Baroque/Classical solo for Bass Trombone

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HornboneandVocals
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Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2023 10:57 am

Baroque/Classical solo for Bass Trombone

Post by HornboneandVocals »

Hi there!
I'm preparing for a competition next semester, and I am required to perform a baroque or classical era solo on bass trombone. As for classical, I haven't found anything for cello, or tenor trombone that I can even hope to perform. Baroque-wise, I've managed to find Handel's violin sonata n.6 arranged for tuba, and Vivaldi's cello sonatas, however I'm looking for more options. The catch for me is I need piano accompaniment for all of my pieces, which strikes the Bach cello suites from the list. Any ideas or help is amazing.
Thank you!
Micah
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LeTromboniste
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Re: Baroque/Classical solo for Bass Trombone

Post by LeTromboniste »

Some suggestions of pieces written for trombone or that could have been performed on trombone at the time they were written. Those are all early baroque pieces, so probably not what a modern ear expects in the category of "baroque/classical" (i.e. late baroque and pre-classical), but they correspond to what most baroque repertoire for trombone actually is.

The very earliest known piece for solo trombone is actually for bass trombone, and extremely virtuosic:
Francesco Rognoni's Susanna d'Orlando or Suzanne ung jour, 1620. If you can tackle it, it's quite impressive and is the only piece explicitly for solo bass trombone we have until the 19th century. PM me for an edition if you're interested.

The second earliest known piece for trombone works quite well for bass when played down a fifth:
Giovanni Martino Cesare's La Hieronyma, 1621. There should be some editions with a suggested continuo realisation for the keyboard player.

Any of Frescobaldi's canzone for bass instrument works great for trombone, in particular La Tromboncina, La Superba or L'Ambitiosa. There are a couple edition with realised continuo.

Generally, 17th century sacred pieces for solo bass voice will work well for bass trombone, although a lot of it you might not easily find with a realised continuo. Do a multi-category search on CPDL ticking baroque, 1-voice: Bass and Language: Latin, to find some ideas.

For later baroque music, you'll have to go with a cello or bassoon piece. Some of the things you'll see a lot of trombonists playing in college are Telemann, Marcello, Gaillard, Hasse.
Maximilien Brisson
www.maximilienbrisson.com
Lecturer for baroque trombone,
Hfk Bremen/University of the Arts Bremen
HornboneandVocals
Posts: 47
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2023 10:57 am

Re: Baroque/Classical solo for Bass Trombone

Post by HornboneandVocals »

Thank you so much! I'll check those out, and I'll send a pm, I want to check out the Rognoni Piece.
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