[Trombone-l] Berlioz, Beethoven

[Howard Weiner]

At 08:15 04.01.2008 -0500, Walter Barrett wrote:

>Howard would know better than I if the bell flare/general design used
>slightly later in Beethoven's time was any different than the one in
>my photo.

The bell design probably wound't have been much different, since the 
function of the trombone hadn't really changed all that much. In 
Beethoven's time the trombone was still very much a church instrument 
in Vienna; its appearances in the opera and concert orchestras were 
still rather sporadic.

The change in function and bell design probably occurred with the 
trombone's introduction into the military bands in the 1820s. As far 
as I can see, this is an area that has not yet been very well researched.

>At any rate, unless the strings all change to gut strings, and the
>trumpets and horns use valveless instruments, I don't think we can be
>faulted too much for using either an alto or tenor.

At least on this side of the Atlantic there are meanwhile quite a few 
period-instrument orchestras, orchestras in which the alto/tenor 
trombone question should be discussed -- whether or not that actually 
happens is another matter. When all is said and done, however, the 
most important thing is that the part is played correctly and with a 
beautiful sound, regardless of the instrument.

>  This is not to say
>that our modern performances shouldn't be informed by what the
>practice was in the composer's day. Anything that we can come up
>with , here in 2008, with regards to authentic sound of the late
>1700's, is only at best, our educated guess.

No argument from me!

Howard


--
Howard Weiner
h.weiner at online.de
http://howard-weiner.de/

Tosca jumped to a conclusion.