01 July 2008 Last Updated on 31 October 2011 Written by Ken Shifrin

Coda: The Orchestral Alto Trombone in the Twentieth Century

Page 3 of 3

 

Footnotes

  1. Cecil Forsyth, Orchestration, London, 1914, pp. 4-5, 89, 137. However, on p. 135 he appears to make some concession, declaring the instrument merely 'practically obsolete'.
  2. Composed between 1900 and 1901, Gurrelieder was not orchestrated until the years 1910-11. Robin Gregory, The Trombone: The Instrument and its Music, London, 1973, p. 9.
  3. The Vienna Vereinigung Schaffender Tonkünstler put on the first performance under the direction of the composer: O. W. Neighbour, 'Schoenberg' in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, London, 1980, vol. 16, p. 703.
  4. Charles Rosen, Schoenberg, London, 1976, p. 12.
  5. Forsyth's statement would have pre-dated the 1918 première in Budapest, as well as the first issue of the full printed score in 1925 by Universal Edition.
  6. The 'Altenberglieder' were not published until 1966; movements I and II of Drei Orchesterstücke were first performed in 1923; and Berg's revised version was published in 1929 by Universal Edition (the original version has never been published) with the first full performance taking place the following year.
  7. 'The first trombone part was originally written in alto clef. Due to technical reasons, and with the permission of the composer, the first trombone part has been subsequently transposed into tenor clef. The occasional extreme upper register therefore necessitates the employment of either an alto trombone or an Eb bass trumpet.' H. E. Apostel, Alban Berg: Drei Stücke, Op. 6, Neufassung von 1929, Universal Edition, Vienna, 1954.
  8. Claudia Patsch, Copyright Editor, Universal Edition (Vienna), personal interview 20.11.96.
  9. Alban Berg, Wozzeck, Oper in 3 Akten (composed 1926), revised by H. E. Apostel according to the final corrections and amendments left by the composer, Universal Edition, Vienna, 1955, p. viii.
  10. Examples C.5 and C.6 show how these passage can be executed by having the second trombone cover for the alto trombone.
  11. Although Berg's untimely death from an insect bite in 1935 prevented him from completing the orchestration, he was clearly the author of these upper register sections, which occur in the second act. Not only did Berg have 'a complete and very carefully worked out preliminary score for Lulu' (Willi Reich, 'Alban Berg's Lulu', Musical Quarterly 12 (October 1936), p. 401n: trans. M.D. Herter Norton) but, according to George Perle, he had finished the instrumentation through the first 286 bars of Act III scene i (George Perle, 'Berg' in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. ii, p. 537); indeed, the highest passages also occur in Berg's 1934 Lulu Suite.
  12. See Examples C.5 and C.6.
  13. 'in case it is unplayable by the first trombone', autograph score.
  14. 'the first trombone cannot play that high', ibid. See Examples C.2, C.3.
  15. Regina Busch, personal correspondence with the author, 27.8.96.
  16. The original first trombone part (erste Abschriftstimme) is identical to the autograph in this respect.
  17. Similarly, Berg brackets an E in Drei Stücke. However, unlike the Altenberglieder, the note occurs in a context in which the trombonist may prefer to use the alto. In the UE publication of Wozzeck, as mentioned above, notes that are unplayable on the alto trombone are left unbracketed.
  18. See n. 21 in Introduction to Part II, p. 92. In Pfitzner's 1917 opera Palestrina the following solo for tenor trombone appears.
  19. B. Schott's Söhne: If the player finds the highest notes too difficult, it is suggested that the first horn play these notes instead. If alto 'doublers' were commonplace, a more obvious solution would surely have been to score the solo for the alto trombone.
  20. 'Quite generally one has to realize that today no player is exclusively specialising in the alto trombone any more. The alto trombone is, rather, taken over when the need arises by tenor trombonists, at which time they always have to readjust to the alto trombone's shorter distance between positions. The technical demands which are thus put on the trombonists are fittingly highlighted by the fact that only rarely has a player to alternate between violin and viola.' Hans Kunitz, Die Instrumentation: ein Handbuch-und-Lehrbuch, 3rd edition, Leipzig, 1970, p. 794. Translation H. Braunlich.
  21. Norman Del Mar, Anatomy of the Orchestra, London, 1981, pp. 298-99.
  22. Mark Hartman, 'The Use of the Alto Trombone in Symphonic and Operatic Orchestral Literature', DMA thesis, Arizona State University, 1985, p. 48.
  23. 'very softly played'. Mahler, Seventh Symphony, facsimile edition, Book II, Rosbeek Publications, 1995, p. 42.
  24. 'perhaps on the alto trombone'. Ibid.
  25. Today it is unlikely that a professional trombonist would consider this a useful suggestion.
  26. 'to be played on the alto trombone'. These instructions appear in the autograph score (Otto Biba, Director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien Archives, personal correspondence with the author, 23.9.96).
  27. Mark Hartman, op. cit., p. 93.
  28. According to Flandrin, 'notre époque, en son esprit d'art nouveau, a [...] introducé l'abus du trombone;... beaucoup de compositeurs, comptant en obtenir des effects grandioses, n'en tirent que de bruit... souvent, le trombone perd ses effects de grandeur et de son coloris... car la prédominance de la rudesse et de la vulgarité à l'orchestre, et devient bientôt fatigante pour les auditeurs' ('Our age, with its spirit of art nouveau, has introduced the abuse of the trombone... many composers, counting on obtaining grandiose effects, produce only noise... often, the trombone loses its effective grandeur and its colour... because of the predominance of its roughness and vulgarity in the orchestra, it soon becomes fatiguing for the audience.' Flandrin, op. cit., p. 1659). Over a century earlier, John Marsh expressed similar sentiments about trombone playing in general. See John Marsh, Hints to Young Composers of Instrumental Music, London, ca. 1807; reprinted in the Galpin Society Journal 18 (1965), pp. 57-71 and 'Introduction to Part I', n. 23.
  29. Dr Edward Higginbottom's suggestion that Bartók 'may have had the alto's shrillness in mind' (personal correspondence 24.11.98) is highly unlikely given that the four alto trombones are reserved for the warmest, most luxuriant moment of the opera, when Bluebeard's immense wealth is portrayed (the opening of the fifth door). Harshness hardly seems likely to have been the sound Bartók would have been deliberately seeking for this scene. Moreover, it is the alto's upper register which is associated with shrillness. In the register and dynamic in which the alto trombones are written, there would be a tendency to blat – also unsuitable. Bartók's scoring remains open to speculation, as it appears that the altos were used for practical rather than musical reasons.
  30. Schoenberg wrote alto trombone parts that were more technically demanding than the colla voce passages of Bach and Mozart, and indeed far more so than any alto trombone concerto or obbligato. The same can also be said of Berg's Wozzeck.
  31. As late as 1958 Stravinsky lamented the dearth of alto trombonists: 'I wish there were more good players... for the alto trombone'. Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky, London, 1958, p. 30.
  32. In 1925 the Encyclopédie de la Musique et Dictionnaire du Conservatoire stated that 'passé l'ut aigu, le trombone ténor ne s'écrit plus sans danger' ('it is risky to write above c'' for the tenor trombone'. Flandrin, op. cit., p. 1654, n. 12.
  33. 'The trombone glissando is to be executed in the following manner. The eb' as the fundamental [of the octave] is set with the embouchure in first position and the slide is extended and then retracted anew, respectively.' Arnold Schoenberg, Gurrelieder, Universal Edition, Vienna, 1920.
  34. Gregory, op. cit., pp. 109-110.
  35. According to Sluchin, 'Britten presents an example of alto trombone use that culminates in the many functions of the instrument over the past three centuries. The alto trombone doubles vocal lines much as it did in the late eighteenth century... [and] is used soloistically and as a unique colour in the heterogeneous orchestra much like the late nineteenth and twentieth-century composers' music.' (Benny Sluchin, 'The Alto Trombone in the Twentieth Century Orchestra', Brass Bulletin 75 (18 November 1994), pp. 56-7). Britten also introduces timbral innovations such as muted forte passages, pedal tones and sweeping, two-octave 'against the grain' glissandi. In his 1967 work for orchestra and chorus, The Building of the House, the ATB trombones are employed in the traditional Viennese fashion as colla voce accompaniment for the voices. Apparently for marketing purposes, Britten indicated that not only could the first trombone part be played on a tenor trombone, but that the work could be performed without a trombone section. (Benjamin Britten, The Building of the House, op. 79, Overture with or without Chorus, London, Faber Music, 1968.) Other composers who have written for the alto in chamber works include Boulez (Domaine, 1968), H.J. von Bose (Three Songs, 1978), E. Nunes (Musik der Frühe, 1980) and G. Amy (La Variation Ajoutée, 1984). All cited in Sluchin, op. cit., p. 57. Since around 1979 there has been a plethora of concertos written for alto trombone including Robert Hall Lewis's Monophony VIII (Doblinger, 1979), Cesar Bresgen's Konzert für Altposaune und Orchester (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1980), and Soli(solo)Loquy for Alto and Tenor Trombone with Piano by David Uber (Virgo Music, 1987).
  36. Principal Trombonist Jay Friedman of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for example, relates how he now uses the alto far more extensively than he did ten years ago: 'These days I like to use the alto on everything that was written for it'. He has had the Orchestra purchase a set of Glassl alto, tenor and bass trombones for the section. Personal interview, 9.9.96.
  37. Cited in David Mathie's, The Alto Trombone: Current Use and Performance Trends, University of Georgia, DMA, 1993, p. 166.
  38. 'Da dieses Instrument, wie die 3 Singstimmen Alt, Tenor, und Bass gebraucht wird, so ist es geeignet, eine ganz vollstimmige Harmonie hervorzubringen, die um so bestimmtere Effecte erzeugt…': Joseph Fröhlich, Vollständige Theoretische-Pracktische Musikschule, vol. iii, 'Von der Posaune', Bonn, 1811, p. 27. ('Because this instrument is used in three voices, alto, tenor and bass, it is suitable for bringing forth full harmony, which produces such a definite effect..'). Translation Guion, The Trombone, op. cit., p. 95.
  39. Raph Sauer, 'The Alto Trombone in the Symphony Orchestra', ITA Journal 7 (July 1984), p. 41.
  40. Ibid., p. 42.
  41. Cited in Mathie, op. cit., p. 166.
  42. Cited in Hartman, op. cit., p. 102.
  43. Cited in Mathie, op. cit., p. 166.
  44. 'since today classical works are always performed with a stronger complement of strings than during the period of their origin... one must here also point out that today the alto trombone has to be wider than during the pre-classical and classical eras'. Kunitz, op. cit., pp. 619, 781. Trans. H. Braunlich.
  45. Kunitz' estimate of a 13.24mm alto trombone bore 'als Norm' (Kunitz, op. cit., p. 781) appears to be a misprint, as this is nearly the size of some professional large-bore trombones used today. Indeed, Yamaha's 'standard trombone', a medium-bore tenor, measures 12.77mm. Source: Yamaha Trombone Specifications Table 1996.
  46. Cited in Hartman, op. cit., p. 103.
  47. Kevin Price, personal correspondence with the author, 15.11.94.
  48. Among those who advocate this practice are Principal Trombonists Ralph Sauer, Ron Barron, Dennis Smith (Toledo Symphony Orchestra), Bernard Schneider (formerly St Louis Symphony Orchestra), James Olin Jr. (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) and Milt Stevens (National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, DC – all cited in Hartman, op. cit., pp. 106, 86, 109, 107, 104, 111 respectively); Eric Crees (personal correspondence, 30.11.94); M. Wilson (Ulster Symphony Orchestra, personal correspondence, 12.11.94); Chris Mowat (BBC Symphony Orchestra, personal correspondence, 1.12.94); Brian Raby (formerly Welsh National Opera, personal correspondence, 22.11.94); Lance Green (Royal Scottish National Orchestra, personal correspondence, 15.12.94); Chris Houlding (English Northern Philharmonia, personal correspondence, 10.11.94); while Alan Pash (Orchestra of Scottish Opera, personal correspondence, 20.12.94); Dudley Bright (Philharmonia Orchestra, personal correspondence, 20.1.95); Warwick Tyrell (London Philharmonic, personal correspondence, 15.1.95) and Mike Hext (Royal Opera, Covent Garden, personal correspondence, 19.1.95) suggest small equipment be employed by the tenor and bass trombonist in earlier works such as those by Mozart. On the other hand, Jay Friedman and Mike Mulcahey (both Chicago Symphony Orchestra, personal interview, 9.9.96); William Gibson (formerly Boston Symphony Orchestra), Dave Fetter (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) and Robert Boyd (formerly Cleveland Symphony Orchestra – all cited in Hartman, ibid., pp. 99, 94, 89 respectively) and Peter Oram (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, personal correspondence, 31.1.95) are among those who disagree with this practice.
  49. 'It should be noted that the trombones of that time, due to their narrower dimensions, were not so strong as today's and had a brighter sound; since our choirs are decidedly stronger than those in Bach's time, the proportional relationship is maintained.' Albert Schweitzer, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leipzig, 1908, p. 796.

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