Christopher Smith:
Yup, we see it as making us wait 300 years to play with the big boys,
THEN we STILL have to wait until the last freakin' movement when our
chops are nice and stiff from lack of use, THEN he makes the first
trombone enter (first entrance in HISTORY, not just this symphony!)
cold on a high C (almost guaranteed to chip it and embarrass the
entire brotherhood as a result) AND later in the movement he makes him
play a high F (this is test!) just to see if he was paying attention.
To my knowledge, there is no higher note written in the standard
repertoire until late in the 20th century. Talk about your opening
night nerves!
OK, where to start? Trombones had been "playing with the big boys"
since at least the sixteenth century. Just not in a *symphony.* The
first trombone part in this symphony (as in most others through the
end of the 19th century) was an *alto* trombone, for which the high C
is no big deal at all, and the top F was the conventional and
long-standing top note.
Although in the 9th, the voice of God is represented by the men in the
chorus, plus the bass trombone. We trombonists see that as typical
typecasting. 8-)
Yes it is. Trombones had a regular presence in operas, oratorios and
the like for some 200 years before Beethoven, and there they were
almost always used to represent the underworld and the infernal. Famous
examples include Monteverdi's _Orfeo_, Mozart's _Don Giovanni_, and his
_Requiem_. The symbolic use of trombones in this way is still to be
seen today in, e.g., the Requiem of Ligeti. Beethoven's use of
trombones in the 9th, as well as the voices, was a deliberate borrowing
of conventions that his audience would have regarded as religious.
On Jan 19, 2009, at 10:36 PM, <arabu...@cowtown.net> wrote:
Beethoven 5 is usually considered the first appearance in a
symphony of
trombones, contrabassoon, and piccolo. The contrabassoon mostly
doubles
the string bass parts. When my community orchestra played Beethoven
5
years ago the contra was just left out, and not missed.
Again, it is important to understand that the contrabassoon existed and
was used for some 200 years before Beethoven--just not in a symphony.
Handel wrote for it in the original version of his _Royal Fireworks
Music_ for example, and Mozart in his _Masonic Funeral Music_. Prior to
the postromantics, however, the instrument was used with extreme
caution simply to reinforce the bass line at 16', and is almost
inaudible in any of the works that include it. This kind of writing can
be seen (not often heard!) in music as late as Ives' Second Symphony
and Ruggles' _Men and Mountains_. Ironically, the near-inaudible parts
in Beethoven's 9th and his _Missa Solemnis_ are among the most
difficult ever written, and are standard audition fare for
contrabassoonists.
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://www.kallistimusic.com/
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