Trombone

A Brief History of the Trombone   

The Trombone, with its telescopic slide is the most distinctive member of the orchestral brass section. Invented in the mid 15th Century as an answer to the demands of late 14th and early 15th century composers who were increasingly writing for low pitches the first trombones were a development of the large S-shaped trumpets that were being built by Flemish makers for the Burgundian court. The instrument's first name was the trompette-saicqueboute (the "push-pull" trumpet). Different countries abbreviated this descriptive name in varous ways: in England it was called the sackbut (first recorded in 1470). in Italy the trombone and in Germany the posaune. Early trombones were used mainly in church music, and did not become a conventional part of the orchestra until the late 18th century. The first classical composer to score for the trombone regularly was Beethoven, who used it for the first time in his Fifth Symphony in 1808.

Today the trombone is made with one of three bores: France prefers a narrow bore, Engalnd a medium and the United States and Germany a wide bore. The wider the bore the warmer and richer the sound.