Is the Baroque trombone insignificant? Analysis of historical accounts suggests that there is at least some evidence for this claim, but is it really true? Many types of instruments get their fair share of criticism, and sometimes fall into obscurity, but this doesn’t mean they completely fade from view.
During the Baroque Era, which lasted from the early seventeenth through the mid-eighteenth centuries, the trombone had still not yet evolved into its modern form. In retrospect, the instrument is often known as the “sackbut,” despite the fact that the both terms “trombone” and “sackbut” were often used along with many other names during the time period depending on the region. For example, Italy knew the instrument as the “trombone,” while it was called the “Posaun” in Germany, and the “sackbut” along with several variations of spelling and pronunciation in Britain and other areas. For the sake of this paper, the instrument shall be referred to as the trombone. This instrument might seem insignificant when examining the Baroque era of music due to its design flaws, its association with older styles of music, and its temporary decline in popularity in several areas around Europe during the era. However, the trombone had certain advancements compared to other slide-brass instruments up to that time such as the slide trumpet. There were still pieces written that demanded trombone as well, which were in styles characteristic of the Baroque era, including during the supposed “decline” period. This renders the claim to its insignificance inaccurate.
The pre-modern trombone came in many sizes, but there were four that were mainly used. These included the alto, tenor, bass, and contrabass trombones. Surely the trombone must have been an insignificant, miniscule piece of Baroque instrumental history, though? It did have many design flaws compared to the modern trombone and other instruments. It had a smaller bell, which caused the instrument to produce less resonance than today’s models. It was also front-heavy due to a lack of a counterweight on the rear side of the horn. This made the slide require more finger support to prevent it from falling off and made maneuvering the slide complicated. The slide movement itself was also clumsy and prone to jamming or sticking. Many of these instruments also had only four viable positions. This contradicted many pieces’ demands for agile slide movement, and made note accuracy, intonation, and chromatic playing more complicated. It did not even have a tuning slide, and the 1st position Bb often involved pushing the slide out “approximately two finger lengths.”
The pre-modern trombone did have some advantages over the slide trumpet, though. This mainly had to do with the trombone’s double slide. The slide trumpet at the time could not easily execute large changes in intervals in between notes, whereas the double slide of the trombone made this more convenient for instrumentalists. It also still held a prominent place in some orchestras such as St. Mark’s Orchestra in Venice, Italy, the Hofkapelle Orchestra in Vienna, Austria, and even in Mexico City’s cathedral, which continued to use the instrument until at least 1760. Handel wanted “every species of instrument that was capable of producing grand effects in a great orchestra, and spacious building” and is seen as being a contributing actor in reviving the trombone’s popularity in England in the mid-eighteenth century.
The trombone was often compared to other brass instruments at the time such as the trumpet and cornet, whose players often received preferential treatment by the aristocratic classes. In 1713, Johan Mattheson stated that the “most magnificent-sounding trombone…is a type of trumpet…There are large and small trombones, namely: small alto, large alto, tenor or large quart, and bass trombone, which can form a full choir by themselves, but are used very rarely, except in church pieces and solemn music.” Knowing that the Baroque era fostered some composers that greatly innovated new secular styles of music such as the opera and updated older styles such as the madrigal, this claim frames the trombone as old-fashioned and inferior to the slide trumpet at the very least. There were trombonists widely employed in cathedrals and chapels such as Durham in Britain, San Petronio in Bologna, Italy, and St. Mark’s in Venice. Bach’s “Cantata No. 21” used trombones to double vocal lines. The cantata was very often considered a church and sacred genre during the Baroque period, fitting Mattheson’s claim that the trombone was mostly used for the church. This makes it seem out of touch with the time period’s secular musical innovations. However, the cantata was still an innovative genre even within sacred music for the Baroque period. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo also made use of the trombone, but it was mostly in the underworld scenes, which could fit the claim that it was also mostly used for solemn music. This was done despite the opera being another innovative style in this era.
It did not help matters that both the popularity of the trombone and the supply of trombonists declined from the late seventeenth through the mid-eighteenth centuries. Trevor Herbert and John Wallace’s Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments indicates that the reason for this is “often attributed to the new preference for balanced sonorities of homogeneous instrumental groups.” The clumsy intonation that resulted from the trombone’s design might have contributed to the notion that it did not balance with other instruments in orchestras. In some places it was seen as a commoner instrument at best. In 1671, the court trumpeters in Altenberg, Germany filed a complaint against the trombonists and other civic musicians for imitating the sound of the trumpet on their instruments. This is backed up by Germany’s government document The Confirmation of Imperial Privileges from 1658, which permits trumpets only to be used for royalty, or “the Emperor, Kings, Electoral and Imperial princes, counts and lords of knightly rank, and similar persons of quality.” Instrumentalists that were not trumpeters were not even allowed to imitate the sound of the trumpet. The city fathers in Altenberg did defend the civic musicians saying that they “used their instruments, such as trombones, cornetts, also violins [and] viola, according to the music, as well as they could in all places for celebrations, weddings, and other honorable gatherings.”
Although trombonists still thrived to a considerable degree in places such as Vienna, Germany, and temporarily in Rome, other places suffered from dwindling membership of trombonists in ensembles. St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice had 4 trombonists on its payroll from 1701-1706, but has only 1 trombonist on its orchestra’s payroll from 1709-1732. England went especially dormant, the instrument declining in supply and demand since the restoration and the monarchy in 1660. They were probably used in the restoration coronation, but their use declined in years following. In 1676’s An English Dictionary, the term “sackbut” was defined as “a drawing trumpet” and the term “trombone” was not even listed, further confirming Johan Mattheson’s assertion. Even so by the 1760s, A New and complete dictionary of arts and sciences describes the trombone in its “sackbut” entry as “a sort of trumpet.” It was evident that by the turn of the century, very few people knew what the term “trombone” even meant in England. Durham was probably the “last provincial cathedral to continue the practice of using cornets and sackbuts to double or otherwise complement vocal lines.” The trombone did not even start to make a major comeback until later in the eighteenth century, and a lack of supply of trombonists still persisted despite this renewal.
A closer look at the history finds that there was still inclusion of trombone parts and even physical presence of trombonists in orchestras and many pieces during the period of decline, especially in Vienna, Germany, and certain areas in Italy. From 1702-1711, the Hofkapelle Orchestra maintained five trombonists on its payroll except for 1708 when it had four. Mattheson may have made that statement aforementioned, yet in the same year, Francesco Magini published a collection of sonatas entitled Sonate di Francesco Magini per il Campidoglio. Seven of the sonatas were scored for four trombones: an alto, two tenors, and a bass. From 1687 to 1708, Arcangelo Corelli conducted at least five oratorios that included the trombone. The sonata and oratorio were both innovative styles of music from the Baroque era written for both secular and sacred settings, and their tone was not necessarily solemn. The opera was also another style in which the trombone received considerable attention. During the era of the trombone’s supposed “decline,” Antonio Caldara composed Joaz in 1726 which has an aria titled “Cosi a fiume” with an alto trombone obbligato. This aria was neither solemn nor a sacred piece. Despite some critical cynicism and a temporarily weak supply, the trombone endured the Baroque period.
Despite its association with antiquated practices, its design flaws, and the period of unpopularity of trombone and low supply of trombonists, this was balanced out by its technical advantages, the inclusion of trombone parts in modern styles such as sonatas and operas throughout the time period. The trombone would go on to experience an update in design that corrected these design flaws and has continuing relevance to today.
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Herbert, Trevor and John Wallace. The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments.
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