Brass Timeline: 17th Century
Brass instruments began to be used more extensively as ensemble instruments. Many of the instruments were used in outdoor performances or as a supportive voice in church choirs. Brass instruments had little use as solo instruments. During this time, brass instruments could play chromatic passages through use of the high overtone series and through the use of stopped notes on horn.
Trombones were regularly employed in a variety of ensembles, such as court and municipal bands, where it was common to combine them with double reed shawms. The sackbut was also used in ensembles where they were to blend with softer instruments or voice to improve projection. A vocal style of playing developed for the trombone that contrasted the period’s fanfare trumpet style.
In order to change the key of a horn allowing for a different pitched partial series, crooks of various lengths needs to be added to the instrument.
Some instrument makers improved the design of the natural valveless trumpet to function better in the upper overtones. The pitch of the instrument was changed by inserting crooks for lower keys and tuning was accomplished by inserting small lengths of tubing to extend the mouthpiece. Music composed for these instruments was written in the upper register where the overtone series are closer together and capable of playing more scale-like passages; this was generally referred to as the clarino register.
c. 1600—Prague, Czech Republic
Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn (Dutch, 1565–1620), Allegory of Music (see below; public domain).
c. 1600-53—Haarlem, The Netherlands
Pieter Fransz de Grebber, The Procession of the Ark of the Covenant. Oil painting on harpsichord lid. See 2 details and full image below.
Lodovico Viadana specifies trombone in a collection of canzoni, Cento concerti ecclesiastici. For example, Canzon Francese in risposta calls for violin, cornett, 2 trombones, and organ (Selfridge-Field, Instrumentation; Collver 72).
Detail from Vasco Pereira Lusitano’s Coroacão da Virgem (Museu Carlos Machado, Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal; source: wikimedia commons). See detail and full image below; public domain.
Portrait of Giovanni Domenico Peri (1564-1639) by Florentine painter. Holding a trumpet and lira da braccio (see below; public domain).
Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, considered by many the first true opera, utilizes trombones, cornettos, and trumpets.
Raverii’s 1608 collection, Canzoni per Sonare con ogni sorte di stromenti, includes Claudio Merulo’s Canzon vigesimaterza a 5 and Canzon decimaottava a 5.
Guido Reni’s Gloria d’angeli, a fresco located in S. Gregorio Magno, Cappella di S. Silvia (Cavalli, pl. 28 and 32; Pepper, pl. 30).
At the wedding celebrations of Archduke Johann Friedrich of Württemberg-Teck and Markgräfin Barbara Sophia of Brandenburg, a trio of trombone, cornetto, and bombard is featured in the Entourage of Young Court Noblemen (see below image; public domain) (Bowles, Musical Ensembles 177). In a separate performance, “As soon as the noble party had arrived at the [court] chapel, there could be heard the trombones, trumpets and kettledrums [along] with two choruses placed opposite each other” (Bowles, Timpani 370). Also in connection with the celebrations, according to records of the time, “There was a completely glorious musical performance, with 20 voices and five ensembles with all kinds of instruments, such as lutes, fiddles, bassoons, dulzians, cornetts, trombones and others” (Bowles, Musical Ensembles 167).
Claudo Monteverdi composes Vespers, which uses brass prominently (particularly cornetto and trombone).
Ottavio Bargnani’s Canzon a5 “sopra la Monica,” from his Secondo libro delle canzoni da suonare, is based on the popular song La Monica.
Wolfgang Kilian, Chorus Musarum. Trombone (posaune) in upper-left, cornett (zink) in upper-right (public domain).
Beschreibung der Reiss, a festival book created to celebrate the 1613 Palatine wedding of Friedrich V to Elizabeth Stuart. Dietrich is shown playing the kettledrum with eight trumpeters in a procession before the Ringelrennen (Heidelberg: Vögelin, 16 / 3), Plate No. 2. Although the illustration is without color, according to the festival book, the trumpeters, playing silver trumpets, are dressed in blue hats with red tips; and blue, red, and yellow cloaks. See below, public domain.
Symphoniae sacrae II, a collection of Giovanni Gabrieli’s works, is published 3 years after his death. Brass are featured prominently. For example, Jubilate Deo is scored for alto voice, tenor voice, 5 trombones, 2 cornetts, and bassoon. Surrexit Christus is scored for alto voice, tenor voice, bass voice, 4 trombones, 2 cornetts, and 2 violins, and features extended instrumental sections (Roche, North Italian 115; Collver 116). Suscipe a 12 calls for 6 voices and 6 trombones (Bartlett, Giovanni Gabrieli: A Guide). Quem vidistis pastores a 14 utilizes 3 trombones (Collver 116).
1616-1668 The Evening, published by Peter Aubrey (1596-1668) (Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum). See below; public domain.
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640), Angel Blowing a Trumpet, Facing Right (see below; public domain). Design for a relief sculpture above the main entrance of the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, now the St. Charles Borromeo Church.
Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) utilizes 3 trombones and 3 cornettos in Concert mit 11 Stimmen, Haus und Güter erbet man von Eltern, which he composes for the wedding of Michael Thomes and Anna Schules (Collver 167).
Christof Angermair’s ivory carving from the coin cabinet of Elizabeth of Lorraine depicts a number of musicians, including a trombonist in the foreground, performing with Pan, the shepherd’s god (see detail and full image below; public domain) (Munich: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung; Salmen, Gartenmusik 75; Hindley 164).
Heinrich Schütz publishes Psalmen Davids, his first major collection of German church works. Many of the works include brass, including prominent trombone parts and obbligato roles (Smallman 35, 37, 42). Herr unser Herrscher and Zion spricht, der Herr hat mich Verlassen both call for 4 trombones, for example, while Ist nicht Ephraim mein theurer Sohn and Wol dem, der den Herren fürchtet call for 3 trombones (Collver 168).
An anonymous ceiling painting in the Heaven Room of Bolsover Castle shows Christ’s ascension, surrounded by angels. The outer circle of angels features angels with several different musical instruments, including trombone (see detail and full image below; public domain) (Drury 25).
Attributed to Nicolas Tournier (1590-1639), Saint-Jean le Baptiste (see below; public domain).
An improvisational treatise by Francesco Rognoni (also called Francesco Rognoni Taeggio), Selva di varii passaggi, includes a setting of Orlando di Lasso’s song, Susanne un jour. Marked “Modo di passegiar il violone over trombone alla bastarda,” it features rapid technical passages to be played on either violone or trombone (Baines, Brass 114; Guion, Short History; Herbert, Trombone 87).
Giovanni Battista Riccio calls for trombone in a collection of canzoni, Il terzo libro delle divine lodi musicali (Selfridge-Field, Instrumentation). Specific examples include Canzon La Fineta, a 2-part work for trombone and violin; Canzon La Savoldi, a 2-part work for trombone and violin; Canzon La Picchi, a 2-part work for trombone and violin; Canzon La Rubina, a 3-part work for 2 violins or cornetts and trombone, and Canzon La Moceniga, a 3-part work for 2 violins and 2 trombones (Winkler 300; Collver 65).
Woodcuts of the various members of the brass family appear in Michael Praetorius’s Sciagraphia, a collection of illustrations appended to Syntagma musicum (Treatise of Music). The trombones pictured include alt or discant posaun (comparable to modern alto), gemeine posaun (comparable to modern tenor), quart- or quint-posaun (bass trombones, fourth and fifth below tenor), and octav posaun (contrabass, an octave below tenor) (see below image; Praetorius II, plate 8; public domain).
c. 1620-24—Wolfenbüttel, Germany
The organ is installed at the Wolfenbüttel Hauptkirche. Paintings located under the organ balcony, which probably date from the same period, include an angel playing trombone (see below image; public domain).
Johann Schein’s, Musica Boscareccia, which contains music of 3 melody lines, specifies the following for the third line: “bass voice or trombone or bassoon or violone” (Dart 128).
Dario Castello, a member of the piffaro (wind band), composes numerous chamber compositions with parts for 1 or 2 trombones, particularly in his Quinta Sonata from Book I (Selfridge-Field, Instrumentation; Wigness 9). Referring to the virtuosic technical demands of the trombone parts in these sonatas, the second edition of Book 1 includes the following note: “He says, in short, that they are the consequence of the new style everyone is observing and hopes that the players will not give up on the first try” (Wigness 10). Specific pieces include Quarta Sonata (No. 47), Quinta Sonata (No. 48), and Sesta Sonata (No. 49), all of which are 2-part works scored for soprano and trombone or violetta, as well as Duodecima Sonata (No. 50), which is a 3-part work scored for 2 violins and trombone or violetta (Winkler 300).
In Munich, Germany, at the Bavarian court, cornettist and trombonist Giulio Martino Cesare writes a collection of 28 instrumental and vocal works called Musicali Melodie. It includes “La Bavara,” for 4 trombones (Whitwell Catalog Baroque 122; Collver 47).
Samuel Scheidt, Ludi Musici.
P.A. Mariani writes “La Guaralda,” for violin, trombone, and continuo, per il Deo Gratias (Carter, in Performer’s Guide, 131; Winkler 300).
Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo’s trompe l’oeil balcony painting in the castle Villa Spinola di San Pietro includes a trombone among numerous other instruments playing from the balcony (see detail and full image below; click to expand; public domain) (Heck, Guitarists in the Balconies).
Giovanni Picchi calls for brass frequently in his collection of sonatas and canzoni titled Canzoni da sonar don ogni sorte d’Instrumenti. Specifically, Canzon Terza is scored for violin and trombone, Sonata Sesta is scored for violin and trombone, Canzon Settimais scored for 2 violins and trombone, Canzon Ottava is scored for 2 violins and trombone, Canzon Decima is scored for 2 flutes and 2 trombones, Canzon Undecima is scored for 2 cornetts and 2 trombones, Canzon Duodecima is scored for 2 violins and 2 trombones, Canzon Decima Terza is scored for 2 cornetts and 2 trombones, Canzon Decima Quarta is scored for 2 violins or cornetts and 4 trombones, Canzon Decima Quinta is scored for 2 violins and 4 trombones, and Sonata Decima Sesta is scored for 2 violins, 2 flutes, trombone, and bassoon (Winkler 301; Selfridge-Field, Instrumentation; Picchi, Canzoni da sonar).
Johann Hermann Schein, Ich will schweigen, a funeral lament.
Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632), Concert in an Interior (Louvre). See below; public domain.
Veronese artist Fra Semplice da Verona includes a depiction of a cherub playing trombone in Infant Jesus and Musical Angels, an image framing a pre-existing Madonna in the Convento del Redentore. Other instruments being played include cornetto, viol, violin, and lute (see detail below; public domain) (Portogruaro, plate 37).
Heinrich Schütz’s collection of works, Symphoniae Sacrae, utilizes trombone extensively, drawing on both the German church tower tradition and Italian polychoral methods. Noteworthy examples include “Fili mi, Absalon” (bass voice accompanied by 4 trombones and organ), and “Attendite, popule meus” (bass voice accompanied by 4 trombones and organ) (Royal College of Music sackbut rep list—both “Fili mi” and “Attendite”). Performance edition available (Musica Rara, Robert King).
Dario Castello, Sonata quarta a 2. Sopran & Trombone overo Violetta (1629).
Numerous works from Biagio Marini’s instrumental collection, Sonate, sinfonie, canzoni, passemezzi…, specify brass: Sonata octava (2 bassoons or bass trombones, bass continuo), Sonata nona (2 bassoons or bass trombones, continuo), Sinfonia terza (2 cornetts, trombone, basso continuo), Sinfonia quarta (2 cornetts, trombone, basso continuo), Canzon terza a 4 (4 trombones or violas), Canzone quarta a 4 (2 violins or cornetts, 2 trombones ad lib, basso continuo), Canzone sesta a 4 (2 cornetts, 2 trombones ad lib, basso continuo), Canzon septima (2 cornetts, basso ad lib, 3 trombones), Canzon octava (2 violins, 4 trombones), Canzon nona (2 violins, viola, 3 trombones), Canzone decima a 6 (2 violins or cornetts, 4 violas or trombones, basso continuo), and Sonata per l’Organo (violin or cornett, trombone ad lib, organ) (Collver 60; Selfridge-Field, Instrumentation; Winkler 301).
An etching from the series Figure con instrumenti musicali e boscarecci by Giovanni Battista Bracelli features a trombone and a serpent (see below image; public domain) (Falletti 107).
Giovanni Battista Bracelli, Musicians (see below; public domain).
Alonso Cano, Angel with the Last Trumpet (see below; public domain).
Marin Mersenne discusses serpent and includes a woodcut of the instrument in his Harmonie universelle (see below image; public domain). Among other comments, he says the following in describing the serpent: “To accompany as many as twenty of the most powerful singers and yet play the softest chamber music with the most delicate grace notes,” “But the true bass of the cornett is performed with the Serpent, so that one can say that one without the other is a body without a soul,” “Even when played by a boy it is sufficient to support the voices of twenty robust monks,” and “It seems that the irregular distance of the holes of the Serpent makes its diapason more difficult than that of the other instruments.”
Giovanni Battista Buonamente uses brass prominently in his collection, Sonate et canzoni a due, tre, quattro, cinque et a sei voci. Specific works include Canzon a 5 for 2 cornetts or violins, 3 trombones, and continuo; Sonata a 5 for violin, cornett, 3 trombones (“trombone contralto, trombone tenor, trombone basso”), and continuo; Sonata a 6 for violin, cornett, 3 trombones (“trombone contralto, trombone tenor, trombone basso”), theorbo, and continuo; Sonata a 6 for 2 cornetts or violins, 4 trombones, and continuo; and Canzon a 6 for 2 violins and 4 trombones (Collver 46; Winkler 302; Allsop 148).
Tobias Michael, director of music at the Thomaskirche, publishes Musicalischer Seelen-Lust ander Theil. *A collection of works for voice and a variety of instruments, it features numerous works that include brass: “Wo der Herr nicht das Haus bauet” (2 trombones), “Wie lieblich sind auff den Bergen” (“trombone grosso”), “Gott schweige doch nicht also”* (single trombone) (Hadden 130).
Claudio Monteverdi, Dixit Dominus.
Johann Vierdanck (c.1605-1646) calls for brass in several works contained in the collection Erster Theil newer Pavanen, Gagliarden, Balletten und Correnten. Highlights include 2 sonatas scored for cornett, 3 trombones, and continuo, as well as a sonata for 2 cornetts and 3 trombones (Collver 72).
Job Adriaensz Berckheyde (Dutch, 1630-1693), Le Boulanger (see below; public domain).
Andreas Hammerschmidt (c. 1611-1675) publishes the collection Vierdter Theil, which calls for trombone extensively. For example, Wer waltzet uns den Stein, Herr höre und sey mir gnädig, Laudate servi Domini, Verleih uns Friede genädiglich, and Alleluia lobet den Herren in seinem Heiligthumb all call for 3 trombones (Collver 119).
Wenceslaus Hollar (Bohemian, 1607-1677), Five Hunting Horns (see below; public domain).
Johann Rosenmüller scores for soprano voice, 2 violas or trombones, violone or trombone, and basso continuo in Lieber Herre Gott (Leonard, The Role of the Trombone…Mid- and Late Seventeenth Century).
Marco Antonio Ferro, lutenist at the court of Emperor Ferdinand III in Vienna, publishes his Sonata a due, tre, e quatro in Venice. The work, comprising 12 ensemble sonatas for strings, specifies alternative scorings, 3 of which include trombone: Sonata 5 for violin, tenore da gamba, viola da gamba or cornetto, trombone, and tiorba; Sonata 8 for 2 violins, violetta da braccio, viola da gamba or 2 cornetti, trombone, and fagotto; Sonata 11 for 2 violins, violetta da braccio, viola da gamba or 2 cornetti, trombone, and bassoon (Winkler 303; Apel, Italian Violin Music 147; Collver 49).
Adriaen van Ostade (Dutch, 1610-c. 1685), Baker (see below; public domain).
Michiel Sweerts or Michael Sweerts (Flemish, 1618-1664), Portrait of a young man playing a hunting horn (see below; public domain).
A painting in the Camaldoli Monastery by an unknown Tuscan artist depicts 2 putti playing trombones (source: Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali). See below; public domain.
Cornelis van Dalen (Flemish, 1638-1664), Neptune Rising from the Sea (see below; public domain).
Germany school/attr. Joachim von Sandrart (1606-1688) or Jan Cossiers (1600–1671), Interior with Musicians /Le Concert]. See below; public domain.
Adam Frans van der Meulen (1632-1690), Horn Player (see below; public domain).
Tapestry fragment (see below; public domain).
Italian composer and organist Massimiliano Neri issues a collection of sonatas, Sonate da sonarsi con varii stromenti, scored for diverse combinations of instruments, including brass. Regarding instrumentation, the collection’s preface mentions that performers may adapt instrumentation “to their taste.” Many of the sonatas may have been intended for the wedding of the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand III (Selfridge-Field, Instrumentation). Sonata 8 is scored for 2 cornetts, bassoon, and 3 trombones; Sonata 11 is scored for 2 violins, viola, 2 cornetts, bassoon, and 3 trombones; Sonata 12 is scored for 5 violins and 5 trombones; and Sonata 14 is scored for 2 cornetts, bassoon, 3 trombones, 2 violins, viola, and tiorba or viola (Collver 63; Winkler 304)
Mattia Preti (Italian, 1613-1699), An Angel Blowing a Trumpet (see below; public domain).
Johann Rosenmüller calls for 3 trombones (or 2 viols and a bassoon) in his Siehe an die Wercke Gottes.
Johann Rosenmüller scores for alto voice, 2 violas or trombones, violone or trombone, and basso continuo in O dives omnium bonarum dapum (Leonard, The Role of the Trombone…Mid- and Late Seventeenth Century).
Johann Rudolph Ahle scores for alto voice, 3 violas or trombones, a violone or trombone, and basso continuo in Jesu dulcis memoria (Leonard, The Role of the Trombone…Mid- and Late Seventeenth Century).
Copper engraving from Constantin Christian Dedekind of Parnassus and the Muses and Poets (see detail and full image below; public domain).
Johann Rudolf Ahle writes “Herr, nun läßt Du Deinen Diener,” from Neu-gepflantzten Thüringischen Lust-Gartens Ander Theil, for bass voice, four trombones, and continuo (Ahle). Performance edition available (Howard Weiner edition, Kagarice Brass Ed.)
Gerrit Dou, Trumpet Player in Front of a Banquet (Louvre). See below; public domain.
Anthonie Palamedesz (Dutch, 1602-1673), An Officer Blowing a Trumpet. See below; public domain.
Jacob Ochtervelt (Dutch, 1634-1682), Trumpet Player (see below; public domain).
Pierre Paul Sevin’s drawing of a performance of a mass for 4 choirs includes a serpent (see far right of image below; public domain) (Marx, The Instrumentation of Handel’s Early Italian Works).
Heinrich Schütz writes his Weihnachtshistorie (Christmas History), which includes a pair of trombones acting as obbligato instruments and specifically representing high priests (Smallman 151).
In Germany, Matthias Weckmann writes a set of 10 instrumental sonatas for the Hamburg Collegium Musicum. All but one of the sonatas designate trombone. All but two of the sonatas are scored for four instruments and continuo. The most common combination in the set is cornettino, violin, trombone, bassoon, and continuo. Alternates are given for many of the parts (Collver 73).
c. 1666–1668—Delft, Netherlands
Johannes Vermeer, The Art of Painting (see detail and full image below; public domain).
In Bohemia, an anonymous sonata for trombone and continuo is written by a monk in St. Thomas monastery. It is considered the earliest known solo composition specified solely for the trombone.
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Sonata “La Carioletta” for cornetto, violin, trombone, and bassoon (Collver 68).
Cornelius Norbertus Gijsbrechts (1657-1683), Trompe l’oeil med Christian Vs udstyr til parforcejagt (see below; public domain).
Athanasius Kircher includes a print and description of the serpent in his treatise, Phonurgia nova (see below image; public domain) (source: European Cultural Heritage Online).
Johann Rosenmüller calls for 3 trombones in Dixit Dominus (Collver 158).
Godfried Schalcken (Dutch, 1643-1706), Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing (see below; public domain).
Frans van Mieris (Dutch, 1635-1681), Ein Trompeter. Bavarian State Painting Collections (see below; public domain).
Antonio Bertali (1605-1669) writes Missa Redemptoris, which utilizes trombones prominently (Collver 90).
Heinrich Biber, Sonata No. 3 for 2 violins, trombone, and continuo (Musica Rara).
Job Adriaenszoon Berckheyde (Dutch, c. 1630–before 1693), The Baker (see below; public domain).
It is probably in Salzburg circa 1685 that Georg Muffat composes his Missa in labore requies, which calls for two separate groups of 3 trombones. The mass is preceded by a sonata that calls for 3 trombones (Collver 141; Brewer, Instrumental Music 285).
Daniel Speer, a former Stadtpfeifer, writes Recens fabricatus labor, oder neugebachene Taffel-Schnitz, which includes two sonatas that call for 2 cornetts, 3 trombones, and continuo (Collver 68).
Willem Van Mieris, Trumpet Player with Companion (source: Bonhams.com). See below; public domain.
The clarino style of trumpet playing reached its peak near the end of the 1600s with solo concertos composed by Guiseppe Torelli, Domenico Gabrielli, and Giacomo Perti. Many of these pieces, along with music by Maurizio Cazzati and other composers associated with the basilica of San Petronio in Balogna, are still performed today.
Francisco Chihuantito’s painting, The Virgin of Monserrat, located in the parochial church of Chichero, Cusco, includes a depiction of a trombonist in a prominent position near the center of the painting. A cornett player stands to the right of the trombonist, while two other similarly-dressed musicians, probably playing shawms, stand behind (Velarde 82; Rosas 384; Pinilla 73).
Polish School, ceiling painting in Kosciót Pokoju w Swidnicy (Church of Peace in Swidnica). The second view includes both trombone and trumpet. See below; public domain.
