[Trombone-l] Trombone-l trombones and choral music

[John Cather]

Interesting, Didn't these composers write for bass trombone that  
played below low F? All of these composers died before an extra valve  
on trombone was in common use. Mozart died long before valves were  
invented. The Haydn Creation is the only one I remember that hits low  
D and C. Haydn certainly didn't have valves on his trombones, so he  
had at least an F bass for this.  But for the others, so far as I can  
remember, a Bb would have been an easier choice. As to exactly what  
instrument these composers wrote for on any given piece, I don't know  
of a definitive source. We have definitive sources on what instrument  
s were in common use in certain areas like the G-bass in England. I  
personally think .547 bore tenors used on most of these composers is  
more appropriate than the monster .562 modern bass- cannon we like to  
use now. Also much smaller instruments for tenor and alto.

my2cents.
John Cather

> Howard,
>
> The point I'm making is regardless of what the instruments are  
> labeled, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert were all writing for  
> the same Bb instrument, which is a tenor bass, not a true bass  
> trombone.  I still refer to the part affectionately as bass  
> trombone because that is my instrument in the orchestra, and even  
> though I try to have a lighter, more delicate tonal concept when I  
> play pieces by these composers I play them on my .562 bore (tenor)  
> bass.  I know some bass trombonists who prefer to play pieces by  
> these composers on .547 large bore tenors.
>
> I understood the original question to be if pieces like the  
> Schubert Mass in G would have used trombones to accompany the  
> choir, so I was also considering his masses in Ab and Eb, which do  
> have trombones.  All I'm saying is that there would not have been a  
> section of trombones playing written orchestral parts while another  
> section of trombones accompanied the choral parts.
>
> Clearly, whether or not there are orchestral parts written,  
> trombones could be and were used to accompany voices, just not two  
> sections doing both at the same time.  Perhaps I read too much into  
> the question and should not have considered pieces that already  
> have parts written for trombones.
>
> James