1619—Wolfenbüttel, Germany

In his Syntagma Musicum II, Michael Praetorius calls the trombone (posaun) the “wind instrument par excellence in concerted music of any kind.” He continues, “A skilled player can play at will in all sorts of keys through tones and semitones, and can go beyond the compass in either direction; not only by inserting and extracting the crook (called cromette) and the other extension-piece (polette), but also by practiced control of embouchure and wind-pressure, without using the slide at all.” Praetorius uses the term posaun, but lists the following additional terms for the instrument: trombone, tuba ductilis, tuba oblonga, trombetta (Praetorius-Crookes II 44; Praetorius II 35).