J.J. Grandville, 1845; Honoré Daumier, 1865; A. Forester, 1896; and the cover of “She was Born in Old Virginia,” 1899).
1871—Paris, France: A lithograph titled A propos de la crise monétaire (“about the currency crisis”) from a series of prints by French caricaturist B. Moloch (B. Colomb) called Les Silhouettes de 1871 depicts a woman playing a rear-facing trombone, along with a well-dressed man wearing a sign asking for pity and donations (see facing image; public domain).
In 1899, Louis Anquetin (1861-1932), a respected anti-Impressionist artist, published this lithograph of trombonist Marguerite Dufay. Part of the “Les Maitre de L’Affiches” series, it portrays a woman categorized among comique excentrique entertainers of the popular Parisian music cafes. Marguerite Dufay is said to have performed throughout Paris at its many music halls. It is not known whether she was also a skilled arm wrestler, although it would appear likely (sources: Charles Hiatt, Picture Posters: A Short History, p. 113; Ervine Metzl, The Poster: Its History and Its Art, p. 50).