TromboneChat

My orchestra is going on tour, but we only have one trombone (me!!). Repertoire ideas?

Ideas that I've already got:

Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
Nielsen: Flute Concerto (but need soloist)
Korngold: Violin Concerto (but need soloist)
Milhaud: Le Bœuf sur le toit
Bach/Webern: Ricerar a 6
Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2 (but maybe too much percussion)

Bonus points if it has a decent harp part.

Nearly any music pre-Beethoven would work!

harrisonreed wrote: Fri Sep 12, 2025 3:33 am Nearly any music pre-Beethoven would work!

Erm, wouldn't that be 0 trombone?!

And Mozart, Eggert, Gluck etc. tend to use three, not 1.

Oh you're right -- "none" trombones, not "one" trombones.

Mozart and most classical composers typically used none. You see them in specifically his religious works though.

Technically those non-religious works would work though!

We played a few Debussy works with only one trombone.

There were a few Rossini overtures arranged for one trombone (and it was a bass trombone).

Stravinsky's "L'Histoire du Soldat" is arranged for 8 musicians including one trombone.

With a lot of concerto works we played that had one trombone part, the part doubled 4th horn, so if we had 4 horns we didn't use the trombone.

Maybe these are too obvious, but:
Pulcinella
Strauss-Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Berg Chamber Concerto
Schreker Chamber Symphony
Nice trombone parts in these.

Several early Weber overtures use a single bass trombone in the orchestra.

You'll also find a variety of late 18th and early 19th century French works that use one tenor trombone.

Thanks everyone. Loving the Schreker. I've found a few more. So my list looks like this.

Bach/Webern Ricercar a 6
Stravinsky Pulcinella
Schreker Chamber Symphony
Peter and the Wolf
Milhaud Le Bœuf sur le toit
Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2
Alan Bush Partita Concertante
Glinka Kamarinskaya
Alan Bush Birthday Overture
Derek Bourgeois Green Dragon Overture
Copland John Henry
Copland Down a Country Lane
Paul Patterson The Three Little Pigs
Bernstein Fancy Free (Reduced Orchestration)
Bernstein Mass (Chamber Version, but has other issues, like requiring soloists and choir!)
Strauss-Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Berg Chamber Concerto
Offenbach Overtures
Weber Overtures
Stravinsky's "L'Histoire du Soldat" (but not full orchestra)
Lambert - Mr Bear Squash you all flat (but not full orchestra)

and then for concertos (but we have no soloist!)

Nielsen Flute Concerto
Ravel Piano Concerto
Korngold Violin Concerto
Weber Konzertstück f-moll, Op. 79
Schumann (C) Piano Concerto

Bizet overtures or suites often work with just the bass trombone part and pasting in key moments from the 1st part.

Two of the four movements of Copland's Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo ("Saturday Night Waltz" and "Corral Nocturne") have only one trombone part. There's harp parts, but I don't know enough about harp to know if they're "decent".

Both of Chopin's piano concertos have only one trombone part, but they're only an option if you've got a soloist available.

Blue Danube

The Nielsen flute concerto has of course a part for bass trombone, (preferably in a touchy relationship with the flautist!)

AtomicClock wrote: Fri Sep 12, 2025 10:00 am Blue Danube

Not just the Blue Danube, but a ton of Strauss waltzes often have a single part (meant for bass trombone, easily playable on tenor). There's only a handful I've seen that have 2 or 3 parts, the vast majority just have the one. What's that quote about a bass trombone gallivanting in the back of the orchestra?

Some examples:

An der schönen blauen Donau, Op.314
Aus den Bergen Walzer, Op.292
Autograph Waltzes
Ballg'schichten Walzer, Op.150
Colonnen Walzer, Op.262
Concurrenzen Walzer, Op.267
Controversen Walzer, Op.191
Cycloiden Walzer, Op.207
Die ersten Curen Walzer, Op.261
Die Extravaganten Walzer, Op.205
Feen-Märchen Walzer, Op.312
Frauenkäferln Walzer, Op.99
Hofballtänze Walzer, Op.298
Idyllen Walzer, Op.95
Immer heiterer Walzer, Op.235
Liebes-Lieder Walzer, Op.114

And so on...but you'd have to love waltzes as I do to play all that!

Finetales wrote: Fri Sep 12, 2025 10:52 ambut you'd have to love waltzes as I do to play all that!

You'd have to love waltzes to play more than a couple if you're taking all of the repeats. They do tend to go on and on (and on...).

Stravinsky Pulcinella is a great choice.
I think most Rossini overtures exist in single trombone versions. La Gazza Ladra comes to mind immediately.

Excellent newer works with a single trombone part:
Joan Tower Made in America
Valerie Coleman Seven O'Clock Shout

Thank you for yor suggestions. For the record this was the final list I sent to the conductor, and in case it is useful to someone in the future:

Repertoire with one trombone

Bach/Webern Ricercar a 6
Stravinsky Pulcinella
Milhaud Le Bœuf sur le toit
Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2
Schreker Chamber Symphony
Strauss-Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Copland: John Henry - a Railroad Ballad for Orchestra
Copland: Down a Country Lane
Bernstein Fancy Free (Reduced Orchestration)
Derek Bourgeois Green Dragon Overture
Alan Bush Birthday Overture (Festal Overture) on the occasion of RVWs 70th
Glinka Kamarinskaya
Alan Bush Partita Concertante
Lennox Berkley Divertimento
Joan Tower Made in America
Valerie Coleman Seven O'Clock Shout

Concertos
Nielsen Flute Concerto
Ravel Piano Concerto
Schumann (Clara) Piano Concerto
Chopin Piano Concertos

Bizet Overtures
Rossini Overtures
Strauss Waltzes (see above list from FinTales)

What I'm playing

And the final choice was ....

Stravinsky Pulcinella
Milhaud Le Bœuf sur le toit
Rossini Overture to La Cenerentola (or La Gazetta!! - it's the same)
Mozart Symphony No. 35 (Haffner) - tacet or possibly debut on timpani.

Sadly I didn't see this until too late! Next time!!

LeTromboniste wrote: Wed Jun 18, 2025 3:13 pm I've performed Haydn's Symphony no. 60, from 18th-century manuscript parts taken from a French collection where every Haydn symphony had an added part for trombone and serpent, reinforcing the basses in some movements (and those are not simplified parts, you get every note that the cellos are playing in those movements, including a lot of fast notes).

The Milhaud is great fun - even if trombone just plays one motif in 12 different keys as a bridge between all the popular tunes. (And a few other bits as well!!)
If anyone is in the Falaise area of Normandy on the 2nd and 3rd May then come along!!!

One of my orchestras is doing one just now:
Rautavaara - Cantus arcticus.
Very little to play for trombone though.

Sorry to have nor seen this earlier, but if there is ever another time a quite wonderful chamber orchestra piece with one trombone is Alberto Ginastera, Variaciones Concertantes.