On 10 Feb 2005 at 11:19, Rudolf van Berkum wrote:
In the case of the trombones' entry in The Magic Flute that Raymond Horton mentioned, we can appreciate that for the Lutheran members of the audience in Mozart's day, the sound of the trombone would have additional meaning for them because of the association with church use, but for most of the audience it would just provide a shiver up the spine because of the effectiveness of the timbre of the instrument at that dramatic moment.
Concerted Catholic church music in Mozart's days was invariably performed with trombones doubling the top 3 vocal parts, so I don't see any reason to limit the association to Lutherans.
Actually it's the bottom 3 vocal parts, but you're essentially correct. Unless I misremember, Austria was Catholic, Mozart wrote Masses for Catholic services, and he did NOT write Lutheran cantatas. I'm not sure where the Austrian Lutherans came from! That use of trombones (or sackbutts) goes back at least to Schuetz, one of whose Psalm settings from about 1619 I studied in a graduate seminar, in a manuscript with clear indications "con tromboni" and "senza tromboni."
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
