At 12:03 AM -0400 7/7/07, Christopher Smith wrote:
Didn't he write quite a bit for valve trombone?
Or some kind of weird hybrid piston-slide
instrument?
Kind of funny, because his parts are eminently
playable on regular slide tenor and bass
trombones (the stuff I've played of his,
anyway!)
Christopher
Wait a minute, I got curious and looked it up. See here...
http://www.trombone-society.org.uk/resources/articles/dvorak.php
Hi, Christopher (and Ray). If only these
question were that simple! Certainly the
information on the Czech Conservatory is strong,
but only if one assumes that (a) all symphony
trombonists (or other instrumentalists) were
hired out of that Conservatory and none were
hired from other countries (unproven); and (b)
that between 1860, when slide trombone was no
longer banned from the Conservatory, and 1903,
when a slide trombone specialist was named a
permanent instructor, no one else was teaching
slide trombone technique, perhaps as what we
would call an adjunct. Which actually seems
unlikely, given that the Czech Philharmonic
started using slide trombones in 1896, and used
them exclusively from 1901. And there also seems
to be an assumption that Dvorák composed
exclusively for that orchestra, which I suspect
was definitely NOT the case, and a question of
whether musicians in other orchestras in other
countries would even have considered what the
Praguers thought was proper!!
Facts are such messy things, but they do make a
musicologist's life interesting! This brief
article (and thanks for the link) speaks not to
the question of alto trombones, but to that of
slide vs. valve trombones, but it's well worth
knowing about for those interested in organology
(which contrary to Mr. Shifrin's surprise is the
accepted term used quite widely in musicological
circles).
(And in passing, are we correct in using the
terms "Czech" Conservatory and Philharmonic,
given that Czechoslovakia did not exist until it
was created out of Bohemia and Moravia after WW
I, and the "Czech Republic" is an invention of
the late '80s or early '90s? What were they
called in Dvorák's lifetime?)
John
--
John R. 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
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