1414-18—Konstanz, Germany

At the Council of Constance, as a preliminary to the investiture of Frederick of Nuremberg as Elector of Brandenburg, all the Posaunen and all the Pfeiffen parade through the streets of the city (Galpin, The Sackbut). At the same council, an English delegation under Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, arrives with 3 trombonists (pusauner) and 4 shawmists; the trombonists “played in three parts, one above the other, as one usually sings” (Strohm 108; Whitwell, Before 263). In addition, the Pope arrives with an ensemble of shawms and trombones playing in “wild discord” (Whitwell, Before 81). As with the other references to trombone (or posaune) up until around the middle of the 15th century, these references may be to a single-slide instrument (i.e., slide trumpet) rather than a double-slide instrument like the modern trombone.