TromboneChat

Hello,

Does anybody know if the following pieces have off-stage trombone parts?:

Verdi - Overture to Nabucco
Verdi - Gli Areedi Festivi from Nabucco
Verdi - Va, Pensiero from Nabucco
Verdi - Anvil Chorus from ll Trovatore
Verdi - Patria oppressa from Macbeth
Verdi - Overture to I Verspri Sicilliani
Puccini - intermezzo to act 3 from Manon Lescaut
Boito - Prologue to Mefistofele

Please let me know,

Thank you!

I can tell you that the Overture to Nabucco has a chorale played from the orchestra pit (if a performance of the opera) or from the regular orchestra seats (in a concert).

The only Offstage trombone parts I have ever heard are:

Boito's "Mefistofele", music of the spheres part is often done with players scattered around the auditorium
Berlioz "Grand Messe des Mortes" with 4 trombone choirs scattered around the auditorium
Respighi's "Pines of Rome" where there is an ensemble of "filicornos" which can sometimes be trombones and sometimes other instruments -- Respighi never identified exactly what a "filicorno" is.

Even the grand trombone chords for the Statue in "Don Giovanni" are played from the pit.

Berlioz's late (and gigantic) opera Les Troyens has several offstage brass, including a second trombone section.

https://youtu.be/kcNmaTnVVFU

Shostakovich's Song of the Forests is a big oratorio with a secondary brass section that is sometimes placed in the audience.

Quote from: BGuttman on May 09, 2017, 10:57AMRespighi's "Pines of Rome" where there is an ensemble of "filicornos" which can sometimes be trombones and sometimes other instruments -- Respighi never identified exactly what a "filicorno" is.

A flicorno (note the correct spelling) is a early 20th century Italian-style brass band instrument. Rotary valves, conical bore. It literally translates to flugelhorn. While trombone is often used in performances, the best commonly available modern substitutes are probably flugelhorns or cornets on the top two parts, british-style baritone horns on the tenor parts, and euphoniums on the bass parts.

And there isn't any indication that they're supposed to be off-stage.

Hi. Many years ago The Sydney Symphony Orchestra was playing an item which had an off stage horn part. When the poor horn player started to play his part an attendant rushed up and said to him, you can't practice our here, can't you hear that there's a concert in there and proceeded to evict him. The management had failed to inform the staff about the off stage horn. Max.

Quote from: Max Croot on May 25, 2017, 05:46PMHi. Many years ago The Sydney Symphony Orchestra was playing an item which had an off stage horn part. When the poor horn player started to play his part an attendant rushed up and said to him, you can't practice our here, can't you hear that there's a concert in there and proceeded to evict him. The management had failed to inform the staff about the off stage horn. Max.
Great story! I have heard variations of this, also for years. I think the first time I heard it, it was the trumpet player attempting to play the fanfares in Beethoven's Leonore Overture. It's one of those "If it ain't true it should be" kind of things. 

Happened at the Sacqueboutiers' 40th anniversary concert last October during a  for three cornetts in echo, with one backstage and one outside with the door open. At some point we all heard some yelling about the open door, and for the rest of the piece the 3rd cornett was not heard again...

There's also a good story of the Yale orchestra offstage brass missing their cue in Mahler 2 because they were having beer accross the street and didn't calculate their timing right...

Happened at the Sacqueboutiers' 40th anniversary concert last October during a  for three cornetts in echo, with one backstage and one outside with the door open. At some point we all heard some yelling about the open door, and for the rest of the piece the 3rd cornett was not heard again...

There's also a good story of the Yale orchestra offstage brass missing their cue in Mahler 2 because they were having beer accross the street and didn't calculate their timing right...