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Sackbut

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The Sackbut (var. Sacbutt; Sackbutt; Sagbutt;), a brass instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras, is the ancestor of the modern trombone. The term sackbut is usually used to differentiate the historic instrument from its modern counterpart. Increasing interest in authentic performance in recent years has brought many trombonists to the sackbut. There are two theories for the source of the name: it is either derived from the Middle French sacquer (to push) and bouter (to pull) or from the Spanish sacar (to draw or pull) and bucha (a tube or pipe) (Herbert 2006, p. 57). The term survives in numerous English spelling variations including sacbut, sagbut, shagbolt and shakbusshe. In France, the instrument was called sacqueboute; in Germany, Posaune, in Spain, sacabuche, and in Italy, trombone.

History

The trombone developed from the trumpet. Up until 1375 trumpets were simply a long straight tube with a bell flare (Herbert 2006, p. 47). The name for this instrument derive from the Latin 'tromba' and include 'trombone' (for a large one) and 'drompten'. Other names derive from the Latin 'busine' and include 'posaune' and 'bason'. There are various uses of these words in the Bible, which has led past musicologists, such as Galpin, to suggest that trombones date back as far as 600 BC, but all the iconology suggests straight instruments at this time and no evidence of slides (Herbert 2006, p. 56-7). From 1375 we see them being made with bends, and some in 'S' shapes. Around 1400 we see the 'loop' shaped trumpet appear in paintings and at some point in the 15th century, a single slide was added. This slide trumpet was known as a 'trompette des ménestrels' in the alta capella bands (Herbert 2006, p. 52-3). The earliest clear evidence of a double slide instrument is in a fresco painting by Filippino Lippi in Rome - The Assumption of the Virgin, dating from 1488-1493. (Herbert 2006, p. 60) The sackbut resembles the medieval slide trumpet. The next earliest written reference to the instrument dates from 1468, at the wedding of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York at Bruges, during which a "trompette saicqueboute" was employed . The instrument gradually evolved into what we know today as the 'Trombone'. These older instruments are often described as having a more mellow tone than the modern trombone. Compared to a modern tenor trombone, the tenor sackbut has a considerably smaller bore, and a smaller, more conical bell. It was employed mainly in alto, tenor and bass sizes. It was one of the most important instruments in Baroque polychoral works, along with the cornetto and organ.

Construction

Sackbuts come in several ranges. According to Michael Praetorius, there was an alto, a tenor, quart- and quint-basses, as well as a contrabass. Originally they were alto in D or E, tenor in A, bass in E or D, and contrabass in A. The common standards now are the alto in E♭, tenor in B♭, and bass in F (quart) or E♭ (quint). The basses, due to their longer slides, have a hinged handle on the slide stay, which is used to reach the long positions. The bore size of renaissance/baroque trombones is approximately 10mm and the bell rarely more than 10.5cm in diameter. Early mouthpieces had flat rims, and compared to modern trombone mouthpieces they had shallow cups and narrow apertures. Modern reproductions of sackbuts sacrifice some authenticity to harness manufacturing techniques and inventions that make them more comfortable for modern players, whilst retaining as much of the original character of the old instruments. Some original instruments could be disassembled into the constituent straight tubes, bowed tubes, bell flare, and stays, with ferrules at the joints. Mersenne has a diagram. (Little imagination is needed to see how it could be reassembled into something approaching a natural trumpet.) Modern sackbut reproductions are usually soldered together. The stays on period sackbuts are flat. While the bell stay remained flat, from about 1660 the slide stays became tubular. On many modern reproductions round stays are much more comfortable to play and easier to make. The original way to make the slide tubes was to roll a flat piece of metal around a solid cylinder mandrel, and the joining ends soldered together. Modern manufacturers now draw the tubes. They also tend to have stockings, which was only invented in around 1850. In addition modern made slides are usually nickel plated for a harder, smoother finish. Tuning slides came in during the very late 18th century. Early trombonists adjusted pitch with the slide, and by adding variously shaped and sized crooks. Modern reproductions often have a bell bow tuning slide or telescopic slide between the slide and bell sections. Crooks are still used, as are variously sized bell bow sections. The water key was added in the 19th century, but modern reproductions often have them.

Pitch

It has been found that fellow church instruments which are fixed pitch, cornetts and organs, were pitched at approximately A=460-480 (chorton) across Europe in the Renaissance and baroque eras. This is also seen in Renaissance wind band music. Slide position charts for tenor trombones suggests trombones were pitched in Aureleo Virgiliano's Il dolcimelo (c. 1600) teaches trombonists that first position gives A, E, A, C, E and G (Herbert 2006, p. 35). Praetorius describes an alto in D, tenor in A, and bass in D. The tenors that survive are more or less pitched at B♭ at A=440 or slightly higher, which is equivalent to A at A=466 - or slightly higher. Some groups now perform at A=466 Hz (one half step higher than modern pitch) for the sake of greater historical accuracy. It is common in these groups to use the D and A positions, rather than transposing the parts up a half step, which helps avoid problems with tuning temperaments.

Sound

The sackbut's sound is characterized by a more delicate, vocal timbre than the modern instrument. The flat rims and shallow cups of the older mouthpieces are instrumental in providing the player with a much wider palette of articulations and tonal colours. This flexibility lends itself to a vocal style of playing and facilitates very characterful phrasing. Mersenne wrote in 1636, "It should be blown by a skillful musician so that it may not imitate the sounds of the trumpet, but rather assimilate itself to the sweetness of the human voice, lest it should emit a warlike rather than a peaceful sound."

Repertoire

before 1600

The sackbut replaced the slide trumpet in the 15th century alta capella wind bands that were common in towns throughout Europe playing courtly dance music. See Waits. Another key use of the trombone was in ceremonies, in conjunction with the trumpet. In many towns in Germany and Northern Italy, 'piffari' bands were employed by local governments throughout the 16th century to give regular concerts in public squares and would lead processions for festivals. Piffari usually contained a mix of wind, brass and percussion instruments and sometimes viols (Selfridge-Field 1994). Venice's doge had his own piffari company and they gave an hour-long concert in the Piazza each day, as well as sometimes performing for services in St. Mark's. Each of the six confraternities in Venice also had their own independent piffari groups too, which would all play at a lavish procession on the feast of Corpus Domini. These groups are in addition to the musicians employed by St. Mark's to play in the balconies with the choir (the piffari would play on the main level) (Selfridge-Field 1994). It also was used in church music both for instrumental service music and as a doubling instrument for choral music. The treble and high alto parts were most often played by cornetts or shawms, with the violin sometimes replacing the cornett in 17th century Italian music (Selfridge-Field 1994). The first record of trombones being used in churches was in Innsbruck 1503. Seville Cathedral's records show employment of trombonists in 1526, followed by several other Spanish cathedrals during the 16th century, used not only for ceremonial music and processionals, but also for accompaniment of the liturgical texts as well, doubling voices (Herbert 2006, p. 101). The sacred use of trombones was brought to a fine art by the Gabrieli family and their contemporaries c.1570-1620 Venice and there is also evidence of trombonists being employed in churches and cathedrals in Italy at times during the second half of the 16th century in Bologna, Rome, Padua, Mantua and Modena (Herbert 2006, p. 101). Since ensembles had flexible instrumentation at this time, there is relatively little music before Giovanni Gabrieli's publication Symphoniae sacrae (1597) that specifically mentions trombones. The only example currently known is the music by Francesco Corteccia for the Medici wedding 1539 (Herbert 2006, p. 91).

1600-1700

Solo

The seventeenth century brings two pieces of real solo trombone repertoire. Giovanni Martino Cesare wrote La Hieronyma, (Musikverlag Max Hieber, MH6012) the earliest known piece for accompanied solo trombone. It comes from Cesare's collection Musicali Melodie per voci et instrumenti a una, due, tre, quattro, cinque, e sei published in Munich 1621 of 28 pieces for a mixture of violins, cornetts, trombone, vocal soloists and organ continuo. The collection also contains La Bavara for four trombones. The other solo trombone piece of the 17th century, Sonata trombone & basso (modern edition by H Weiner, Ensemble Publications), was written around 1665. This anonymous piece is also known as the 'St. Thomas Sonata' because it was kept in the library of the Saint Thomas Augustinian Monastery in Brno, Czech Republic. Francesco Rognoni was another composer who specified the trombone in a set of divisions (variations) on the well-known song Suzanne ung jour (London Pro Musica, REP15). Rognoni was a master violin and gamba player whose treatise Selva di Varie passaggi secondo l'uso moderno (Milan 1620 and facsimile reprint by Arnaldo Forni Editore 2001) details improvisation of diminutions and Suzanne is given as one example. Although most diminutions are written for organ, string instruments or cornett, Suzanne is "per violone over Trombone alla bastarda". With virtuosic semiquaver passages across the range of the instrument, it reflects Praetorius' comments about the large range of the tenor and bass trombones, and good players of the Quartposaune (bass trombone in F) could play fast runs and leaps like a viola bastarda or cornetto. The term "bastarda" describes a technique that made variations on all the different voices of a part song, rather than just the melody or the bass: "considered illegitimate because it was not polyphonic" (Selfridge-Field 1994, p. 309).

Chamber music (art music)

In the 17th century, a considerable repertoire of chamber music using sackbut with various combinations of violins, cornetts and dulcians, often with continuo, appeared. Composers included Dario Castello, Giovanni Battista Fontana, Giovanni Paolo Cima, Andrea Cima, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and Matthias Weckmann. Giovanni Paolo Cima, organist of S. Celso wrote the oldest known trio sonata and solo violin sonata. Contained in his Concerti ecclesiastici (Milan 1610) is his brother Andrea's Capriccio 'for cornett and trombone or violin and violone'. Antonio Bertali wrote several trio sonatas for 2 violins, trombone and bass continuo in the mid 17th century. One such Sonata a 3 is freely available in facsimile form from the Düben Collection website hosted by Uppsala universitet ^[1]. A "Sonata a3 in C" is published by Musica Rara and attributed to Biber, although the authorship is unclear and it is more likely to have been written by Bertali ^[2]. Johann Heinrich Schmelzer wrote several sonatas which included trombones. For example, his Sonata à 7 for two cornetts, two trumpets, three trombones and basso continuo. Dario Castello, a wind player at St. Mark's Venice in the early 17th century had two books of Sonate Concertate published in 1621 and 1629. The sonatas of 1-4 parts with bass continuo often specify trombones, as well as cornett, violin and bassoon. The numerous reprints during the seventeenth century affirm his popularity then, as perhaps now. Tiburtio Massaino wrote a Canzona for eight trombones, published in Raverii's 1608 collection. An English work of note from this period is Matthew Locke's Music for His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, a suite for Charles II's coronation 1661 (Herbert 2006, p. 98). Daniel Speer in his 1687 publication Grund-richtiger... provides two three part sonatas for trombones and a four part sonata in Neu-gebachene Taffel-Schnitz (1685).

Light music

Non-serious music, often based on dances for festive occasions, rarely had specified instrumentation. Often you find something like "per diversi musici". Indeed the groups that would perform them would often be full of multi-instrumentalists. (Herbert 2006, p. 98-99) Johann Pezel wrote for Stadtpfeifer with his Hora decima musicorum (1670), containing sonatas, as well as Fünff-stimmigte blasende Music (1685) which five-part intradas and dance pieces. Well known pieces from Germany includes Samuel Scheidt's Ludi Musici (1621) and Johann Hermann Schein's Banchetto musicale (1617) (Herbert 2006, p. 98-99). The first English piece scored for trombone is John Adson's Courtly Masquing Ayres (1611). Another light collection suitable for including trombones is Anthony Holborne's Pavans, Galliards, Allmains, and other short Aeirs both Grave and Light in Five Parts for Viols, Violins or Other Musicall Winde Instruments (1599).

Sacred music

Trombonists were in the regular ensemble at St. Mark's Venice from its formation in 1568 until they left the payroll in 1732 (Selfrige-Field 1994, pp. 15-21). The first two ensemble directors - maestro di concerti - Girolamo Dalla Casa (1568-1601) and Giovanni Bassano (1601-1617) - were cornett players and the nucleus of the group was 2 cornetts and 2 trombones, although for the larger ceremonies many extra players were hired. During a mass attended by the Doge, evidence suggests they would have played a canzona in the Gradual after the Epistle and the Agnus Dei, a sonata in the Offertory as well as reinforcing vocal parts or substituting for absent singers (Selfridge-Field 1994, pp.22-23). This ensemble was used extensively by Giovanni Gabrieli in pieces substantially for brass, voices and organ in Venice up until his death in 1612. He was greatly influential in Venetian composers in other churches and confraternities, and his early baroque and cori spezzati style is seen in contemporaries like Giovanni Picchi and Giovanni Battista Grillo. It is suggested that Monteverdi wrote his Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610) as a pitch for employment at St. Mark's as successor to Giovanni Gabrieli. In addition to the Magnificat, two movements specify trombones: the opening Deus in adiutorium is for 6 voices, 2 violins, 2 cornetts, 3 trombones, 5 viola da braccio and basso continuo; Sonata sopra ‘Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis’ is for soprano, 2 violins, 2 cornetts, 3 trombones (one of which can be a viola da braccio), viola da braccio and basso continuo. Monteverdi also leaves the option to use trombones as part of the "sex instrumentis" of the Dixit Dominus and in the instrumental Ritornello a 5 between verses of Ave maris stella (Grove - Monteverdi). From around 1617, when the maestro de' concerti at St. Marks changed to violinist Francesco Bonfante and correspondingly the ensemble changed from basically a brass ensemble to being more evenly mixed with brass, wind and string instruments (Selfridge-Field 1994). Monteverdi arrived at St. Mark's in 1613 and it is unsurprising that he includes trombones and strings for several more sacred works during his time here, published in his Selva Morale e Spirituale 1641. Of the c.40 items in this collection, six specify three or four trombones (or viola da braccio, ad lib): SV268 Beatus vir I, SV263 Dixit Dominus I, SV263 Dixit Dominus II, SV261 Et iterum venturus est, SV258 Gloria in excelsis Deo, SV281 Magnificat I. Each is for 3-8 voices with 3 violins (apart from SV261), the trombones/violas and basso continuo. Monteverdi also specified trombones in two more sacred works: SV198 Laetatus sum (i) (1650) for 6 voices, 2 violins, 2 trombones and bassoon and SV272 Laudate Dominum omnes gentes I (1641) for 5 voices ‘concertato’, 4 voice chorus ad lib, 4 viola da braccio or trombones and basso continuo (Grove - Monteverdi). A prolific composer for trombones in Germany in the 17th century was Heinrich Schütz. His Fili me, Absalon (SWV 269) and Attendite, popule meus (SWV 270), are both scored for bass voice, four trombones (of which two are optionally violins) and basso continuo, are well known. They are part of his first Symphoniae Sacrae collection dating from 1629 and commentators have noted that the style reflects his studies in Venice with Giovanni Gabrieli 1609-1612. The other pieces which specify trombones (according to Grove) are (grouped by the collection they were published in): Concert mit 11 Stimmen (1618): SWV 21, Psalms of David Op.2 (1619): SWV 38, 40-46, Symphoniae Sacrae I Op.6 (1629): SWV 259, 269-271, 274, Symphoniae Sacrae II Op.10 (1647): SWV 344, Symphoniae Sacrae III Op. 12 (1650): SWV 398a, Historia (1664): SWV 435, 448, 449, 453, 461, 452, 466-470, 473, 474-476, Schwanengesang Psalm 119 (1671): SWV 500, although many others are suitable for trombones too ^[3].

Theatre

Monteverdi ushers sackbuts into the first great opera - 'L'Orfeo' 1607. The orchestra at the first performance, as shown in the first publication of the score lists four trombones, but at one point in Act 3, however, the score calls for five trombones.

1700-1750

There is relatively little repertoire for the trombone in the late baroque. But Johann Sebastian Bach uses trombones in fourteen of his church cantatas - BWV 2, 3, 4, 21, 23, 25, 28, 38, 64, 68, 96, 101, 121, 135 as well as motet BWV 118. He uses the trombone sound to reflect the (by now) archaic sounds of the Renaissance trombones doubling voices (with cornett playing the soprano line), yet he also uses them independently, which John Eliot Gardiner says prepares the way for their use in Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 ^[4]. The cantatas were either composed in Leipzig during 1723-1725, or (for BWV 4, 21 & 23) the trombone parts were added to the existing cantata during the same period. The cornett and trombone parts would have been played by the Stadtpfeifer. ^[5] In England, George Frideric Handel includes trombones in three of his oratorios: Saul (1738), Israel in Egypt (1738) and Samson (1741). There are no other documented groups or performances with trombone players in England at this time, and it has been suggested that the premiers took place with a visiting group from Germany, as was the custom in Paris at this time.

1750-1800

Again this period suffers from a lack of trombone players. Most of these works derive from Vienna and Salzburg. Joseph Haydn uses trombones in Il rotorno di Tobia, Die Sieben Letzten Worte, Die Schöpfung, Die Jahreszeiten, Der Sturm, Orfeo de Euridice and secular cantata choruses. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart uses trombones in connection with death or the supernatural. This includes the Requiem (K626, 1791), 'Great' C minor mass (K423, 1783), Coronation Mass (C major) (K317, 1779), several other masses, Vesperae Solennes de Confessore (K339, 1780), Vesperae de Dominica, his arrangement of Handel's Messiah plus two of his three great operas: Don Giovanni (K527, 1787) and Die Zauberflöte (K620, 1791). Mozart's first use of the trombone was an obligato line in the oratorio Die Schuldigkeit des ersten und fürnehmsten Gebots (K35, 1767) Christoph Willibald Gluck includes trombones in five of his operas: Iphigénie en Aulide (1774), Orfeo ed Euridice (1774), Alceste (1776), Iphigénie en Tauride (1779) and Echo et Narcisse (1779), as well as ballet Don Juan (1761). ^[6] Some chamber music in this period includes trombone in an obligato role with voice, and also as a concerto instrument with string orchestra. Composers include the likes of Leopold Mozart, Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Johann Albrechtsberger, Michael Haydn and Johann Ernst Eberlin. For works for trombone post-1800, please see trombone.

Modern performance

Many groups specializing in period music make frequent use of the sackbut, including:

Recordings

Plenty of recordings of the authentic sackbut are now available from the groups such as Concerto Palatino, HMSC, Gabrieli Consort and the Toulouse Sacqueboutiers. For a closer examination of the instrument, here are some recommended recordings where the sackbut is heavily featured in a 'solo' capacity.

Treasury of a Saint - Caecilia Concert, Challenge Records 2006
La Sacqueboute - Michel Becquet, Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse

Early surviving instruments

The earliest instruments:

Date	Maker	Made in	Category	Modern copies
1551	Erasmus Schnitzer	Nuremberg	Tenor
1557	Georg Neuschel	Nuremberg	Tenor
c.1560	Unknown	Venice?	Tenor
1579	Anton Schnitzer I	Nuremberg	Bass
1581	Anton Schnitzer I	Nuremberg	Tenor
1587	Conrad Linczer	Nuremberg	Tenor
1593	Pierre Colbert	Reims	Bass in G
1594	Anton Schnitzer II	Nuremberg	Tenor
1595	Anton Drewelewcz	Nuremberg	Tenor	Ewald Meinl 'small bore'
1602	Andreas Reichart	Edfurt	?
1607	Simon Reichard	Nuremberg	Bass in E-F
1608	Jakob Bauer	Nuremberg	Tenor
1612	Isaac Ehe	Nuremberg	Bass in D-Eb	Egger (bore 11.5-12.0mm, bell 124mm)

Other notable ones:

Date	Maker	Made in	Category	Modern copies
1627	Sebastian Hainlein I	Nuremberg	Tenor	(Munich) (1932?) Egger 'tenor-bass' (bore 11.5/12.0mm bell 120mm)
1631	Sebastian Hainlein	Nuremberg	Tenor	Egger (bore 10.5/11.0mm, bell 98mm)
1639	Georg Nicolaus Oller	Stockholm	Bass in F	Ewald Meinl
1653	Paul Hainlein	Nuremberg	Tenor	Ewald Meinl 'wide bore'
1670	Hieronimus Starck	Nuremberg	Alto	Egger (bore 10.0/10.0mm, bell 94mm)
1677	Paul Hainlein	Nuremberg	Tenor in C	Lindberg has one
1785	Johann Joseph Schmied	Pfaffendorf	Alto in Eb	Egger 'classical'
1785	Johann Joseph Schmied	Pfaffendorf	Bass in F	Egger 'classical'
1778	Johann Joseph Schmied	Pfaffendorf	Tenor	(private collection in Basel) Egger 'classical'

For more information, see Herbert (2006).

Modern manufacturers

Egger, Basel, Switzerland
Ewald Meinl, Geretsried, Germany (formerly Meinl und Lauber)
Geert Jan van der Heide, Netherlands
Helmut Voigt, Germany
Jürgen Voigt Brass, Germany
Thein, Bremen, Germany
John Webb, London
Frank Tomes, London +44 (0)208 542 4942
Böhm und Meinl
BAC/Mike Corrigan, USA
Johannes Finke, Germany

References

^ Bertali - Sonata a 3 - Düben Collection
^ Debretzeni, Kati: CD liner notes to "Virtuoso in the Making - Biber" CKD195, Linn records (Accessed 28 Dec 2007)
^ L. Hübsch-Pfleger: 'Schütz', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 10 Dec 2007)
^ John Eliot Gardner - Liner notes to Bach cantatas CD SDG127 (Accessed 10 Dec 2007)
^ C. Wolff etc: 'Bach', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 10 Dec 2007)
^ Brown, 'B A: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 10 Dec 2007)

Herbert, Trevor (2006). The Trombone London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10095-7
Selfridge-Field, Eleanor (1975, rev. 1994), Venetian Instrumental Music USA: Dover Publications ISBN 0-486-28151-5
Carter, T, Monteverdi Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2 January 2008)