It all depends on which "big boys" you're talking about. Even in some of those operas you mentioned trombone players sit around and hear everybody else make the piece while they count TACETs. They only play in 2 out of 5 acts of Orfeo (and let's not split hairs over whether or not the opening toccata is part of the first act), 30 seconds or so in Idomoneo, and a few places near the end of Don Giovanni. They are entirely absent from so much of the standard operatic, symphonic, and concerto literature. Lotsa "big boy" stuff with no 'bones at all.
ajr > 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/ > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
