accepted practices of instrumeny NBA selection at the time the composi tions were written. When the instruments were not specifica in the score, the choice was bas fon three considerations: (1) 1 style of the composition; (2) the ‘occasion for whieh it was to be performed: and (3) the clef oi each part, They were also doubtedly governed by the avail, bility of quality performers, It should be remembered that composers moved clefs freely the staff (especially C clefs) Earl Dunn Contributing Editor Irvin L Wagner holds a B.A. degree from McPherson College and M.A. and order to write notes no more thn QndViewPres. Alan Drake | 2. grees fom the Easoman ater ES choo! of Muste where he was a pupil | one ledger line beyond the limits Prat Pres. Milinm Moody | o/ “Emory Remington. ‘Dr. Wagner | of the fiveline staff. Early tn PSeeTress, Maxine Lefever | Cirventy is on the faculty atthe Unt- | Sicians were well schooled fo Purdue Hands, Lafayette, lok ATT | versity of Otlohoma reading all clefs. Tromboni freely played from alto, ten baritone, and bass clefs. Accord Trombone Ensemble Music tirteFoctsut'yiarnes i cum, 1619), Tact fone can see) how far approxi ‘mately every voice may ascend or The purpose of this article is to eal attention to some early en~ In 1539 four comets and four ‘ately gvery vee may atcend Semble music for uombenes and Kombones alone i choi of SSE agit to provide some basic informa. Tiy4ots 5 teal peered be’ properly used on each par tion about the representative com- ding vo Duke Cosimo 1. In 1565, The Fantasy by Stoltzer, there posltions. It is especially pert. in'fonnecton Wid anciher wed. fore can be atid co ce ort ent at this time, for many educa- ding, a marae. mere bya composition for trombones b: tors are finding that small ensem- a eae eae ek tes cause the five-parts are original! bles provide a unique opportunity dwt trombones, ie 1567 ar'a all in the bass clef. In addition for instrumentalists to improve carnival honoring the baptism of the style is certainly conducis. their individual performing aklls ince" Francesios daughter tora revlormance by’ teombone Sete ate ae vay emg econ eee ea ca ee a ‘of the major performing organiza- ella chorus and. then repeated Tonorum Melodiae which is a col tions. The Hist is not necessarily 7365 Stews adart moet wer Ietion of fivevole instrament complete, but it does contain most performed by an ensemble of eight fantasies encompassing the churci OF they works known tothe mle," ls athe: modes Ths work tn these teat ect) ieee . below) from the renaissance and fast le, and. a jerpsichort —podorian mode. A’ comment b Baroque were originally written tion of Music, by Thurston Dart) Praetorius, again from the Syr for ensembles of trombones. epreM ane Mere Ie seems quite clear that the The firt two pieces in my list this point eee oR Yeh sakescre eee eae pee a ICL aT lees et hal Widely used brass instruments trombones. However, they certain- Such large and Tow bass instru. Inall'ensemble music during the iycanbejustiied as ongial works el 2 pammery,basoons fstypi periods) ef (compention: “\(orrthe etrament inreigh ise «geht ead Opmomete eee, eee rete estes ensrais The Exondl Dens also contint elraetsen seal Fantasy (5 parts) Thomas Stoltzer Robert King Music Co, | BO instructions pertaining to i Exaudi Deus (7 parts) Giovanni Gabrieli Manuscript ee a ery “Chorus of Spirits” Claudio Monteverdi Manuscript ee ee oneal erates are even to be used in its perto Fim, Absalom (4 parts) Heinrich Schutz Barenreter mance. However, at St. Mark (vocal solo) Cathedral in Venice (under the Attendite, Popule Meus Heinrich Schutz Barenreiter supervision of Gabrieli), voices (vocal s010)(4 parts) and instruments were combined Cancona (8 parts) Tibwrtio Massaino Robert King Music in the performance of choral mu sic, the instruments merely dou’ Pavana (5 parts) Moritz von Hessen Ensemble Publications Canzona (4 parts) Biagio Marini Ensemble Publications | ling the vocal lines. Consequenty. Sonata (4 parts) Daniel Speer Ensemble Publications ause of these _performan practices and the practice of imlikely instruments used in its performances. Furthermore, is likely that the lower two parts never sung but rather per- ed by bass trombones because tessitura is very low (many Cs and occasional low BB's.) ‘The Exaudi Deus is then a typi- example of a Venetian motet ‘which instruments would have with the voices in perfor- It is a seven-part composi- and only tenor, baritone, and 5s clefs are utilized. Trombones, fore, were the instruments ubtedly used, and one could ably stretch the point enough say that a current performance this composition by trombones might resemble the early ymbonists in a room by them= Ives rehearsing their parts be- joining the total performing 1p. TThe first significant opera for hich the music is still available produced in 1607—Orfeo by teverdi.. Among the many as- for which it is historically ficant is the remarkable use the orchestra, There is an im- ng list of some 40 instruments the front of the score, the use which Monteverdi apparently sted in order to better convey of the dramatic situations. did not include an actual part each instrument, but at many es he did give specific instruc- about the instrumentation ‘Among the instruments included the list is a quartet of trom- es, and itis assumed that they yyed at various times throughout opera. However, it is. signi- unt to note that in one chorus everdi actually specified ‘trombones to double the vocal . This occurs in the third We specialize in locating the Fight person for the right job. May we help YOU? Lutton Music Personnel Service, Inc. (64 ast Jockaon Blvd, Chicago illinots 60608 (312) HA7.1279 act after Orfeo has arrived in Hades and a chorus of infernal spirits sing. The five trombones reinforce the voice parts, It might be pointed out here that Monteverdi's use of an ensemble ‘of trombones had its precedent set in the intermedios of the 16th century, where they frequently were used in Olympian, battle, and infernal scenes. Heinrich Schiitz, a German com- poser born 100 years before Bach, carried many of the practices of the Venetian School back to Ger- many after studying with Gabriel: ‘Among the most notable of these practices was the use of instru- ments in connection with vocal music. As with Gabrieli, one of the instruments for which parts were frequently specified was the trombone. In Schiitz’s Symphoniae Sacre, which is a set of compositions for instruments and voices, he includes two works which make use of four trombones, Fili mi, Absalom and Attendite, Popule ‘Meus. These compositions demon- strate the further development of the use of trombones, for the parts in these works are no longer merely vocal reinforcement, but inde- pendent lines complete in them selves. At various points in the compositions, short sections (called sinfonias) are also written for trombones. brass The last four compositions on the list are all original instrumental ensemble works in which trom- bones were specified. The Canzona by Massaino was published in Venice in 1608. Pavana, by von Hessen, was probably published at about the same time. The Can- zona by Marini, quite virtuosic in style, was published as Op. 8, No. 3 in 1626. Sonata by Speer is fan example of “ four trombones. Through the compositions dis- cussed in this article and many additional compositions from other periods, it is hoped by the writer that an interest in trombone en- sembles will continue to flourish, Special attention in the whole matter should be given to Emory Remington, distinguished — pro- fessor of trombone at the Eastman ‘School of Music, for his contri- bution to quality performances of trombone ensemble literature and subsequent stimulation of com- posers and scholars in making ‘more music available for this medium. For those individuals who have little knowledge of the music available for trombone ensembles, it would be helpful to obtain copies of the catalogs from such publishers as: Robert King Music Co., North Easton, Massa- chusetts and Ensemble Publica- tions, Box 98, Bidwell Station, Buffalo, New York. . music TRB. SOLOS west, weiss TRB, TRIOS unstable, schein TRB. QUARTETS lammerbach, scheidt, schein byrd, praetorius: BRASS SEXTET bela bartok DUETS J.s. bach, dilasso, collection BRASS TRIO krueger BRASS QUARTETS anonymous, byrd famaby, dorsey FR. HORN QUARTETS byrd, anonymous For free complete catalogue, write to: Ms PUBLICATIONS 1507 North Park Street Chicago, I ois 60610 uct on samara 8