1897—London, England

Ebenezer Prout writes about alto trombone in his treatise, The Orchestra. His discussion is similar to his text, Instrumentation, from 20 years earlier, the main difference being his inclusion of Italy with France as places where alto is not in use. “Though the tenor trombone, of which we have been speaking, is the only one to be found in the orchestras of France and Italy, two other varieties are employed in this country and in Germany. These are the alto and the bass trombone. Except in pitch, they exactly resemble the tenor trombone, and will therefore need no lengthened description. The ALTO TROMBONE is a perfect fourth higher than the tenor, its fundamental note, with the slide closed, being E flat. The pedal notes of this instrument have never, so far as we know, been employed. Its tone, though somewhat less powerful than that of the tenor trombone, is also brighter, especially in its upper notes. Its compass is from [A] to [E flat] [notates on staves] with all the intermediate semitones; but its lower notes are of inferior quality, and are, besides, not needed, as they lie in the medium of the tenor trombone. Its upper notes, on the other hand, are far superior to the same notes on the tenor, and it is to be regretted that the instrument is not always to be found in our orchestras” (Prout, Orchestra 223-4). He later reiterates regional differences: “In the enormous majority of cases three trombones are employed in the orchestra. In France and Italy, as mentioned above, these are three tenor trombones, in England and Germany, either alto, tenor, and bass or two tenors and bass.” (Prout, Orchestra 225). Finally, he comments on notation: “There is no instrument in the orchestra as to which there is so much diversity of practice, as regards notation, as the trombone. In one respect it differs from all the brass instruments hitherto treated; it is always written at its real pitch, as a non-transposing instrument. The older masters mostly gave a separate staff to each trombone, using the alto, tenor, and bass clefs (Mozart: ‘Don Giovanni,’ second finale; Beethoven: Finale of symphony in C minor, Mass in D, &c.). In modern scores two staves are more frequently employed, the alto and tenor trombones being written on the one and the bass trombone on the other. Either the alto or tenor clef is used for the two upper trombones, the former being the more common, probably because fewer leger [sic] lines are required if the part for the alto trombone lies high. If there are two tenor trombones, instead of an alto and a tenor, the tenor clef is of course adopted. Examples of this will be seen in Wagner’s later scores, though he sometimes, when the parts lie low, writes all the trombones in the F clef (e.g. in the Prelude to ‘Tristan und Isolde’)” (Prout, Orchestra 225).