G bass trombone (Boosey & Company, ca. 1923) next to a ordinary tenor trombone for comparison / from eBay auction

The trombone is among the oldest instruments still used in European and American music, but several varieties have a much shorter history. The soprano trombone first appeared in the early to middle 18th century and has been used primarily in the Moravian tradition. The G bass trombone apparently dates only from the early 19th century. It was used only in British music (including colonial holdings such as Australia)—and it lasted barely into the last quarter of the 20th century.

Michael Praetorius’ description trombones in his Syntagma musicum (1619) includes among others the Rechte gemeine Posaun (ordinary, or tenor trombone) and the Quart-Posaun (bass trombone, a trombone pitched a fourth lower than the tenor). The fourth remains the most common relationship of tenor to bass to this day. The modern tenor trombone is in B-flat, so the most common long bass trombone is in F, although we’re likely to call it a contrabass trombone today.

An inventory of instruments from Stuttgart in 1589 mentions Terz-Pusonen, pitched a third lower than the tenor. In other words, they stood in the same relationship to the tenor trombone as a bass trombone in G. Ordinarily at that time, trombonists used crooks to lower the basic pitch of their instruments, but apparently the Stuttgart court preferred to have longer ones made instead. They are outliers, however. Apparently, no one made anything comparable for more than two centuries. Continue reading →