Trombones differ from all other brasswind instruments in that they are non-transposing, and, therefore, render the notes as they are written. The compass of the instrument is two octaves and a sixth.
“The timbre of the trombone,” writes Lavignac, “is majestic and imposing. It is sufficiently powerful to dominate a whole Orchestra. It produces above all things the impression of power, a power superhuman. For the loudest passages there is no instrument more stately, noble, imposing; but it can also become terrible, or, even terrific, if the composer has so decreed; and terrific also in the softest passages. It is mournful and full of dismay. Sometimes it has the serenity of the organ. It can, also, according to the shades of meaning, become fierce, or satanic; but still with undiminished grandeur and majesty. It is a superb instrument of lofty dramatic power, which should be reserved for great occasions; when properly introduced, its effect is overwhelming.”
Mozart understood this reserve. In Don Giovanni, for instance, he kept them out of the Orchestra until the scene with the statue. They come in, therefore, in a climax, a terrific and solemn voice from the lower regions calling Don Giovanni to his doom. Mozart also used them very impressively for the March of the priests and to accompany Sarastro, the high priest, in The Magic Flute.
Beethoven gave the trombones much to do in the Ninth Symphony, where they begin in the Trio of the Scherzo. Schubert uses them strikingly in his Symphony in C; and Schumann in the Finale of his First Symphony and also in his Manfred Overture.
Berlioz made a great use of this instrument. He said: “The trombone in my opinion is the true chief of that race of wind instruments which I distinguish as epic instruments. It possesses, in an eminent degree, both nobleness and grandeur. It has all the deep and powerful accents of high musical poetry from the religious accent, calm and imposing, to the wild clamors of the orgy. The composer can make it chant like a choir of priests, threaten, lament, ring a funeral knell, raise a hymn of glory, break forth into frantic cries, or sound a dread flourish to awaken the dead, or to doom the living.”
As a rule there are three tenor trombones in the Orchestra, but no alto, nor bass.
TROMBONE, SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK
R. Van der Elst