Ken Shifrin: The Alto Trombone in the Orchestra: 1800-2000

Part II: 'The Alto Trombone is Rarer Than it Was':1

Determining the Type of Instrument used as First Trombone by Bruckner, Brahms and Dvořák.2

Introduction

Thus during the second half of the nineteenth century, the alto trombone had all but vanished from the orchestras in France, Italy and England. As their military counterparts3 had done previously, orchestral composers increasingly abandoned the alto and replaced it with the tenor trombone – 'le meilleur de tous sans contredit4 – inevitably bowing to the advice given by Praetorius more than two centuries earlier: 'Alt-Posaune, die Harmonie in solchem kleinem Corpore nicht so gut, als wenn auf der rechten gemeinen Posaune'.5 Led by Wagner's example, even the composers of Germany and the Austrian Monarchy, 'the former guardians of the traditional [ATB] trio' 6 would abandon the alto.

Of all the major orchestral composers who wrote for the trombone, the works of Bruckner, Brahms and Dvořák are the most perplexing with regard to whether the alto or tenor instrument was intended for the first part. Scholarly editions and modern publications are often misleading; today's experts are frequently inconsistent and contradictory. To a certain degree this is due to ambiguity on the part of music authorities contemporaneous with these composers, perhaps owing to the fact that this was a period of great flux, with divergent performance practice often dependent on locale. For example, whereas both Kastner (c.1840) and Adolph Marx (1847) concur that the alto was a commonplace fixture in German orchestras,7 the latter adds that the tenor trombone would replace the alto 'in the foreseeable future'.8 In 1850 Lobe stated that the orchestral trombone section could include either an alto or tenor on the first part.9 In 1863, although Gevaert informs us that the alto trombone 'est peu usité hors l'Allemagne',10 he is unclear whether German composers were still writing for the alto at that time.

On the other hand, around 1880 Ludwig Bussler reported that 'die Alt-Posaune findet sich noch in den meisten deutschen Orchestern'.11 According to Kunitz, 'spätestens von dieser Zeit an begann man jedoch, die Altposaunestimmen, soweit technisch möglich, mit der Tenorposaune auszuführen'.12 Montagu states that in German orchestras in which the alto had been replaced, the trombone section used tenor instruments of three different bore sizes: the narrowest bore was used by the first player, and the second player used a smaller version of the B flat/F used by the third.13 Although first trombone parts originally intended for the alto trombone could be managed on a small-bore tenor, the composer's intention with respect to sound, colour and balance was lost, for it was not so much the tessitura of the first part that demanded the alto but its brighter, lighter sound.

[D]och ist stets zu bedenken, daß diese Stimmen früher in jedem Falle mit der etwas heller und leichter klingenden Altposaune ausgeführt worden sind, und daß die Komponisten diesen Klang bewußt eingesetzt haben... Wenn jedoch das höchste Register der Tenorposaune zur Ausführung der Altposaunenstimme verwendet werden muß, ergibt sich eine Klangwirkung, die mit der Notwendigkeit einer werkgetreuen Wiedergabe nicht vereinbar ist. Die höchsten Töne der Tenorposaune haben das Klangmerkmal einer enormen Spannung und Intensität und lassen erkennen, daß hier der Klang des schweren und ernsten Instrumentes bis in die äußerste Höhe getrieben worden ist, während die gleichhohen Töne der Altposaune selbstverständlicher, freier und auch heller klingen.14

Walter Piston remarked that 'occasionally notes for the alto trombone that are too high to be played on the tenor are most often given to the trumpet',15 and cited the opening of the fourth movement of Schumann's Rhenish Symphony as an example.16 Hausmann agreed, stating that instead of the intended alto trombone 'wird meistens die Tenorposaune – in Ausnahmefälle auch eine F-Ventil Trompete – verwendet'.17 Similarly, Schweitzer wrote that 'in den Mottetenchören die von Bläsern begleitet werden, wird man Sopran- und Alt-posaune wohl am besten durch Flügelhorn ersetzen'.18 However, Del Mar asserted that this was 'absolutely not the case anywhere in Europe'.19 In any event, Kunitz argued that this would be an unsatisfactory solution due to the difference in the sound produced by an instrument with valves as opposed to the slide:

[E]ine Ausführung der Alt- (und auch der Sopran-) posaunenstimmen mit einem Flügelhorn ist natürlich völlig abzulehnen, ebenso wie die Ausführung mit einer Trompete... Zusammenfassend ist nach alledem hierzu folgendes zu sagen: Der Klang der Altposaune entspricht nicht dem Klang der Trompete und ist durch diesen nicht zu ersetzen... [E]ine Klanggleichheit zwischen der hohen Posaune und diesen Instrumenten im übrigen auch infolge der nicht Verschiedenheit der Rohrform, der Mensur und der Bohrung des Mundstückes nicht möglich ist.20

The statements by Piston, Schweitzer and Hausmann seem to indicate that with the ascendancy of the tenor, few trombonists doubled on the alto. Noting that violinists are rarely expected to double on viola, Kunitz maintained that trombonists:

immer mehr von der Altposaune abwandten und ihre Verwendung bisweilen sogar ablehnten, so liegt der Grund hierfür in der steigenden Spezialisierung der Instrumentalisten auf ein bestimmtes Instrument infolge der immer größeren spieltechnischen Anforderungen durch die Komponisten.21

According to Jadassohn, by 1889 'die Altposaune wird immerseltener',22 and 'Man wolle nicht auf drei verschiedene Instrumente, Alt-, Tenor- und Bass-Posaune, rechnen'.23 Frederick Corder concurred, writing with regard to the orchestral trombone section that 'until recently it was supposed to exist in three sizes called Alto, Tenor and Bass',24 and that for all intents and purposes it had become 'the imaginary trombone trio'.25 Finally, in 1900 Felix Weingartner concluded 'daß die Tenorposaune überall an der Stelle der Altposaune getreten ist, die gar nicht mehr vorkommt'.26

A common fallacy in assessing whether the first trombone part in works of these composers was intended for an alto or tenor is the tendency to evaluate the upper register by today's standards. The inherent risk of error has already been demon-strated by Dr Glendening with the first parts by Schubert.27 While there was not complete agreement among authorities during the second half of the nineteenth century as to the recommended range of the tenor trombone, the practical upper-most limit of the instrument was clearly thought to be considerably lower than it is today. We recall Kastner's advice to composers around 1840 that, although 'quelques artistes' were capable of playing notes higher than g, 'même Sib', that:

on ne pas s'en servir parce que d'ordinaire l'exécutant ne serait pas à même de les donner.28

Berlioz wrote in 184429 that it was inadvisable to take the tenor trombone beyond bb', yet he himself had taken the first (tenor) trombone to a b' in the overture Le Carnaval Romain in the same year. In 1847, Marx argued that it was best to write for the tenor trombone between B and g'.'30 Since Wagner had already scored a' for the second trombone in Lohengrin four years earlier, Marx may have been overly cautious – or he may have heard performances in which the players struggled to reach these notes.31 Lobe stated in 1859, somewhat more realistically, that the tenor's range extended from E to as high as d'', 'doch thut man wohl, sie nie höher als bis b zu schreiben'.32 Similarly, Gevaert asserted that 'le trombone ténor donc parcourir toute l'échelle chromatique comprise entre Mi and Sib'.33 Yet almost a decade later Bussler wrote that the orchestral tenor trombone was capable of playing from F to ab' 'in gleichmässigen edelsten Klang'.34 Curiously, he described the dance-band trombonist's range as being from E to bb', but with the 'bevorzugte Lage' (preferred range) of F to g'.35 Very conservatively, Jadassohn judged in 1889 that since:

die hohen Töne der Posaune besser durch die Ventiltrompete, die tiefen durch die Tuba erlangen kann, so wird man gut thun, sich im Satze für die Posaunen auf die Tonreihe vom grossen G (allenfalls auch F) bis zum eingestrichenen a zu beschränken.36

Near the turn of the century, shortly before Strauss would require a d'' in Zarathustra, Kappey cited the tenor's range as Bb to c''.37

In attempting to discern the species of first trombone for which Bruckner, Brahms and Dvořák wrote, it is important to bear in mind that, as Berlioz and Gevaert pointed out, the use of the term 'alto trombone', or the employment of an alto clef in the composer's score is an unreliable indication of his intention. The most dependable and earliest source which can be traced directly to the composer is the first handwritten part. It is also worth recalling the words of Marx, who reaffirmed the statements of Sundelin, Kastner, Berlioz and Gevaert, and whose text Bruckner used as a student:38 'Die Alt-Posaune [ist] in Altschlüssel notiert'.39 In the absence of an erste Abschriftstimme (first hand-copied part), we must turn to the first trombone part from the earliest printed edition and seek out substantiating evidence, if possible, to arrive at an informed judgement.

  1. Algernon Rose, Talks with Bandsmen, London, 1895, p. 113. Return to Article
  2. Dvořák's Bohemia belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy until the dissolution of the Empire at the end of the First World War. Return to Article
  3. According to Curt Sachs, during the mid-1800s military bands replaced the alto with an additional tenor trombone because 'das geringe Mehr an ungebräuchlichen höhen Tönen die Minderwertigkeit seines Klanges nicht rechtfertigt'. ('its few additional upper harmonies did not make up for its inferior tone'.) Curt Sachs, Handbuch der Musikinstrumentenkunde, Leipzig, 1930 p. 298. Return to Article
  4. See n. 1, Chapter 2, p. 51. Return to Article
  5. 'The alto trombone, though agreeable for playing a melody, it is too insignificant in tone for concerted music'.  Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum II, Wolfenbüttel, 1618, p. 31.  Trans. Charles Sanford Terry, Bach's Orchestra, London, 1932, p. 39. Return to Article
  6. Anthony Baines, Brass Instruments: Their History and Development, London, 1976, p. 242. Return to Article
  7. 'En Allemagne, les trois genres de trombones en usage' ('in Germany, the three types of trombone are used'). G. Kastner, Traité Général d'Instrumentation, Paris, 1837, p. 16. 'Drei Arten für Posaune üblich sind' ('three types of trombone are customary'). Adolph Bernard Marx, Die Lehre von der musikalischen Komposition, praktisch pheoretisch part iv, Leipzig, 1847, p. 70. Return to Article
  8. 'abgesehen davon liegt es nahe'. Ibid., p. 70. Return to Article
  9. J.C. Lobe, Lehrbuch der musikalischen Komposition, Leipzig, 1850, pp. 309-10. According to Paul Hawkshaw, Bruckner, in the course of his studies, used texts by Marx and Lobe, most probably Die Lehre von der musikalischen Komposition, praktisch theoretisch and Lehrbuch der musikalischen Komposition respectively. However, 'the degree to which Bruckner used these texts... is a matter for future study'. Paul Hawkshaw, The Manuscript Sources for Anton Bruckner's Linz Works: A study of his Working Methods from 1856 to 1868, PhD dissertation, Columbia University, 1984, p. 101. Return to Article
  10. 'is scarcely used outside Germany'. François Gevaert, Traité Général d'Instrumentation, Paris, 1863, p. 87. Return to Article
  11. 'the alto trombone is still found in most German orchestras'. Ludwig Bussler, Instrumentation und Orchestersatz, Berlin, 1879, p. 263. Return to Article
  12. 'Starting no later than at this time, however, one began to execute the alto trombone parts on the tenor trombone, as far as was technically feasible'. Heinrich Kunitz, Die Instrumentation: ein Handbuch-und- Lehrbuch, 3rd edition, Leipzig, 1970, p. 780. Trans. H. Braunlich. Return to Article
  13. Jeremy Montagu, The World of Romantic and Modern Instruments, Newton Abbot, 1981, p. 104. The third could also have used a bass trombone in F (Anthony Baines, Brass Instruments: their History and Development, London, 1976, p. 245). The classic French narrow-bore designed by Courtois had a bore of 11.4 mm with the bell 'widening' to a mere 15 cm (ibid., p. 243), which was referred to by Bessaraboff as a 'miserable sounding, effeminate pea-shooter' (Chapter 2, n. 167, p. 88).  Baines maintains that up to 1930 the French 'pea shooter' was also played by the first and second trombonist of every British orchestra (ibid., p. 243): indeed, many British brass players contend that narrow bore trombones were still used up until the 1950s. According to Denis Wick, up to the time of the Second World War, the trombones 'which had been in use for at least half a century generally had a very small bore (.450 in.) with bell sizes of about 6.5 in. for the first and second trombones... By the mid-50s the new large-bore trombones were coming into use because, I believe, of their great superiority as instruments, not only their broader sounds.' (Denis Wick, Trombone Technique, second impression (revised), London, 1973, p. 79.) Compared with the French tenor trombones the larger German instruments would have been much heavier and darker-sounding. Hence the origin of the sobriquet 'the dark, German trombone sound' which persists today as something of a misnomer. Return to Article
  14. '[But] one must always keep in mind that these parts formerly were, in each case, performed by the rather brighter and lighter sounding alto trombone, and that the composers knowingly utilised this sound... If the highest register of the tenor trombone has to be used to substitute for performance on the alto trombone, a sound quality is produced which is incompatible with an interpretation that is true to the performance of the work. The highest notes of the tenor trombone have a sound quality of enormous tension and intensity and give the impression that the sound of the heaviest and most serious of instruments has been pushed up into its very highest register, while the equivalent notes of the alto trombone obviously sound freer and also brighter'. Kunitz, op. cit., pp. 785, 619. Return to Article
  15. Walter Piston, Orchestration, London, p. 270. Return to Article
  16. Ibid., p. 270. Return to Article
  17. 'mostly a tenor trombone is used; or, in exceptional circumstances, an F valve-trumpet'. K. Hausmann, 'Die Posaune' in Emil Teuchert and E.W. Haupt, Musik-Instrumentenkunde in Wort und Bild, part iii, Leipzig, 1911, p. 89. Return to Article
  18. 'In the motet choirs that are accompanied by wind instruments it is best to employ the flugel horn in place of the [former] soprano and alto trombones'. A. Schweitzer, J.S. Bach, Leipzig, 1908, p. 796. Return to Article
  19. Norman Del Mar, Anatomy of the Orchestra, London, 1981, p. 298. Return to Article
  20. 'To perform an alto or soprano trombone part on a flugelhorn is of course totally to be rejected, just as much as the rendition on a trumpet... The sound of the alto trombone does not correspond to that of the trumpet and is not to be replaced by it... There cannot be any similarity of sound between the high trombone and these instruments as a result of the difference of the shape of the pipe, the bore, and the bore of the mouthpiece.' Kunitz, op. cit., p. 785. Trans. H. Braunlich. Return to Article
  21. 'increasingly turned away from the alto trombone and have even rejected its use. The cause for this is to be found in the rising specialisation of instrumentalists on a specific instrument because of the constantly rising technical demands from composers'. Ibid., p. 780. Trans. H. Braunlich. Return to Article
  22. 'the alto trombone is becoming rarer and rarer'. Salomon Jadassohn, 'Lehrbuch der Instrumentation', Musikalische Kompositionslehre vol. v., Leipzig, 1889, p. 278. Return to Article
  23. 'one could no longer assume that the trombone section would consist of three different instruments – alto, tenor and bass'. Salamon Jadassohn, Ratschläge und Hinweise für die Instrumentation der Anfänger, Leipzig, 1899, p. 12. Return to Article
  24. Frederick Corder, The Orchestra and How to Write for It, London, 1895, p. 58. Return to Article
  25. Corder, ibid., p. 58. In 1895 Algernon Rose contributed, rather unhelpfully, that 'the alto trombone is rarer than it was'. See note 1 of this introduction. Return to Article
  26. 'that the tenor trombone is used everywhere in place of the alto trombone, which is no longer used at all'. Charles Malherbe and Felix Weingartner (eds) Hector Berlioz Werke vol 1, Leipzig, 1900, p. xii. Notwithstanding, an 1899 brochure from Zimmerman's of Leipzig announced the latest model of Eb alto trombone with the characteristic flared German bell. Also advertised was Robert Kitzer's Schule für Altposaune zum Selbst-Unterricht geignet. Return to Article
  27. See Chapter 1, 'Tessitura, scorewriting and the erste Abschriftstimme'. Return to Article
  28. 'some artists; 'even bb''; 'one should not use them because ordinarly the player would be incapable of playing them'. Kastner, Méthode, p. 54. Return to Article
  29. Berlioz, Grand Traité, p. 200. Return to Article
  30. Marx, Die Lehre, pp. 67-8. Return to Article
  31. It is worth recalling that Praetorius in 1618 stated that although a' was considered the highest note on the trombone, with diligent practice one could learn to play even higher. Praetorius, op. cit., p. 35. Return to Article
  32. 'yet one should never write above bb'' Lobe, op. cit., p. 384. Return to Article
  33. 'the tenor trombone is thus able to cover the entire chromatic scale between E and bb'' Gevaert, Traité Générale, p. 86. Return to Article
  34. 'with the most noble sound equally throughout', Bussler, op. cit., p. 58. Return to Article
  35. Ibid., p. 6. Return to Article
  36. 'the upper register of the trombone is better handled on the valve trumpet, and the low notes can be better reached by the tuba, it is thus best to limit it to the range of G (perhaps F) to a''. Jadassohn, op. cit., p. 277. Return to Article
  37. J.A. Kappey, Military Music – A Story of Wind Instrument Bands, London, 1894, p. 54. Return to Article
  38. See note 9 of this introduction. Return to Article
  39. 'the alto trombone [part] is written in alto clef'. Adolph Bernard Marx, Allgemeine Musiklehre, Leipzig, 1853, p. 167. See also Chapter 1, nn. 114, 117. Return to Article

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