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

[Phil Brink]

Except Haydn wrote a pedal B flat for his "bass" trombone! Wha'?

Phil Brink
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Cather" <John at CatherMusic.com>
To: <trombone-l at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 1:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Trombone-l trombones and choral music


> 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
> 
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