1877—London, England

Ebenezer Prout, soon to become professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music and later Guildhall School of Music, writes the following about alto trombone in his text, Instrumentation: “Formerly a soprano trombone seems to have been known, as we find it indicated in some of Bach’s scores. It is now, however, entirely obsolete; and even the alto trombone is not employed in France, though in this country and in Germany it is frequently to be met with in the orchestra. THE ALTO TROMBONE is in the key of E-flat—i.e., the natural sounds produced by the difference of embouchure when playing with the slide closed for part of the harmonic series of that key….Three trombones are usually employed in the orchestra: in England and Germany, an alto, a tenor, and a bass; and in France, three tenor trombones. If a student bear this fact in mind he will see the reason for the difference in the treatment of the instruments which he will find in French scores (e.g., those of Auber or Hérod), as compared with those of German masters.” (Prout, Instrumentation 87-88). Regarding notation and clef of the trombone family, he mentions several different practices, while concluding that “many give a separate line to each instrument, and write each with its proper clef” (Prout, Instrumentation 88).