Trombone
19th-century orchestras

Trombones were included in operas, symphonies, and other compositions by Felix Mendelssohn, Hector Berlioz, Franz Berwald, Charles Gounod, Franz Liszt, Gioacchino Rossini, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Giuseppe Verdi, and Richard Wagner, and others.

The trombone trio was combined with one or two cornetts during the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. The replacement of cornetts with oboes and clarinets did not change the trombone's role as a support to the alto, tenor, and bass voices of the chorus (usually in ecclesiastical settings), whose moving harmonic lines were more difficult to pick out than the melodic soprano line. The introduction of trombones into the orchestra allied them more closely with trumpets, and soon a tenor trombone replaced the alto. The Germans and Austrians kept alto trombone somewhat longer than the French, who preferred a section of three tenor trombones until after the Second World War. In other countries, the trio of two tenor trombones and one bass became standard by about the mid-19th century.

Trombonists were employed less by court orchestras and cathedrals, who had been providing the instruments. Military musicians were provided with instruments, and instruments like the long F or E♭ bass trombone remained in military use until around the First World War. Orchestral musicians adopted the tenor trombone, as it could generally play any of the three trombone parts in orchestral scores.

Valve trombones in the mid-19th century did little to alter the make-up of the orchestral trombone section. While its use declined in German and French orchestras, the valve trombone remained popular in some countries, including Italy and Bohemia, almost to the exclusion of the slide instrument. Composers such as Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Bedřich Smetana, and Antonín Dvořák scored for a valve trombone section.

As the ophicleide or the tuba was added to the orchestra during the 19th century, bass trombone parts were scored in a higher register than previously. The bass trombone regained some independence in the early 20th century. Experiments with the trombone section included Richard Wagner's addition of a contrabass trombone in Der Ring des Nibelungen and Gustav Mahler's and Richard Strauss' addition of a second bass trombone to the usual trio of two tenors and one bass. The majority of orchestral works are still scored for the usual mid- to late-19th-century low brass section of two tenor trombones, one bass trombone, and one tuba.
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