c. 1838—Bergamo, Italy

Giovanni Simone Mayr complains about the overuse of trombone in his brief orchestration treatise, Trattatella sopra agli stromenti ed instromentazione: “If in Semiramide the trombone part fills 20 pages; if this strong imposing instrument must, like a second violin, imitate the bass in eighth-notes; if every solo in the ballet must be accompanied by three trombones; then this very instrument has lost every importance, and we can only restore that to it by employing it rarely, and never solely as a means to generate noise. Rather, I would permit one bass trombone to reinforce the bass line, and mark it, since the majestic perfect chord should only appear thus and proceed slowly. Otherwise, how could the spirit of the Commendatore in Don Giovanni speak, [or] how should we make heard the voice of Thanatos to Alceste?” (Mayr 289).