Earliest trombone solos

[LeTromboniste]

I often get asked when the first solo piece for trombone was written. A lot of trombonists do not know about these and on modern trombone when we want to play baroque pieces, we tend to borrow cello or bassoon repertoire (Telemann, Marcello, Bach, etc), but here are the actual first two solo pieces that specifically call for the trombone. Often quoted as the first solo trombone piece is Giovanni Martino Cesare's La Hieronyma from his 1621 Musical Melodie. But one year earlier in 1620, we get a set of diminutions "alla bastarda" for violone or (bass) trombone on Orlando di Lasso's Susanne un jour in Francesco Rognoni's Selva de varii passaggi.

I would like to strongly encourage any trombonist to try out these pieces, and for teachers to start assigning them to their students. It is after all our very own repertoire!

Here's my own freshly-releases recording of the Rognoni:



And here is Matthijs van der Moolen's beautiful recording of the Cesare:

[BGuttman]

Maximilien, the first video does not play on my computer. I get a flash of the title and then a "Video unavailable". Is it limited to EU?

[OneTon]

Both videos played on my iPhone at 6:04 AM GMT.

[BGuttman]

Played for me this time. Very impressive playing on the Rognoni.

One thing: in very early music the assignment of parts was very fluid. I remember a Marini piece where he simply specifies something like "2 treble instruments and one bass instrument" so a solo was not limited to bassoon or cello (viola da gamba back then) but could be played by anybody.

[LeTromboniste]

Played for me this time. Very impressive playing on the Rognoni.

One thing: in very early music the assignment of parts was very fluid. I remember a Marini piece where he simply specifies something like "2 treble instruments and one bass instrument" so a solo was not limited to bassoon or cello (viola da gamba back then) but could be played by anybody.

Exactly. Those were certainly not the first solo pieces to have been played by trombonists. There are earlier diminutions pieces that are perfectly well suited for trombone, and of course that's not counting diminutions pieces improvised by the players. Vocal solos started appearing from 1602 and could very well be played instrumentally. But those solo pieces by Rognoni (diminutions) and Cesare (composed) are the first that specifically indicate "Trombone" (although indeed also here as one of two or more options – "Violone" just means any large bass bowed string instrument). The Rognoni is particularly difficult and virtuosic, which shows that some trombonists of the time must have been very good, and one can only assume they must have played any number of less difficult solos before playing something that elaborate.

[LeTromboniste]

By the way, modern transcriptions of those two pieces are newly available for free on IMSLP.

Susana:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Susana_d%27Orlan ... Francesco)

La Hieronyma:
https://imslp.org/wiki/La_Hieronyma_(Ce ... i_Martino)

[Kbiggs]

Thank you, Maximillien! Beautiful engraving!

[HowardW]

By the way, modern transcriptions of those two pieces are newly available for free on IMSLP.

Susana:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Susana_d%27Orlan ... Francesco)

La Hieronyma:
https://imslp.org/wiki/La_Hieronyma_(Ce ... i_Martino)

It looks like La Hieronyma was engraved by a viola player -- Who else would put a measure number on the first bar?

H

[LeTromboniste]

By the way, modern transcriptions of those two pieces are newly available for free on IMSLP.

Susana:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Susana_d%27Orlan ... Francesco)

La Hieronyma:
https://imslp.org/wiki/La_Hieronyma_(Ce ... i_Martino)

It looks like La Hieronyma was engraved by a viola player -- Who else would put a measure number on the first bar?

H

That engraving is by one of our colleagues who is very much a trombonist. I didn't ask so I can't say what his reasoning was for putting a measure number on the first bar, but I suspect he might have wanted to make sure people don't assume the incipit is counted in the measure numbers (which is the case in way too many editions...)


The Susana edition is mine. Before someone remarks on that, the bars are wonky (starts with a half bar and has a couple bars that are 50% longer somewhere) because I wanted the barring to match that of the old London pro musica edition in case someone plays from my edition but the accompanist has the other, or vice versa.

[AtomicClock]

incipit

Thanks. Now I can avoid looking ignorant by asking why those measures were repeated.

[HornboneandVocals]

incipit

Thanks. Now I can avoid looking ignorant by asking why those measures were repeated.

I still don’t understand. Is it like an anacrusis?

[sungfw]

Thanks. Now I can avoid looking ignorant by asking why those measures were repeated.

I still don’t understand. Is it like an anacrusis?

No. Look at the transcription of La Hieronyma linked above. The difference should be self-explanatory.

[LeTromboniste]

Thanks. Now I can avoid looking ignorant by asking why those measures were repeated.

I still don’t understand. Is it like an anacrusis?

This incipit is not a part of the piece, it shows what the original notation was. In this case the only difference is the clef of the trombone part, but it would also make it clear if the edition was transposed, or if the note values were halved, for example.

[elainechat]

Thanks for sharing those historical pieces and clarifying about the earliest soli for trombone. It's fascinating to learn about our instrument's origins. I can see why specifying trombone would have been important for the Rognoni in particular, given its virtuosic nature.