1781—Vienna, Austria

Mozart’s Idomeneo utilizes trombones in the famous oracle scene, accompanying the offstage voice of Neptune (Act III Scene 10). Mozart had written to his father, “The accompaniment to the subterranean voice consists of five instruments only, that is, three trombones and two French horns, which are placed in the same quarter as that from which the voice proceeds. At this point the whole orchestra is silent” (Anderson, Letters 703). This orchestration apparently led to a disagreement with Count Seeau, intendant of the court opera at Mannheim, about the extra expense of including trombones; Mozart writes, “In addition to many other minor rows with Count Seeau I have had a desperate fight with him about the trombones. I call it a desperate fight, because I had to be rude to him, or I should never have got my way” (Anderson, Letters 706). Interestingly, there is a version in which perhaps Mozart does not get his way: a Munich performing score includes only pairs of horns, clarinets, and bassoons, with no trombones (McClelland, Ombra 79).