1697

Daniel Speer mentions alto trombone along with tenor and bass trombone in his treatise, Vierfaches Musikalisches Kleeblatt. His description and position charts show four diatonically-numbered positions for each member of the trombone family and indicate that, at this time, tenor trombone is probably pitched in A, alto in D, and bass in D (see facing image for Speer’s alto and bass diagrams; public domain). The author provides, along with his trombone description, two 3-part sonatas for trombones (see facing image for first page of first sonata; public domain) (Speer Vierfaches 179-83). In a separate section of the treatise, Speer discusses how to organize music performances in a small town, saying, “Since the middle voices (alto, tenor, and bass) are most commonly played on viols or trombones in the churches, the guild musicians suffer only the slightest disadvantage in their accustomed wages by the students playing these parts, though the guild musicians make many idle complaints” (Speer Vierfaches 204).