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…
music in art
Trombone History: 17th Century Ensemble
Added the image below to the 17th Century (first half) timeline. Seems like the trombone’s always in the back…(see also here). 1600s—Italy: An anonymous Italian painting portrays an instrumental ensemble with diverse dress and a mixed grouping of winds, strings,…
Trombone History: Trombone with 16th Century Wind Band
Added color version of Pinturicchio’s fresco (see below) to the 16th Century Trombone History Timeline. The painting provides one of the earliest examples of trombone iconography showing the instrument in a wind band setting (called pifferi in Italy). The color version…
Trombone History: 18th Century Image
Found a really striking painting today by Felice Torelli and posted it in the 18th Century Trombone History Timeline. I have not seen this painting in any of the standard trombone or brass sources. As I note in an earlier…
Big Brass Brain
On October 24th I’ll be premiering a work at the Bowling Green New Music Festival with trombonist Bill Mathis. The piece, by BYU composer Steven Ricks, is called “Force of the Mind,” and is written for 2 trombones and electronics….
Trombone History: Two 17th Century Images
Below are two new 17th century images, one a painting and the other a print. The painting, shown here only in a detail of one portion of the work, has been attributed to Sebastian Vranckx and Jan Brueghel the Younger…
Trombone History: Trombone in Mixed Consort
Added the below image and caption to the 16th Century Timeline. One never knows how literal these depictions are, but the artist groups together an interesting combination of instruments. Another consort performs at a table in the background. c. 1585—Italy:…
Trombone History: Trombone in Peruvian Procession
After a lot of searching, I found a much better reproduction of the Peruvian painting shown below (public domain; Wuffarden pl. 14). The trombonist is on the far left in the larger image. In this reproduction you can see the…
Trombone History: New World Trombone Angels
Added the below image and caption to the 16th Century Trombone Timeline. Not only is it an unusual visual depiction from relatively early in trombone history (1550-1556), but it is from the New World. There is another image in the…
Trombone Underfoot: A Possible 17th-Century Alto Trombone Image
Added the below images and caption to the Alto Trombone Timeline. It’s quite a beautiful painting. The other instruments “underfoot” are a shawm and a recorder. The trombone appears to be an alto, given its size relative to the things…