The trombone evolved in the early 15th century. In the late 14th century the medieval trumpet had its straight shape folded into the curves of an S, and this shape suggested an instrument that became known as the trombone. The instrument has a cup-shaped mouthpiece attached to a cylindrical length of tubing that expands toward a flared bell. As with other brass instruments, the sound is produced by a vibrating column of air through the mouthpiece into the instrument's coiled tubing. Unlike the modern trumpet or French horn, which have valves that produce different notes, the trombone has a long U-shaped slide that the player manipulates to produce a wide range of pitches.
Early trombones were regularly used in groups with trumpets, where they were the lowest voice in the instrumental consort. A tradition of music for these instruments continued into the 17th century, when music for trumpets and trombones or cornets and sackbuts, to refer to their earlier names was internationally popular with such eminent composers as Giovanni Gabrieli, Heinrich Schutz, and Henry Purcell. In the 18th century the trombone was often used for coloristic effects suggestive of menace or majesty. Mozart offers examples of such writing in his 'Requiem' and in his opera 'Don Giovanni'. In the 19th and 20th centuries the trombone is used primarily as an orchestral instrument. Virtuoso passages for trombone occur in Berlioz's 'Symphonie Fantastique', in Wagner's 'Der Ring des Niebelungen', and in Dimitri Shostakovich's 'Symphony No. 5'.
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This page created by Malaika Wainwright '01
