Review

David M. Guion
A History of the Trombone: American Wind Band Series No.1

Arranged by Raoul F. Camus


Lanham–Toronto–Plymouth, , United Kingdom
Publisher: The Scarecrow Press
Date of Publication: 2010

251 pages

Primary Genre: Study Material - book

In 1988 David Guion published The Trombone: Its History and Music, 1697-1811, an outgrowth of his dissertation research that quickly became an authoritative linchpin of modern trombone scholarship. Those of us studying our instrument’s history have consulted, cited and appreciated it many times. A History of the Trombone builds upon this work representing 25 plus years of further scholarship poured into journal articles, all ultimately aimed at the creation of a comprehensive trombone history. A history that not only traces the development of our instrument and its repertoire, but one that also examines trombonists and the conditions that shaped their world. A single chronology being inadequate, Dr. Guion organizes his report in several chronologies:

Chapter 1 Overview
Part I: Development of the Instrument
Chapter 2 The Origins of the Trombone
Chapter 3 The Trombone from the U-Slide to the Invention of Valves
Chapter 4 The Valve Era
Part II: Performance History
Chapter 5 Minstrelsy and the Wind Bands of the Late Middle Ages
Chapter 6 The Renaissance Trombone
Chapter 7 The Decline and Revival of the Trombone, 1630-1830
Chapter 8 The Modern Trombone, 1830-2000

The first chapter centers around two chronological charts and several pictures comprising conventional but updated wisdom and represents the most concise, well written short history of the instrument I have seen. In chapter 2 Dr. Guion considers and contrasts established scholarship with later research in iconography, treatises and organology. He cites new evidence calling into question popularly held notions about the origins of the trombone, folded trumpets, slide trumpets and their technical resources, early slides and the etymology of terms describing all this. Several myths are dispelled through logical consideration of new evidence. Chapter 3 surveys old and new organological sources and corrects myths and sources that are just plain wrong. He also draws new conclusions after considering the evidence once again. For example: Praetorius and others depicted Renaissance trombones pitched in ‘A.’ Dr. Guion produces evidence in a way that clearly and convincingly explains this phenomenon:

Why trombone in A? … We need to lay aside our modern assumptions and think diatonically… It seems to have taken almost two centuries before theorists began to explain the trombone as having seven chromatic positions, with the first in B-flat, rather than four diatonic positions with the first in A… Trombone in B-flat and trombone in A are different ways of thinking about the trombone, not different ways of designing or making one. As a physical object, they are the same.

Chapter 4 provides insights into authors of historical trombone related materials, especially authors who shaped our conceptions of the instrument over time. While other histories all comment on the treatises of antiquity, Dr. Guion looks at the reports of more modern authors. For example, the work of musicologist Curt Sachs is evaluated in some detail and conclusions are drawn:

Sachs is a towering figure in musicology, especially in the disciplines of organology, musical iconography and ethnomusicology, but he studied art history for his doctorate. This background gave him a different perspective from other musicologists… Some persistent historical errors in twentieth-century writings about trombone can, in fact, be traced to Sachs.

Dr. Guion lists, compares and contrasts orchestration treatises and their treatment of the trombone from 1837-1985. He further discusses modern methods and texts and gives a table of physical measurements of various trombones from 1594-1965, which demonstrate the small size of old trombones compared to modern instruments. His is the most detailed, comprehensive explanation of the change in bell shape from funnel to flared I have seen.

The explanation of the trombone’s decline found in Chapter 7 is synoptic and stark, logical and easily understood. 

I have not located a single instance of the trombone being used in any commercial opera anywhere in the world from the opening of the first theater in 1637 until Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice in 1762.

As part of his documentation of the trombone’s revival, he takes a unique approach by detailing how several of the great composers learned about and used trombones in their compositions. Through the first symphony to contain trombone solos, Frederick Bristow’s Symphony No. 2 (Jullien), Dr. Guion traces how the great Romantic composers began to use trombones under criticism, how its introduction was not appreciated. However, over time, because their works were highly regarded and repeated, trombones came gradually to be accepted because they came with the territory. Conclusions such as this point to a general summation: the trombone has slowly and reluctantly been accepted into mainstream art music, and to this day exists on the fringes of that world.

Chapter 8 uncovers the presence of trombones in all manner of wind bands through national traditions developed over three centuries, and especially focuses on military bands. It traces the trombone’s role in the development of jazz from 1830’s New Orleans and includes a brief section on the trombone in non-western music. Many examples are documented in both secular and sacred venues of the surprising practice, ubiquitous throughout the 19th century, of adding trombones to older, classic music that did not originally include them.

An appendix treats us to side by side translations of seven primary sources for which no English translation exists in the public domain. The bibliography is a treasure trove for any researcher; all the quintessential sources that form our understanding of this subject are there, in one, convenient list. The index begins with a list of trombonists organized by century, quite useful, but then proceeds alphabetically as usual for only seven pages and seems to be limited exclusively to terms used in the book. For example: ‘trigger’ appears with multiple references. But ‘f attachment’ is not referenced, presumably because this term is not used in the text. While layout of the book follows established practice, I wish the pictures, particularly in the Overview, were in better proximity to their prose; one must flip pages to see the references. Notes are given at the end of each chapter as opposed to the end of the book, a welcome feature. Unique to this history, Dr. Guion directly highlights subjects needing further primary research: the use of valve attachments in the 19th century, trombone activity in Spain, especially outside Barcelona, the reign of the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold (1467-1477), Italian towns and courts prior to the 1550’s, late Renaissance Flemish churches, 18th century church music in Naples (trombones must have been used there), Viennese operas that are no longer performed, which would show how trombones were used in Austrian opera.

A History of the Trombone might be best characterized as the next step in English language, historical trombone scholarship, a large step taken by a trusted scholar writing in a plain, straight forward style, not vernacular, not stuffy, not verbose nor swimming in jargon. At the end of the 20th century it takes into account and sums up the research work done to date, evaluates it and draws conclusions. The nine page overview is worth the price of the whole book and will certainly become the dab hand of short trombone histories. This is an important resource, destined to become a staple reference for years to come.

-Mike Hall
Old Dominion University