1859—London, England

Charles Mandel, Professor at the Royal Military School of Music, discusses alto trombone in his Treatise on the Instrumentation of Military Bands. Although he describes altos in E-flat, E, and F, as well as offering position charts for each, he comments that “at the present time, instead of an alto, tenor, and bass trombone, three tenor trombones are employed…” (Mandel 65). Later he mentions that “[the alto] is superseded by valved alt-horns, or by the tenor trombone; while, again, the bass trombone, being too troublesome, is replaced by the bass valved instruments, or the tenor trombone” (Mandel 67). However, he concludes with his own unique proposal of  a section of different sizes of trombones in relatively close keys: “For my own part, therefore, I should be inclined to employ the three trombones, with a slight difference of key; choosing the first in C or D flat, the second in B flat, and the third as tenor-bass, supported by a bass trombone, on which some of the bass notes might be doubled by means of the lower octave (Mandel 68).*