© Copyright by
Timothy M. Dueppen
December 2012
THE TROMBONE AS SACRED SIGNIFIER IN THE OPERAS OF
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
_______________
A Dissertation
Presented to
The Faculty of the
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
_______________
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
_______________
By
Timothy M. Dueppen
December 2012
THE TROMBONE AS SACRED SIGNIFIER IN THE OPERAS OF
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
____________________________________
Timothy M. Dueppen
APPROVED:
____________________________________
Jeffrey Sposato, Ph.D.
Committee Chair
____________________________________
Andrew Davis, Ph.D.
____________________________________
Noe Marmolejo
____________________________________
Brian Kauk
____________________________________
John W. Roberts, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Department of English
ii THE TROMBONE AS SACRED SIGNIFIER IN THE OPERAS OF
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
_______________
An Abstract of a Dissertation
Presented to
The Faculty of the
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
_______________
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
_______________
By
Timothy M. Dueppen
December 2012
iii Abstract
The Trombone as Sacred Signifier in the Operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Timothy M. Dueppen
The trombone was understood during the eighteenth century and earlier in Germany
as an instrument with important sacred significance. This association developed because of
its appearance in German translations of the Bible by Martin Luther and Catholic theologians
and its presence in encyclopedias and treatises of the period. This, along with the trombone’s
vast use in church music of the period, helped it to be understood as an instrument of sacred
significance by the German musical public. It was this social understanding of the sacerdotal
qualities of the trombone that propelled Mozart to use the instrument in his operas Idomeneo,
Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte to enhance some of the most important sacred elements
of each work. The trombone’s use by German composers in opera began with Gluck, who
used the instrument mainly to double the voices of the choir and other instruments. Mozart,
however, used the trombone in more innovative ways, which included borrowing
compositional ideas from German church music (including his own) and incorporating them
into his operatic use of the instrument. Mozart used the trombone to enhance certain
moments of drama within Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte with specific
harmonic treatment of sacerdotal sections of the text, certain dynamic and expression
markings, and an emphasis on creating moments of tension and release through the
harmonies used. These, along with the trombone’s understood sacred significance, aurally
aided the audience in associating the moments the instrument was used in each opera as
having spiritual implications in the drama.
iv Acknowledgements
There are several people who have helped contribute to the completion of this
doctoral document. First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Sposato for his
omniscience on many subjects discussed in my dissertation, his critical candor, consistent
support and availability, and for inspiring me along the way with new and different ideas and
approaches. Without Dr. Sposato’s constant encouragement, I certainly doubt that this
document would be something I would be proud of to represent the literary culmination of
my doctoral studies. Next, I would like to thank Professor Brian Kauk for further assisting
me to continually grow musically and artistically within the trombone repertoire. Then,
thanks goes to Professor Noe Marmolejo for supporting me throughout my degree candidacy
with his witty charisma, love for all things music, and inspiring leadership, emboldening me
to direct a Jazz band as well. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Andrew Davis for his
theoretical help, in the musical sense only, which allowed me to arrive at more concrete
conclusions through the analyses of the musical examples used in this dissertation. I would
also like to thank a few other professors not on my doctoral document committee, who
nonetheless helped to inspire different aspects of this project: Dr. Barbara Lange, Dr.
Matthew Dirst, Dr. John Marcellus, and Dr. Paul Bertagnolli, who first planted the seeds for
some of the ideas discussed here, which later grew into this dissertation, much like the
miraculous blossoming of the Pope’s staff in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Finally, I wish to thank
my beautiful wife, Abbie, for being my whole-hearted supporter throughout not only this
document, but throughout my entire doctoral candidacy. Through hurricanes, international
tours, cross-country moves, and living in the mountains, you’ve been my indefatigable
cheerleader.
v Table of Contents
Signature Page
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Abstract Title Page
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Abstract
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iv
Acknowledgements
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Table of Contents
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List of Musical Examples and Tables .
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vii
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Chapter
Introduction
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A) The Italian Influence on the Use of the Trombone
in Germany .
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B) The Civic Influence on the Use of the Trombone
in Germany .
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C) German Catholic Composers
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D) German Lutheran Composers
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A) The Trombone’s Sacred Significance:
Literary and Biblical Evidence
I) The Trombone in German Sacred Music .
E) Mozart’s Use of the Trombone in his Sacred Music
II) Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice and Alceste,
and Mozart’s Idomeneo
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III) Don Giovanni
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IV) Die Zauberflöte
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Conclusion
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Bibliography .
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vi List of Musical Examples and Tables
Chapter I
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1.1: Alme Ingrate, mm. 24-30
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1.2: Tuba mirum from Reutter’s Requiem, mm. 24-33
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1.3: Jener Donnerworte Kraft from Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots,
mm. 151-156
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1.4: Agnus Dei from Missa solemnis in C Minor (“Waisenhauskirche”),
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1.5: Credo from Missa in C (“Krönungsmesse”), mm. 65-69
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1.6: Sanctus from Missa in C Minor, mm. 12-17
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2.1: Orphée et Euridice Act I, Scene 1, mm. 15-22 .
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2.2: Orphée et Euridice Act II, Scene 1, mm. 131-134
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2.3: Alceste Act I, Scene 3, mm. 37-48
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2.4: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm. 1-6
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2.5: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm. 21-30
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2.6: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm. 4-10
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2.7: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm. 45-52
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2.8: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm. 57-70
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Chapter II
vii Chapter III
3.1: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 11, mm. 51-54
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3.2: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 11, mm. 59-63
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3.3: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15, mm. 433-440 .
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3.4: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15, mm. 487-501 .
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3.5: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15, mm. 523-527 .
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3.6: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15, mm. 538-545 .
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3.7: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15, mm. 549-553 .
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3.8: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15, mm. 563-570 .
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Chapter IV
4.1: Die Zauberflöte Overture, mm. 1-3
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4.2: Die Zauberflöte Overture, mm. 97-102
4.3: Die Zauberflöte, Act II, Scene 1, mm. 1-6 (Between Marsch der Priester
and O Isis und Osiris)
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4.5: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene 1 (No. 10), mm. 1-7
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4.6: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene 1 (No. 10), mm. 21-24
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4.7: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene 1 (No. 10), mm. 34-37
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4.8: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene 10 (Finale), mm. 190-195
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4.9: Martin Luther’s melody from Ach, Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein,
mm. 1-6 .
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4.10: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene 10 (Finale), mm. 206-215
viii 4.11: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene 10, (Finale) mm. 362-371
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Table
4.1: The Trombone’s Presence in Die Zauberflöte
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ix Introduction
When the average music listener is asked to identify how they understand the
trombone’s use in opera, they often turn to the works of composers like Richard Wagner
(1813-1883). Many are drawn to Wagner’s handling of the trombone in his opera Die
Walküre, from his epic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. In the famous opening of this opera’s
third act, “The Ride of the Valkyries,” the trombone section plays the extremely loud and
strongly accented entrance and the battle-cry music for the warrior demi-goddess Brünnhilde
and her band of lady warriors. In this case, the trombone section helps to heighten the image
of the strong Walküren as they gather to carry fallen soldiers to Valhalla. Martial passages
such as this present how the majority of our twenty-first century ears understand the
trombone’s role, but this was not how the trombone was understood musically in eighteenthcentury German-speaking Europe (what I will henceforth refer to, for simplicity’s sake, as
“Germany”).
Beginning in the middle ages, the trombone was strongly linked to sacred music, an
association that endured throughout the eighteenth century.1 Johann Phillip Eisel (16981763) and Christian Friedrich Schubart (1739-1791), among other eighteenth-century
German literary figures, described how the trombone is specifically appropriate for church
music due to its traditional use as a doubling and obbligato instrument in that genre, a role
that did not fully disappear until the nineteenth century.2 Moreover, German biblical
translations from the sixteenth century through the eighteenth century, beginning with Martin
1
Trevor Herbert, The Trombone. Yale Musical Instrument Series (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
2006), 111-112.
2
Johann Phillip Eisel, Musicus autdidactos, oder der sich selbst informirende Musicus (Erfurt: Johann Michael
Funcken, 1738), 70. Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart and Ludwig Albrecht Schubart, Ideen zu einer Ästhetik
der Tonkunst (Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1969), 315-316.
1 Luther (1483-1546) and moving to Catholic theologians, created a link between the
instrument and the Bible. Specifically, Luther and his followers primarily used the word
Posaune (instead of Trompete) in their interpretation of the ancient Hebrew instrument
shofar and the ancient Greek instrument salpigx. As a result, the majority of trombone use in
this period was in sacred music. Numerous musical works from both Protestant and Catholic
composers including Joseph Fux (1660-1741), Johann Georg Reutter the Younger (17081772), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Johann Friedrich Doles (1715-1797), Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), and others used the trombone in various ways to help
heighten the sacred meaning of their works, due in part to the instrument’s inclusion in
German bibles. Moreover, the expansive use of the trombone in sacred music provided
German opera composers in the eighteenth century with a template from which to use the
instrument’s sacerdotal affiliation to enhance elements of the divine within their works. It is
with Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) that we have some of the first known use of the
trombone within operatic music by a German composer, followed shortly thereafter by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But despite Gluck’s experimental use of the trombone to
enhance certain sacred aspects of five of his operas, it was Mozart who used the instrument
in new and truly innovative ways to enhance the spiritual scenes in his operas Idomeneo, Don
Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte. Whereas Gluck used the trombone simply to double the
voices of the choir and other instruments, Mozart innovatively employs the trombone to
harmonically enhance elements of dramatic speech that refer to spiritual themes, uses
specific dynamic effects to accentuate certain phrases of heightened sacred significance, and
emphasize the ideas of tension and release found in the text through sudden harmonic shifts.
2 By using the trombone in these works, Mozart helped give the instrument a larger and
more meaningful role in the opera orchestra in Germany during the eighteenth century. All
three of his operas that include trombone parts (Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, and Die
Zauberflöte) use the instrument in specific instances as a leading timbre within the orchestral
scoring. This inclusion of the instrument by Mozart in the opera orchestra led to the
instrument’s eventual use by German composers like Beethoven, Brahms, and others, to
enhance certain sacred themes within the symphonic medium. The trombone’s use by both
Beethoven and Brahms often relies on the instrument’s inclusion in chorale quotations, as
well as moments of heightened drama within their works. It is the innovations introduced by
Mozart that aided in the trombone’s advancement from simply an instrument of the church,
to a prominent member of the brass family in nearly every genre of Western music.
The Trombone’s Sacred Significance: Literary and Biblical Evidence
In order to fully understand Mozart’s compositional use of the trombone in his
operas, it is important to first understand how the trombone was perceived by the German
people during the eighteenth century. It is with writers like Johann Mattheson (1681-1764),
Christian Friedrich Schubart (1739-1791), and Johann Phillip Eisel (1698-1763) that we see
the sacred role of the trombone strongly emphasized. Each of these writers’ discourses
explains, on different levels, the role of the trombone in music and its origins as a sacred
instrument. In addition, each of these works is written for a wide range of educated members
of German society, including the rising middle class and, of course, the traditionally educated
aristocracy. This wide audience helps to propel the notion that the trombone’s importance in
sacred music was generally understood at multiple levels of society, and that the trombone
3 had a unique sacerdotal position in German musical society. It is in examining these primary
sources that one can more clearly understand the ways in which eighteenth-century German
culture viewed the trombone in music.
As stated by one of the leading researchers of early trombone discourses, David
Guion, Johann Mattheson’s publication of 1713 is meant for casual music listeners in the
eighteenth century, thus showing a broad Germanic audience.3 The work, entitled Das neueröffnete Orchestre (“The Newly-Opened Orchestra”), gives descriptions of various
orchestral instruments and their most common uses in music. In the section of the treatise
dedicated to the trombone, Mattheson states that the instrument was “rarely used in anything
other than church or solemn music.”4 This is important in that it gives a written example of
how rarely the trombone was used in secular music during this period, and puts the trombone
in a very stable sacred role. The solemn music Mattheson describes seems to reference, as
will be shown in chapter one, the use of the trombone in Ablassen (spiritual works for
trombone and cornett) that were often played atop large towers on special occasions.
Whereas Mattheson’s statement on the trombone’s function is brief, it does give his German
audience a clear definition of the understood role of the trombone in sacred and solemn
music.
In addition to Mattheson’s brief definition of the trombone’s musical function,
leading eighteenth-century theorist Christian Friedrich Schubart points out that the sacred
nature of the instrument was being profaned by its use in opera by German composers. In his
essay Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (“Ideas for an Aesthetic of Music”) written
3
David Guion, The Trombone: Its History and Music, 1697-1811 (Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach Publishers,
1988), 25.
4
“aber ausser in Kirchen-Sachen und Solennitäten sehr wenig gebraucht werden.” Johann Mattheson, Das neueröffnete Orchestre (Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1993), 266-67. This quotation, and those to follow, retains the
original German capitalization and spelling from the source.
4 between 1784 and 1785, he notes that “in our days, however, they [trombones] have been
defiled for the service of opera, and the trombone is no longer the property of God’s worship.
It is now used with abundant effect in the choruses of large operas.”5 He goes further, noting
that “we must fear the gradual and complete loss of the instrument.”6 These two quotes show
not only an understanding of the role of the trombone in sacred music, but a fear that the
earlier meaning of the instrument will be lost by its use outside of its predefined sacred
boundaries, in other words, by its use in opera. Schubart ends his discussion of the trombone
by stating, “But it is certain that the sound of the trombone is actually intended for religion
and not for secular use.”7 With this, Schubart presents himself as a man trying to preserve the
instrument’s sacred function in society. He wants to keep the instrument’s role sacred and is
not afraid to address the issue even while German composers like Mozart are using the
instrument in their secular operas to heighten sacred imagery.
Further discussing the sacred role of the trombone in German musical life was the
eighteenth-century theorist and writer Johann Phillip Eisel. Eisel’s 1738 treatise Musicus
autdidactos, oder der sich selbst informirende Musicus (“A Guide to Teach Oneself Music,
or the Self-Informed Musician”) is filled with information on music theory and technique
covering a variety of different instruments including the trombone.8 The title itself implies a
wide audience of the literate German public, as this serves as a manual from which students
can train him/herself in general music. In his section on the trombone, Eisel suggests that
5
“Aber in unsern Tagen hat man sie zum Operndienste entweiht; und die Posaune ist nicht mehr rein
Eigenthum des Gottesdienstes. —Man gebraucht sie nun auch mit großem Effect bey den Chören großer
Opern.” Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart and Ludwig Albrecht Schubart, Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der
Tonkunst (Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1969), 316. 6
“so müssen wir fürchten, solches allmählig ganz zu verlieren.” Ibid.
7
“Ausgemacht aber ist es, dass der Posaunenton ganz für die Religion und nie fürs Profane gestimmt ist.” Ibid,
317.
8
Johann Phillip Eisel, Musicus autodidactos, oder der sich selbst informirende Musicus (Leipzig:
Zentralantiquariat der DDR, 1976), 70. 5 “According to the testimony of Philo, the trombone is believed to have been invented by
God’s cherished prophet Moses around the year 2400 [B.C.].”9 The reference to the ancient
Jewish philosopher Philo suggests that Eisel is using ancient biblical philosophy in an effort
to hold the trombone in a sacred context. In this instance, Eisel is giving a biblical reference
to the trombone’s origins through an ancient philosopher’s views, but not directly referencing
biblical text. Eisel’s treatise shows a dynamic example of how strongly the trombone was
associated in this period of Germanic history with religion.
As I move deeper into the association the trombone had in the Bible it is important to
point out how German biblical scholars translated the word for the ancient Jewish instrument
the shofar (also written as sofar or shuphr), and the ancient Greek instrument salpigx (also
written salpinx). The shofar is an ancient instrument used by various groups throughout
antiquity, including the Egyptian and Jewish people. It is most often made from a Ram’s
horn and is played by buzzing through the small end while blowing shifting airstreams to
create different pitches.10 The salpigx is a term used to describe an ancient Greek brass
instrument that had a long flared tube in which one end is played like the shofar. The
instrument had a variety of uses that included playing for military engagements, as a
ceremonious instrument for the god Hermes, for street entertainment, and for athletic events.
(Of particular interest to modern brass players is that the Olympic games of 396 B.C.
featured a salpigx contest, in which the winner was determined by who could play the
loudest.)11 Both instrument names appeared in the original Hebrew Old Testament and Greek
9
“Auch dem Zeugnisse Philonis soll die Posaune von dem grossin Gottbeliebten Propheten Mose um das Jahr
der Welt 2400.“ Ibid.
10
Today, trumpet players often perform on the shofar during the Jewish High Holy days. For more information
on the history and use of the shofar see David Wulstan, “The Sounding of the Shofar,” The Galpin Society
Journal 26 (May 1973): 29-46.
11
Nikos Xanthoulis, “The Salpinx in Greek Antiquity,” International Trumpet Guild Journal (October 2006):
39.
6 New Testament from which Luther created his Bible translation, with the salpigx used often
in the book of Revelation to herald in the last judgment according to St. John.12
As noted by authors such as Stewart Carter and David Guion, Martin Luther’s
sixteenth-century translation of the Bible replaced the term shofar/salpigx with Posaune
(trombone) in most instances.13 In his translation of the original Hebrew, Luther chose to use
the term Posaune for specific moments in the text: using the instrument to represent the voice
of God, as an instrument of assembly and praise, and as an instrument of judgment during the
Apocalypse. The term Trompete was used by Luther as well and often replaced the term
shofar/salpigx in verses that mention war.14
Luther’s translation of the Bible was influential even for the Catholic members of
German society.15 His version was actually used by German Catholic theologians as the basis
for their own Bibles, and these were similar to Luther’s rendition from the sixteenth century
on.16 As a result, Germans, whether Catholic or Protestant, would have seen the term
Posaune in their Bibles, and understood it as an instrument that represented God’s voice,
prayer and assembly, and final judgment—an instrument of profound sacred significance.
This view of the instrument as biblical was shared by Habsburg Catholics like Mozart
himself, who used the term Posaune instead of Trompete in the text of his version of
Handel’s Messiah (Der Messias, K.572), which will be discussed later in this introduction.
12
Stewart Carter, “Trombone Obbligatos in Viennese Oratorios of the Baroque,” The Historic Brass Society
Journal 2 (1990): 71. 13
Ibid; Guion, 48. 14
These observations are founded on the numerous examples I have studied from the Interlinear Hebrew Bible
(containing the Christian Old Testament transliterated into English characters) and the information by Stewart
Carter. See Carter, 71; Hebrew Interlinear Bible (OT),
http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Hebrew_Index.htm (accessed October 5-25, 2013).
15
Carter, 71.
16
John Flood, “Martin Luther’s Bible Translation in its German and European Context,” In The Bible in the
Renaissance: Essays On Biblical Commentary and Translation in the Fifteenth and the Sixteenth Centuries, ed.
Richard Griffiths (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub Ltd, 2001), 64.
7 However, as David Guion points out, it is important to keep in mind that Luther
probably did not have the trombone—as it was known in the eighteenth century by
composers like Mozart—in mind. He probably was attempting to describe a type of medieval
slide trumpet that had at least some similarity to the modern slide-trombone. But writers and
musicians in the eighteenth century took Luther’s term to represent what they knew as the
trombone (and what we conceive in the present day), that of a brass instrument with a slide to
play chromatic pitches. Despite the controversy however, it is important to understand that
composers in Germany used Luther’s translation and those based on it, and their association
of his term Posaune as a modern slide-trombone, and hence ascribed a sacred significance to
the instrument based on its presence in the Bible.17
Within Luther’s Bible itself, and those translations based upon it, the sound of the
trombone is often compared to God’s voice itself. This is most strikingly seen in the Book of
Revelation written by St. John. One of the first instances of this use of the instrument occurs
in the first chapter of the book, as St. John relates God’s first appearance to him. As
translated by Luther, St. John states, “Ich war im geist an des HErrn tage, und hörete hinter
mir eine große stimme, als einer posaune” (“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard
behind me a great voice, as of a trombone”).18 In this instance, the voice of God is compared
to the sound of the trombone during the first moments of St. John’s vision of the Apocalypse.
17
Guion,151.
This biblical excerpt, along with the others presented here, contains the exact spelling and capitalization as
the original source, from Revelation 1:10 (Luther Bible). For this and the following examples, I will use a
Luther Bible printed in Halle in 1797. See Bibel, oder die ganze Heilige Schrift des alten und neuen Testaments,
trans. Martin Luther (Halle, 1797), courtesy of the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt,
Digitalisierung von Drucken des 18. Jahrhunderts, VD18 10433082.
18
8 Luther’s translation however, differs from a standard English translation from the King
James Bible which renders the word “trumpet” instead of Posaune.19
The term Posaune is also used in the fourth chapter from the book of Revelation in a
similar manner. In Rev. 4:1, St. John notes how God opens the door to heaven to speak to
him about what will happen during the Apocalypse. In Luther’s translation, St. John writes,
“Darnach sahe ich, und siehe, eine thür ward aufgethan im himmel; und die erste stimme, die
ich gehöret hatte mit mir reden, als eine posaune, die sprach: Steige her, ich will dir zeigen,
was nach diesem geschehen soll.” (“After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in
heaven: and the first voice that I heard was as it were of a trombone talking with me; which
said, Come up here, and I will show you things which must be hereafter).” 20 In this instance,
we see God’s voice again being compared to the sound of the trombone, as St John is asked
by God to join Him in looking at what is to come at the end of days. Both of these examples
(Revelation 1:10 and Revelation 4:10) show Luther comparing God’s voice to the trombone.
This image of the trombone as having a divinely associated musical sound in some of the
most important prophetic biblical accounts, gives the trombone further sacred significance in
a German society that relied heavily on the Bible’s text.
In addition to the comparison of the trombone and God’s voice, the instrument is also
used in Luther’s biblical translation as an instrument of assembly and praise. In the book of
Joel, the trombone is used to call to worship the people of Zion: “Blaset mit posaunen zu
Zion, heiliget ein fasten, rufet die gemeine zusammen” (“Blow the trombone in Zion,
19
The King James Bible translates the verse as, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a
great voice, as of a trumpet.” (Revelation 1:10 [KJB]).
20
Revelation 4:1 (Luther Bible); The King James Bible translates the verse as, “After this I looked, and behold,
a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me;
which said, Come up hither, and I will shew [show] thee things which must be hereafter.” (Revelation 4:1
[KJB]).
9 sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly”).21 As seen here, Luther’s translation suggests that
the trombone should be used to call God’s people to worship, a theme that is echoed
throughout many books of the Old Testament, including that of the prophet Joshua. In Joshua
6:4, Luther’s translation states, “Da Josua solches dem volk gesagt hatte, trugen die sieben
priester sieben halljahrsposaunen vor der lade des HErrn her, und gingen, und bliesen die
posaunen; und die lade des bundes des HErnn folgte ihnen nach.” (“And it came to pass,
when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trombones of
ram’s horns passed before the Lord, and blew with the trombones: and the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord followed them”).22 In this verse, we see Luther using the trombone to
help praise God in a procession of His holy Ark of the Covenant—the vessel holding the Ten
Commandments—during a general call to assembly of the Jewish people. Here, the trombone
represents not only assembly, but worship and praise to God; a theme that is carried on in one
of the most familiar psalms from the Bible. In Psalm 150, which speaks of the various ways
to praise God, Luther again uses the term Posaune in his translation, stating in the third
verse, “Lobet ihn mit posaunen; lobet ihn mit psalter und harfen” (“Praise him with the sound
of the trombone: praise him with the psaltry and harp”).23 Here, we see Luther’s translation
suggesting that one way to praise God is by using the sound of the trombone, a possible
proposal to use the instrument in German church services.
In addition to Luther’s use of the term Posaune in instances of praise and assembly in
the Old Testament, he also uses the term in the New Testament for the same purpose. In the
21
Joel 2:15 (Luther Bible); The King James Bibles states, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a
solemn assembly.” (Joel 2:15 [KJB]).
22
Joshua 6:4 (Luther Bible); The King James Bibles states, “And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto
the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the Lord, and blew
with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.” (Joshua 6:4 [KJB]).
23
Psalms 150:3 (Luther Bible); The King James Bible states, “Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise
him with the psaltry and harp.” (Psalms 150:3 [KJB]). 10 Gospel of St. Matthew, the term Posaune is used yet again to describe the gathering of
disciples for Christ. In Luther’s translation, St. Matthew states, “Und er wird senden seine
engel mit hellen posaunen; und sie werden sammlen seine auserwählten von den vier winden,
von einem ende des himmels zu dem andern.” (“And he shall send his angels with a great
sound of a trombone, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one
end of heaven to the other”).24 Here, we see the trombone used by Luther to represent God
bringing his chosen disciples together to be a part of his kingdom of heaven. This verse,
along with the three from the Old Testament, demonstrates how Luther’s translation rendered
the trombone as the instrument best suited to call together God’s people in worship. It is no
wonder, with the instrument’s biblical association of assembly and praise, that German
church music (as will be seen in chapter one) used the trombone so frequently.
In addition to Luther’s use of the term Posaune to represent God’s powerful voice
and praise/assembly, the instrument was also used in his translation to describe God’s voice
of judgment during the Apocalypse described by St. Paul, St. John, and others. One notable
use of the term Posaune is in the eighth chapter of St. John’s prophecy in which Luther’s
translation states, “Und da es das siebente siegel aufthat, ward eine stille in dem himmel, bey
einer halben stunde. Und ich sahe sieben engel, die da traten vor Gott; und ihnen wurden
sieben posaunen gegeben.” (“When he broke open the seventh seal, there was silence in
heaven for about a half an hour. And I saw that the seven angels who stood before God were
given seven trombones”).25 This intense biblical description of the opening of heaven is an
important image for the trombone to musically represent in Christian theology, as the
24
Matthew 24:31 (Luther Bible); The King James Bible states: “And he shall send his angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
(Matthew 24:31 [KJB]).
25
Revelation 8:1-2 (Luther Bible). The King James Bible states, “When he broke open the seventh seal, there
was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And I saw that the seven angels who stood before God were
given seven trumpets.”(Revelation 8:1-2 [KJB]).
11 opening of the seventh gate is symbolic of humanity’s end and the eventual judgment of all
mankind. Once again, the use of the trombone by Luther in this momentous biblical event
shows the religious importance of this instrument in German society during the sixteenth
century and moving on through the eighteenth century.
Continuing with the trombone’s use to describe the end of days, and of particular
importance in our upcoming study of Mozart’s works, is the prophecy found in St. Paul’s
first letter to the Corinthians. In the fifteenth chapter, which served as the text for one of
Handel’s arias from Messiah, Luther translates St. Paul as saying, “Und dasselbige plötzlich
in einem augenblick, zu der zeit der lezten posaunen. Denn es wird die posaune schallen, und
die todten werden auferstehen unverweslich, und Wir werden verwandelt werden.” (“In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trombone shall sound, and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed”).26 Here, we see the trombone
acting as the instrument that heralds the chosen people to rise from their graves at the end of
the world. This text (with the term trumpet) served as the basis for aria No. 35 “The Trumpet
Shall Sound” in Handel’s Messiah (1741) and in Mozart’s 1789 version of the same aria
(with the term Posaune) “Sie schallt, die Posaun’” from Der Messias (K.572) (lit. “It sounds,
the trombone”).27 Despite the fact that Mozart does not actually use a trombone to play his
revision of Handel’s trumpet part (actually played by a French horn), Mozart’s use of the
term Posaune in the aria demonstrates his use of a biblical text that was similar in translation
(at least for this specific term) to Luther. As mentioned, German Catholic Bibles were based
26
1 Corinthians 15:52 (Luther Bible). The King James Bible states “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
(1 Corinthians 15:52 [KJB]). 27
This evidence is a minor detail, as the trombone does not actually play the trumpet part. However, it is
important in showing that Mozart was using a Bible based on Luther’s translation and understood the sacred
significance of the trombone within this text.
12 in part on Luther’s version, and for Mozart, that included the term Posaune for shofar instead
of using “trumpet” like Handel and English biblical translators.
Of equal importance to the notion that Mozart used a biblical translation that included
the term Posaune, is the idea that the trombone’s appearance in German Bibles helped lead to
the instrument’s extensive use in church music. This included the trombone’s presence in
masses, oratorios, sacred cantatas, vespers, litanies and numerous other forms that will be
further studied in chapter one of this document. An excellent example—worth mentioning
here—of the trombone’s use in a sacred musical form that is rooted in one of the biblical
examples shown in this chapter, can be found in the Tuba mirum movement from the
requiem masses of Mozart and others, which reference verses like 1 Corinthians 15:52 where
the dead are raised by the sound of the trombone. As the trombone was known to have a
biblical place in Germany during this period, its mere use in church music helped to heighten
the spiritual significance of certain pieces for the listener.
It is the writings of Johann Mattheson, Christian Friedrich Schubart, Johann Phillip
Eisel, Martin Luther, and Catholic biblical translators that helped place the trombone in a
significant sacred position from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries in Germany.
Mattheson, Schubart, and Eisel all suggested that the trombone should only be used within
the confines of church music, and Luther’s biblical translation, along with the numerous
versions translated by Catholic writers based on his rendition, offer countless examples of the
trombone as a prominent instrument in the Bible. Despite the fact that the instrument
described was a completely different ancient Jewish or Greek instrument and that Luther
likely did not intend for his readers to think of the eighteenth-century version of the
trombone, the notion that the instrument was used in German translation helped to give it an
13 important place in German religious life. This included a prominent position in German
sacred music in both the Protestant and Catholic churches. Mozart and his predecessors
would use the instrument in their church music to enhance the solemnity of some of their
most profound works, and it is the sacred significance of the trombone that would later
inspire Mozart to use the instrument to heighten specific sacerdotal elements in his operatic
works including Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte.
14 Chapter I
The Trombone in German Sacred Music
Until the eighteenth century, the trombone was used extensively in sacred music.
Beginning in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the instrument was primarily used in
church music to double vocal parts in the choir.28 However, in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, the instrument fell out of use in much of Europe except in German-speaking
territories including the Habsburg Empire (whose capital city was Vienna), Saxony, and
elsewhere.29 Within these regions, the trombone still doubled vocal parts, but was also used
as an obbligato instrument in masses, cantatas, oratorios, and other sacred works. This
compositional use of the trombone was propagated most notably by Habsburg composers,
who were heavily influenced by Italian musicians.30 In Habsburg cities such as Vienna and
Salzburg, the Stadtpfeifer (Town Piper) tradition remained strong, and these highly trained
wind instrument musicians (who were required to play the trombone) routinely performed in
church services.31 The close German biblical association, as presented in the Introduction,
sheds light on the reason for the trombone’s importance in German church music throughout
this period, and it is in this musical environment that Mozart continued and expanded on the
use of the trombone in his own sacred and operatic music.
In this chapter, the trombone’s use in sacred music will be studied in order to show
the environment in which Mozart used the instrument. This survey will briefly describe the
28
Trevor Herbert, The Trombone, Yale Musical Instrument Series (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
2006), 100.
29
Stewart Carter, “Trombone Obbligatos in Viennese Oratorios of the Baroque,” The Historic Brass Society
Journal 2 (1990): 52.
30
Ibid, 53.
31
David Guion, The Trombone: Its History and Music, 1697-1811, Musicology Series (Amsterdam: Gordon
and Breach Publishers, 1988), 153.
15 use of the trombone in seventeenth and eighteenth-century church music in German-speaking
Europe, with a brief look at important Italian influences. This will be followed by a look at
the instrument’s use by both Catholic and Lutheran composers in their sacred compositions.
In these investigations, I will examine the use of the trombone to double choral voices, as an
accompanimental instrument, and as an obbligato instrument. The chapter will end with a
look into many of Mozart’s own sacred compositions that include trombone parts, showing
how his own church music and the sacred music in this period served as a compositional
model for his use of the instrument in Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte.
The Italian Influence on the Use of the Trombone in Germany
Prior to the eighteenth century, the trombone was used in civic and church music
throughout all of Europe. The earliest known work that specifically assigns the trombone a
part is Giovanni Gabrieli’s (1554-1612) Sonata pian’e forte, first published in 1597.32 Here,
the trombone is used in conjunction with seven other brass instruments in two choirs playing
completely independent parts. However, in the sixteenth century, the trombone was most
commonly used to double vocal lines, yet publishers did not specifically write out parts for
the instrument.33 In the seventeenth century, trombone parts were still not always specified in
church music, but it was commonplace for them to double voices or even replace them.34
Hundreds of sacred works survive from the seventeenth century, which use the trombone to
double choral voices or as an obbligato instrument.35 These works include many by Italian
32
Kenneth Hanlon, “The Eighteenth-Century Trombone: A Study of its Changing Role as a Solo and Ensemble
Instrument,” (DMA diss., John Hopkins University, 1989), 5.
33
Ibid.
34
Stewart Carter, “Trombone,” in A Performer’s Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music, ed. Stewart Carter, rev.
Jeffrey Kite-Powell (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2012), 128.
35
Bruce Dickey, “Cornett and Sackbut,” in A Performer’s Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music, ed. Stewart
Carter, rev. Jeffrey Kite-Powell (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2012), 103.
16 composers, including Gabrieli, Giovanni Martino Cesare (c.1590-1667), Biagio Marini
(1594-1663), as well as Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), who used the trombone
extensively in his opera Orfeo (1607), his Marian Vespers (1610) and many other large-scale
works.36
In Germany, Dresden composer Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), who had studied in
Venice with Gabrieli, also used the trombone in many of his works, starting with music for
the wedding of Michael Thomas and Anna Schultes.37 Additionally, this period of German
musical history saw an influx of Italian composers writing for the Habsburg court, caused in
part because of the goal of the Counter-Reformation to use all resources, including music, to
restore the supremacy of the Church.38 This led to Annibale Padovano (1527-75), who
worked at St. Mark’s, being employed as the first Italian in the Habsburg court. Padovano’s
hire was the first in a constant stream of Italian composers specifically summoned to perform
and conduct in the courts of monarchs such as Ferdinand I and III.39 These accomplished
performers helped the court lead in church music composition outside of Italy and restore the
artistic prowess of the Habsburg Empire during the Counter-Reformation.40
The use of the trombone prior to the eighteenth century in Europe, as shown above,
relies heavily on Italian composers and their influence. In his study of Renaissance brass
instruments, Bruce Dickey notes that there was a huge exchange of trombone players and
their related repertoire over the Alps in the seventeenth century.41 This movement of players
and music helped to foster the trombone’s extensive use in seventeenth-century German
36
Herbert, 106-107.
Ibid.
38
David Ross Manson, “Trombone Obbligatos with Voice in the Austrian Sacred Music of the seventeenth and
Eighteenth centuries: Representative Excerpts with Historical Introduction and Commentary” (DMA diss.,
University of Cincinnati, 1997), 12.
39
Manson, 13.
40
Ibid, 13-14.
41
Dickey, 102-103.
37
17 church music by Schütz, Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), Daniel Speer (1636-1707), Johann
Hentzschel (16?-?) and others.42 Additionally, the trombone’s use in Germany prospered due
to the rising number of instrument manufacturers that emerged in the region. As Stewart
Carter notes, there are seventy-six trombones that have survived from the seventeenth
century, all of them produced in German-speaking regions, with more than two-thirds made
in Nuremberg.43
The Civic Influence on the Use of the Trombone in Germany
The final factor that led to the trombone’s extensive use in German sacred music is
the tradition of the Stadtpfeifer, which can be traced back to the late fourteenth century. The
Stadtpfeifer were the most prestigious musicians in German towns, specializing in wind
instruments (string players—Kunstgeiger—were marginalized since they played instruments
of lesser musical value to the town). Stadtpfeifer were responsible for playing a variety of
wind instruments, including the trombone, and participated regularly in civic events and
church music. The Stadtpfeifer’s civic music itself often had a sacred function in this period
of German life, as trombonists would frequently perform Ablassen pieces (spiritual works for
trombone and cornett) from town hall balconies or city walls as an homage to instrumental
playing in biblical events.44 As Johann Kuhnau (1669-1722), J.S. Bach’s Leipzig
predecessor, described such performances, “When our civic musicians at festival time blow a
spiritual song on the loud trombones, every measure stirs the image of angels singing.”45 The
42
Herbert, 107.
Carter, “Trombone,” 123.
44
Manson, 17. These Biblical descriptions of the trombone in the German Bible have been studied in the
Introduction to this document.
45
Robert Whitwell, The Renaissance Wind Band and Wind Ensemble (Northridge, CA: Winds, 1983), 156,
cited in Manson, 17.
43
18 centuries-old tradition of using groups of Stadtpfeifer for important civic events helped
propel the trombone into the most important of town functions, the church service.46
All of the factors described above, combined with the German understanding of the
trombone as a biblically significant instrument, helped the trombone gain importance in
seventeenth-century German church music. But by the end of the seventeenth century its use
had diminished throughout much of Europe, including France, England, Spain, and the Low
Countries (which include the present-day countries of Belgium, the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, and parts of France and Germany).47 The instrument’s decline was steepest in
Italy, and even at St. Mark’s in Venice, where Gabrieli and his successors wrote so many
beautiful works featuring the trombone, stringed instruments and trumpets eventually
replaced the instrument by the end of the century.48 In Germany itself, the trombone survived
the late seventeenth-century decline, but its use remained limited to church music and some
civic functions.49 Indeed, both German Catholic and Lutheran composers continued to use
them frequently in sacred music into the eighteenth century.50 This suggests a universal
German understanding of the trombone within this period as an important church instrument,
as will be demonstrated below in our examination of composers from both religious
affiliations.
German Catholic Composers
Among the trombone’s centers of survival in eighteenth-century German church
music were the Habsburg cities of Vienna and Salzburg, important sites for many German
46
Guion, 153.
Carter, “Trombone,” 131.
48
Ibid; Herbert, 111.
49
Herbert, 112.
50
Carter, “Trombone,” 131.
47
19 Catholic composers including Mozart. Trevor Herbert writes that Vienna in particular was a
main source for the renewed interest of the trombone.51 This is due to a love for music that
many of the Habsburg monarchs of the period had, including Frederick III (reigned 1637-57),
Leopold I (reigned 1657-1705) and Joseph I (reigned 1705-11).52 These monarchs greatly
appreciated composers and performers, and frequently found time to compose themselves,
especially Joseph I, who wrote one of the earliest known obbligato parts for trombone in his
piece Alme Ingrate (c.1705).53 Additionally, as Herbert notes, the quality of trombonists in
the cities of Vienna and Salzburg was especially high, helping the instrument prosper as it
was declining throughout so much of Europe.54
David Manson describes the flourishing of the trombone throughout the Habsburg
lands during the eighteenth century as the “Golden Age for the trombone.”55 Works from the
period prove the accuracy of this statement, as trombone parts can be found in the music of
Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741), Matthias Öttl (1674-1725), Emperor Joseph I (1678-1711),
Johann Ernst Eberlin (1702-1762), Johann Georg Reutter (1708-1772), Georg Christoph
Wagenseil (1715-1775), Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (17361809), and, of course, W.A. Mozart, among many others.56 These German Catholic
composers used the trombones (alto, tenor and bass instruments) to double the choir parts of
their pieces (as was common before the eighteenth century), and also in more soloistic roles
51
Herbert, 109.
Carter, “Trombone Obbligatos in Viennese Oratorios of the Baroque,” 52.
53
Robert C. Wigness, “A Comprehensive Performance Project in Trombone Literature: With an Essay on the
Soloistic Use of the Trombone in Selected Works of Eighteenth-Century Viennese Imperial Court Composers,”
(DMA diss., University of Iowa, 1970), 57.
54
Herbert, 113.
55
Manson, 1.
56
Ibid.
52
20 by having them play complicated obbligato parts in sacred vocal works.57 (In the secular
realm, as mentioned earlier, the trombone’s role was limited, however solo concertos from
the later eighteenth century do exist. These include a concerto in E-flat by Wagenseil [1763],
and another by Albrechtsberger in B-flat [1769] along with solo pieces by Michael Haydn
and Leopold Mozart).58 The trombone’s use in music for the Catholic Church in the
Habsburg Empire includes parts in masses, oratorios, sepolcros, vespers, sacramental litanies,
litania lauretana, and Marion antiphons. 59
One of the more interesting obbligato uses of the trombone in this period can be
found in the sepolcros. These were oratorio-like musical dramas with sacred texts, usually
the passion stories, which were played during Holy Thursday and Good Friday of Holy
Week.60 One example of the trombone’s use in a sepolcro can be found in the compositional
output of Habsburg monarch Joseph I (1678-1711). Alme Ingrate (c. 1705) or “Ungrateful
Souls” is an aria taken from an untitled sepolcro he worked on with an anonymous
composer.61 The text states “Souls, ungrateful souls, Ah hear me, learn to love and to love
well; He who loves well is strong enough in heart even to face death, and does not tire to
57
These eighteenth-century obbligato trombone parts are more complex and soloistic than what Bruce Dickey
refers to as the “modest obbligato role” of the trombone by many seventeenth-century composers. See Dickey,
103.
58
Herbert, 114-115.
59
Many of these terms need explanation: the sepolcro will be discussed below; vespers is the evening prayer
service of the Catholic church, which includes numerous pieces of music and prayers; sacramental litanies are
specific prayers of supplication in reference to the Holy Eucharist, often set to music in the Catholic church
during this period; litanea lauretana is an invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary set to music, and Marion
antiphons are songs performed in honor of Mary often at Compline (the final Office of the liturgical day). See
Manson, 25; For information on the common use of the trombone during this period to double choir parts, see
Guion, 137-139, 157.
60
Herbert, 116.
61
Carter, “Trombone Obbligatos in Viennese Oratorios of the Baroque,” 57.
21 suffer sorrows.”62 This aria, in which an excerpt is shown below (example 1.1), features the
soprano voice aided by an equally important alto trombone part written in a florid style.63
Score
Alme ingrate
[Subtitle]
Example 1.1: Alme Ingrate, mm. 24-30
B 44
24
[Alto] Trombone
Œ
[Composer]
[Arranger]
64
!
œ œ œ œ œ "œœœ
F
!
œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ
4
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œœ
Œ Ó
J
&4 J J
J J
Voice
? 44 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
im - pa - ra - te ad
[learned
to
Continuo
6
a - mar
love
6 6
7
7
Ÿ
B œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ
28
f
!
&
?œ
6
œ
œ œ œ
4 3
œ
9
ed a - mar be and to love well.]
œ œ œ
8
43
œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ
œ
œ
ne.
œ # œ œ œ Ÿœ . œ œ œ œ œ œ
œœœ
!
!
‰ œJ œ œ œ œ œ
7
#
Œ
4 3
‰ œ œ œœœœœœ
J
6
As seen here, the trombone and soprano are playing an extended duet, in which they trade
phrases. The trombone line moves in successive sixteenth notes, and shows a good amount of
bravura style. Clyde Wigness argues that this abundance of sixteenth notes implies that the
trombonist must have developed excellent slide technique.65 Joseph I must have known how
62
Translated from the Italian text: Alme, alme ingrate, Deh'imparate, ad amar ed amar bene; Chi ben ama il
©
petto ha forte D'incontrar sino la morte, né si stanca di soffrir
pene.
63
Carter, “Trombone Obbligatos in Viennese Oratorios of the Baroque,” 53; Guion, 127.
64
Emperor Joseph I, Alme Ingrate (“Ungrateful Souls”), ed. David Manson and Christian Lindberg (Silver
Spring, MD: Virgo Music, 1987), 1. The musical examples in this chapter include literal translations by the
author to demonstrate how the composers set each word in the text.
65
Wigness, 59.
22 technically demanding this composition was, and he likely used one of the many
accomplished trombonists in Vienna during this period to perform it.
Another Habsburg composer who used the trombone extensively in his compositions
is the famous late Baroque master Johannes Fux (1660-1741). Best known for his
monumental treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad Parnassum (1725), Fux studied in Rome
and was later named Hofkapellmeister in 1715 by Habsburg monarch Charles VI. In his
sacred music, he used the trombone to double the voices of the choir, but also to play
virtuosic solo lines that are of equal importance to the voice.66 In his sepolcro La passion di
Gesù Cristo from 1730, he used the trombone in this type of obbligato fashion in the second
half of the work during St. John’s aria.67 In his sepolcro La deposizione dalla croze di Gesù
Cristo Salvator Nostro from 1728, the two trombone parts are independent, and are used in
an imitative texture throughout the duet between the Virgin Mary and St. John.68 Wolfgang
Suppan suggests that within Fux’s sepolcros the trombone is representative of “suffering and
death,” an association which will partially carry over into the masses and other sacred works
of Mozart and his predecessors.69
In addition to his sepolcros, Johannes Fux also used the trombone in nearly every
sacred genre in which he composed.70 Out of the fourteen oratorios he wrote, six contain
trombone solos in the aria sections.71 Additionally, his Marion antiphon, Alma Redemptoris
(c. 1728), scored for soprano and trombone, two violins, bassoon, cello and violone, also
66
Guion, 129.
Harry White, “The Sepolcro Oratorios of Fux: An Assessment,” in Johann Joseph Fux and the Music of the
Austro-Italian Baroque, ed. Harry White (Aldershot, England: Scholar Press, 1992), 229.
68
Ibid, 227.
69
Wolfgang Suppan, “The Use of Wind Instruments (Excluding Chalumeau) in Fux’s Music,” in Johann
Joseph Fux and the Music of the Austro-Italian Baroque, ed. Harry White (Aldershot, England: Scholar Press,
1992), 104.
70
Guion, 129.
71
Carter, “Trombone Obbligatos in Viennese Oratorios of the Baroque,” 61.
67
23 used the trombone in an obbligato manner.72 In this heavily studied work, the trombone’s
technically challenging melodic line features florid movement and some of the first
discovered use of lip trills in a trombone obbligato part (adding to the lip trills found in Alme
Ingrate [example 1.1]).73 In all, Fux’s use of the trombone in his sacred music is extensive,
and shows a continuation of the obbligato use of the trombone in this period just prior to
Mozart.
In addition to Johannes Fux, Habsburg Catholic composer George Reutter the
Younger (1708-1772), who succeeded Fux as Kapellmeister in Vienna in 1731, also used the
trombone in his sacred music in a virtuosic manner.74 This can be seen in his Requiem in C
Minor from 1753, in which one movement has an extended alto trombone solo; two more
contain soloistic writing for two trombones, and the other movements have the trombones
doubling the choir parts.75 Under the title of the Requiem itself appears the inscription con
tromboni soli, which shows the overall importance of the trombone in this work.76 Of
particular interest to this study, is his use of two obbligato trombones in his Tuba mirum
movement. In this piece, Reutter provides us with the first discovered instance of the
trombone’s use in a Tuba mirum movement.77 It is uncertain if Mozart had any knowledge of
this use of the trombone when he used the instrument in his Requiem, but nonetheless it does
show that the trombone had a place in the requiem mass as early as the mid-eighteenth
century. In this movement, the composer uses two trombones (alto and tenor instruments
based on their associated clefs), accompanied by soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. The
72
Suppan, 103.
Manson, 32-33.
74
Guion, 131.
75
Ibid.
76
Wigness, 64.
77
Ibid, 63-64.
73
24 trombones frequently interrupt the voices as they play melodic lines in a florid manner, as
Score
Reuter Requiem
seen below (example 1.2).
[Subtitle]
Example 1.2: Tuba mirum from Reutter’s Requiem,
mm. 24-3378
B b b 43
B b b 43
!
24
[Alto] Trombone
[Tenor] Trombone
Soprano
!
b 3
B b 4 œ
su
Alto
Tenor
Baritone
Continuo
B bb œ
B bb œ
29
b
B b
B bb
B b b 43 œ
ra
j
œ œ œ œ.
ju - di
can
[to
render account
-
-
ra
œ
su
-
ra
ju - di
-
can
œ.
-
su
-
ra
ju - di
-
can
-
? b b 43
œ
j j
œ œ
œ
? b b 43 œ œ œ ‰ j
œ
œ œ
6
4
5
#
œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ
œœœœ œœœœ œ
? bb œ œ n œ œ
!
œ œ œ œ.
J
ju - di
j j - can
œ œ
œ.
nœ
su
B b b 43 œ
B bb
? b
b
-
œ
!
!
œ œ
J
ti
j re
œ œ
-
ti
j re
œ nœ
œ
J
œ
Œ
Œ
œ
Œ
Œ
!
Œ
Œ
!
spon - su
the judge.]
-
ra.
œ œ nœ
-
spon - su
œ ˙
-
ra.
-
spon - su
œ ˙
-
ra.
œ
œ
œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ nœ
Œ
œœœœœœœœ
!
Œ
!
œ nœ œ
j
œ ‰ œ œ œœœ œ ‰
œœ œœœœœœ œ
œ
6
5
#
senz'org.
4
œ œ œ œ œ Ÿœ œ Œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . œ œ œŸ
œ œ œ œ œ nŸœ œ Œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ n Ÿœ
ti
re
-
spon - su
-
ra.
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
‰
œœ œœœœœœ œ
œ œnœ œ
!
œ
re before
œ œ œ
œœœœœœœœ
œ
œ
!
j
œ œ
ti
!
!
!
[Composer]
[Arranger]
œ œ œ nœ
!
!
œ ‰
œ
J
!
!
œ bœ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
Œ
Œ
!
!
œ
j
œ
œ
œ
!
As one can see in this example, the successive sixteenth notes and lip trills are similar to that
of the other soloistic uses of the trombone described previously. The equal difficulty of the
lines (with the first four measures of this excerpt being unison) suggests that both players
©
78
Georg Reutter the Younger, Requiem (Wien: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, n.d.), microfilm, p. 23,
frame 0869.
25 must have been skilled performers.79 As will be pointed out later, Mozart will also use this
same technically complex melodic use of the trombone in his sacred works. However, it is
important to remember that the trombone’s most common use in church music during this
period was still to double the voices of the choir.
German Lutheran Composers
Outside of the Habsburg domain, German Lutheran composers like Johann Sebastian
Bach (1685-1750) also used the trombone in their church music. Bach’s own use of the
trombone is almost exclusively located in his sacred cantata output from 1723-1725, during
the first three years of his tenure as Cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig and his
directorship of music at the local town churches, including the Thomaskirche. These sacred
cantatas, many of which feature trombone parts, were written for Sunday services (except
during Advent and Lent) and major Lutheran church feasts for which cantatas would
routinely be played.80 The compositions begin with his Estomihi Sunday audition cantata Du
wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn (BWV 23), performed on February 7, 1723, and ends with
Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende (BWV 28) for the Sunday after Christmas on December
30, 1725.81 During this period, Bach used the trombone in fourteen of his sacred cantatas,
including those written prior to his time in Leipzig that were revised to include trombone
parts.82 The trombone parts for Bach's Leipzig cantatas, however, use the instrument
primarily to double the choir voices, and supply the accompanying harmonization of the
79
Wigness, 64.
Alfred Dürr, The Cantatas of J.S. Bach, revised and trans. Richard D.P. Jones (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2005), 25.
81
Thomas Braatz “J. S. Bach’s Use of Trombones: Utilization and Chronology,” The Bach Cantata Website.
Articles Section, 2010. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/BachTrombone.pdf (accessed July 8, 2012), 1.
82
Herbert, 113.
80
26 vocal lines in just two of the cantatas.83 Part of the reason for this lack of virtuosic writing
likely stems from the poor quality of the trombonists available to Bach, such as the Leipzig
Stadtpfeifer Gottfried Reiche, who David Guion says was only barely proficient on the
instrument.84 However, this lack of virtuosity did not stop Bach from using the instrument in
his church cantatas during his time in Leipzig, as he understood how the instrument’s sacred
significance could aid in heightening the meaning of the texts.
One important sacred cantata from this period that includes trombone parts is Christ
lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4, “Christ Lay in Death’s Bounds”). This cantata was first
composed in 1707, but was completely rewritten in 1725 for Easter Sunday with the addition
of trombone parts.85 In this work, Bach uses strings and continuo, but also a cornetto to
double the soprano voice (sometimes thought to actually be a soprano trombone86), an alto
trombone in E-flat to double the alto voice, a tenor trombone in B-flat to double the tenor
voice, and a bass trombone in either B-flat or E-flat to double the bass voice; their presence
in this sacred cantata is important in heightening the sacred message of this work.
One of Bach’s students and Cantor at Thomaskirche in Leipzig from 1755 to 1789,
Johann Friedrich Doles (1715-1797), also used the trombone in his sacred Lutheran music
while at the church. One of Doles’s uses of the instrument in this output occurs in his figural
chorales written while in Leipzig. As Jeffrey Sposato points out, these chorale melodies
could be associated with numerous texts in order to fit various types of feats and celebrations
in the Lutheran church.87 The trombone’s use in these chorales to double the voices of the
choir is similar to Bach’s use of the instrument in his sacred cantatas, and simply re-enforces
83
Guion, 158.
Ibid.
85
Ibid, 157; Braatz, 1-2.
86
Herbert, 60-63.
87
I would like to thank Jeffrey Sposato for allowing me to use the first draft of his book. Jeffrey Sposato,
Leipzig After Bach: Church and Concert Life in a German City, 1750-1850 (Forthcoming), 2.
84
27 the voices as the verses are sung.88 Additionally, the trombones may have also been used to
play in the opening chorale ritornello and interspersed ritornelli between the verses along
with the rest of the orchestra.89 Thus, Doles’s use of the trombone in his sacred Lutheran
music in Leipzig demonstrates the trombone’s influence in German church music in the late
eighteenth century.
Johann Adam Hiller (1728-1804) is yet one more Lutheran composer who used the
trombone in his sacred music while Cantor at Thomaskirche from 1789 to 1801. During his
period of employment at the church, Hiller began a radical restructuring of the music for the
Leipzig church liturgy aided by his close ally, the superintendent Johann Georg
Rosenmüller.90 Among their changes was the replacement of much of the Latin text of the
service with German. Of particular importance is that the German chorale Kyrie, Gott Vater
in Ewigkeit replaced the Latin Kyrie in the service, and was accompanied, like all chorales in
the service, by trombones.91 Like Doles’s figural chorales and Bach’s sacred cantatas before
him, Hiller continued the use of the trombones to double the voices of the choir in this
chorale and others during the Lutheran church service.
As one can see, both Catholic Habsburg composers, such as those based in Vienna,
and Lutheran composers, including those centered in Leipzig, used the trombone in the
eighteenth century in their sacred music. This suggests a universal German understanding of
the trombone within this period as an important church instrument, based in part on Luther’s
biblical translation, the preponderance of instrument manufacturers in many of these regions,
88
Johann Adam Hiller, “Ueber eine neue Art von Kirchenmusik,” Anhang zu den wöchentliche Nachrichten
und Anmerkungen die Musik betreffend 3, no. 17 (23 October 1769): 134.
89
Sposato, 1.
90
Ibid, 5.
91
Ibid, 6.
28 the strong German Stadtpfeifer tradition and the various other influences previously
mentioned.
Mozart’s Use of the Trombone in his Sacred Music
The majority of Mozart’s sacred music was composed specifically for liturgical use in
Salzburg, with all but the last three of his sacred works that include trombone parts coming
from his time there. 92 Mozart’s first sacred work in which the trombone is included comes
from a composition he wrote while just eleven years old, the sacred cantata Die Schuldigkeit
des Ersten Gebots (K. 35, 1767), and was followed by numerous masses, oratorios, vespers
and other works. While in Salzburg, Mozart composed in every major genre, yet his sacred
music was always his highest priority.93 This stems from his employment by Archbishop
Colloredo, who required him to compose church music that was to be used in the Salzburg
Cathedral and elsewhere in the city. In Mozart’s sacred music for Salzburg, he utilizes the
trombone to impart—as Julian Rushton described it—a “dignified colouring” to the pieces,
and, as will be demonstrated by examining his post-Salzburg church music, a great amount of
refined harmonic and expressive shading.94
Mozart used the trombone in a total of seventeen of his sacred pieces, of which
fourteen were written while in Salzburg.95 These pieces include his masses: Missa solemnis
(K. 47a, “Waisenhauskirche”), Missa brevis (K. 61a), Missa in C (K. 257, “Credo”), Missa in
C (K. 317 “Krönungsmesse”), and Missa solemnis (K. 337).96 His unfinished addition to this
genre, the Missa in C Minor (K. 417a), was written between 1782-1783 while Mozart was in
92
Julian Rushton, Mozart (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 45.
Ibid, 78.
94
Ibid, 46.
95
Guion, 138.
96
I will use the Köchel numbering system from the most recent edition (sixth) of the catalog.
93
29 Vienna, and also includes trombone parts. Added to these masses are his sacred cantatas Die
Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots (K. 35) and Davidde penitente (K. 469), with the latter
written while in Vienna and using music from the Missa in C Minor (K. 417a).97 Mozart also
includes the trombone in his orchestration of Handel’s Messiah, Der Messias (K. 572), and
the Requiem (K. 626), both composed in Vienna. In addition, he also uses trombones in his
Dixit und Magnificat (K. 186g), four litanies and two vespers that were written while in
Salzburg.
In Mozart’s sacred music, he uses the trombone primarily in its traditional role to
double the voices of a choir, which can be seen in all of the pieces previously mentioned.98
Yet in a few of these works, the trombone is used in a more soloistic or accompanimental
manner, as was seen in the works of his German predecessors. Below, four of these works
will be examined, beginning with his sacred cantata Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots
(1767) and ending with the Requiem fragment from 1791. Through Mozart’s use of obbligato
and accompanimental trombone writing, these pieces demonstrate how he used the
instrument to provide a greater depth to the sound of the orchestra and add to the drama of
his sacred works.99
The sacred cantata Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots (“The Obligation of the First
Commandment”) was written by the young Mozart as a test by the Archbishop, who believed
the boy’s father was helping him compose all of his fine works.100 Mozart wrote the first part
of the work and Michael Haydn and Anton Cajetan Adlgasser, the senior Salzburg
97
Herbert, 118.
Guion, 139.
99
Herbert (118) relates this specifically to Mozart’s works written in Vienna, including his Missa in C Minor
and Requiem. However, as I will show, this orchestral enhancement and dramatization also occurs in the
Salzburg compositions presented here.
100
Guion, 139. Herbert and Solomon both refer to Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots (K. 35), and Davidde
penitente (K. 469) as oratorios. However, Guion and the NMA both refer to them as sacred cantatas as I also
will.
98
30 composers, wrote parts two and three.101 Unfortunately, the contributions of Haydn and
Adlgasser have been completely lost, and Mozart’s work is all that remains of the piece. The
work is essentially a series of recitatives and arias that relates the need for all of mankind to
repent in order to be saved from fear and eternal damnation. It was written for the season of
Lent, and is not thought to be one of Mozart’s most representative works, as (according to
Rushton) the words do not match the music well.102 The piece is written in a traditionally
Baroque fashion, utilizing the orchestra, including the trombone, to enhance many of the
traditional dramatic elements of word painting.103 Mozart uses a solo alto trombone in two of
the movements, with the first of these appearances being a brief two measures in an
accompanied recitative. More significant, however, is Mozart’s use of the solo alto trombone
to accompany the Spirit of Christianity’s aria “Jener Donnerworte Kraft” (“The Power of
Those Thunderous Words”).
The text of the work as a whole, and of this aria specifically, is of great importance to
this survey, in that, as noted in the introduction, it uses the word Posaune instead of
Trompete. This demonstrates Mozart’s familiarity with the German biblical significance of
the trombone, which started with Martin Luther’s historic translation. The message of the
sacred cantata comes from the gospel of Mark, where Jesus tells His disciples, “And thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”104 Over the course of the cantata,
the Christian Spirit, Justice, and Mercy characters impress on mankind the importance of the
101
Mozart’s first part was performed at the Salzburg court on March 12, 1767. Parts two and three by Haydn
and Cajetan were performed at the court on March 19 and (most likely) 26. See Stanley Sadie, Mozart: The
Early Years, 1756-1781, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006), 115.
102
Rushton, 22.
103
Sadie, 117.
104
Mark 12:30 (King James Bible). Here, Jesus gives a revised version of God’s original commandment
received by Moses: I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house
of bondage, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. See Exodus 20:2-3 (KJB).
31 first commandment as issued by Jesus. The Worldly Spirit character attempts to undermine
this by identifying the importance of worldly pleasures. In the aria “Jener Donnerworte
Kraft,” the character of the Christian awakes and is presented with images of his own
mortality and judgment if he does not repent.105 Below is the text from the aria: note the word
Posaunenschall in the third stanza.
Christian:
Jener Donnerworte Kraft,
die mir in die Seele dringen,
fordern meine Rechenschaft.
The power of those thunderous words,
that penetrates my soul,
calls me to account.
Ja mit ihrem Widerhall
hört mein banges Ohr erklingen
annoch den Posaunenschall.
Yes, in its echo
my fearful ear still hears sound
of the trombone’s call.
Jener Donnerworte Kraft…
The power of those thunderous words…
In the aria’s text, the trombone serves as a reference to the awesome power and wrath of God
during the last judgment, reminding the Christian of his obligation to follow the first
commandment closely or else face mortality and damnation at the sound of His voice (as
represented by the trombone). The independent obbligato line played by the alto trombone is
prominent in the aria because it is acting solely as the judgmental voice of God. Additionally,
when listening to the sweet and florid nature of the trombone line (example 1.3), one can also
hear the more forgiving nature of God, possibly in reference to mankind’s salvation through
the more serene Jesus (who differs greatly from God’s often vengeful depiction in the Old
Testament and the Book of Revelation in the New Testament).
105
Sadie, 115-117.
32 Score
Jenner Donnerworte Kraft
Example 1.3: Jener Donnerworte Kraft from Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots, mm. 151[Composer]
[Subtitle]
156106
˙ ˙
B bbb C ˙
151
Alto Trombone
Violin I
Violin II
Viola I
Viola II
The Christian
Violoncello
and Bass
b
&bb C œŒÓ
b
&bb C œŒÓ
B bbb C œ Œ Ó ˙
B bbb C œ Œ Ó Ó
b
Vbb C
!
? bb C œ Œ Ó
b
!
!
!
œ œ Ÿœ . œ œ œŸ. œ œ ˙
p
Í
˙
!
!
!
!
!
Ÿ
œ œ œ.
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Ÿ œ œ Ÿœ .
œ œ œ.
œœœœ œ
˙
Ÿ
œ.
Œ œ
nœ
œ
œ œ
œ
!
˙ n˙
œ
œ.
!
œ
œ œ.
˙
Ÿ
œ œ œ.
!
Ÿ Ÿ
œ œ œ. œ œ œ. œ nœ
p
œ˙
nœ
œ
p
w
Ó
œ œ
Je - ner
[Those
œ
œœ
œ
p
Í
˙
Í
˙
Í
˙
Í
˙
[Arranger]
œ
œ nœ œ œ
œ
œ œ nœ
œ nœ ‰ œ
œ œ
‰ œj
œ n œ œJ œJ
J J
Don
thundrous
#˙
Í
Œ
œ
ner - wor - te
words]
œ
As one can see, the trombone is used in a florid manner, with an abundance of trills and a
constantly moving melodic line that occurs primarily in between the vocal phrases. Within
the aria there are also three cadenzas that add to the highly ornamental style of the work. This
decorative use of a solo alto trombone implies that this piece was likely written with a true
virtuoso in mind, possibly the famous Salzburg trombonist Thomas Gschlatt.107 It is in this
sacred cantata that Mozart shows off his ability to use the trombone in a highly virtuosic solo
manner to show Christ’s message of salvation through repentance.
Mozart’s next use of the trombone in his church music occurs in his 1768 Missa
solemnis (“Waisenhauskirche”). This work was written by the twelve-year old Mozart for the
106
©
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie I,
Werkgruppe, Band 1, ed. Franz Giegling (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1958), 81.
107
Wigness, 72.
33 consecration of the orphanage church (Waisenhauskirche) in Vienna, and the performance
was highly successful for the prodigy.108 In the work, Mozart uses three trombones (alto,
tenor and bass instruments) to simply double the parts of the choir, as he will do in
subsequent masses and other church pieces. However, in this mass, he also uses the trombone
in an unaccompanied trombone trio in the Agnus Dei. This was the first time Mozart used the
trio in such an exposed manner, and it shows a clear link as to how he will use the
autonomous trio in his operas.
108
Maynard Solomon, Mozart, a Life (New York: Harper Collins, 1995), 74-75.
34 Score
Agnue Dei
Example 1.4: Agnus Dei from Missa solemnis in C Minor (“Waisenhauskirche”), mm. 1[Composer]
12109
[Subtitle]
œœ
œ œ œ œ œ Œ œ ˙.
B bbb C ˙ .
B b b b C fw
w
˙ n˙
Tenor Trombone
f
œ œ œ œ nœ nœ œ
?
b
C
Bass Trombone
bb œ œ œ œ œ
f
3
6
œœœ
œ
œ
b
˙
œ
œ˙
Bbb œ
˙.
œœ
3
3
Í
b
Bbb œ ˙
œ
w
w
1
Alto Trombone
? b œ œ œ œ
bb
œ œ
œ ˙
B bbb
3
B bbb œ .
œœœ
? bb œ .
œœœ
b
10
œ œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ ˙
nœ
#œ
˙
œ
œ ˙
œ ˙
˙
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œœ œœ˙
˙
œ
œ
œ nœ
œ
œ
œ ˙
˙.
œ œ œ œ œ œ n˙.
3
3
Í
œ
˙
œ œ œ
œ
[Arranger]
œ
œ
͜
œ œ
Ó
nœ œ Ó
œ œ œ œ
œ.
œ
J
As seen in the example above, the three trombones are completely independent in the
opening twelve measures. The bass trombone essentially emulates a continuo part, and the
tenor trombone serves to fill in the harmony. The alto trombone plays an active melodic line
that features florid writing, many leaps, and even its own independent dynamic marking of
forte-piano in measure 7. The alto trombone part is not as expressive or technically
demanding as in “Jener Donnerworte Kraft,” but ©serves a similar role as a solo melodic
instrument within the composition. The trombone section also plays independently in the
Kyrie and Credo of the mass, but not in such an exposed manner. As the Agnus Dei occurs
109
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Missa solemnis in c, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie I, Werkgruppe 1, Abteilung
1, Band 1, ed. Walter Senn (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1968), 147. This example contains the complete score, as the
trombones are the only instruments used in the opening twelve measures. 35 during the Rite of Communion (following the consecration of the gifts during the mass),
Mozart was essentially heightening the meaning of this most holy ritual by using a trombone
soli. Through the inclusion of the symbolically significant trombone section in an exposed
manner in just this section of the mass, and not in the Kyrie and Credo, Mozart is giving
weight to the sacrament of communion over the mass parts that deal with repentance and
Christ’s suffering.
Another mass in which Mozart used the trombones in a significant way is his Missa
in C (K. 317, “Krönungsmesse”) from 1779. This mass was completed on March 23rd, and
most likely received its title of “Coronation Mass” as a result of the work’s performance
under the direction of Antonio Salieri during the coronation ceremonies of Leopold II as king
of Bohemia in Prague in 1791.110 Within the piece, the trombone is used in the Kyrie, Gloria,
Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei mainly to support the voices of the choir by
doubling their parts. Some of the important musical elements within the brass parts
(trumpets, horns, and trombones) include the use of dotted rhythms throughout the mass to
aid in the “ceremonious character” of the music. 111 In addition, the trombone section also
enhances the work as a whole by providing harmonic support to the voices at moments of
heightened emotion within the various movements.
One of the most striking harmonic moments in this mass occurs in the Credo (which
begins in the key of C) where the trombones double the voices in the choir as they move
through a myriad of minor and diminished chords as the choir sings Cricifixus etiam pro
nobis: sub Pontio Pilato passus (“He was crucified also for us, and suffered under Pontius
Pilate”).
110
111
Sadie, 494.
Ibid, 495.
36 Score
Credo, Coronation Mass
[Subtitle]
Example 1.5: Credo from Missa in C (“Krönungsmesse”),
mm. 65-69112
b˙
B c ‰ œ œJ
B c ‰ b œ œJ ˙
bœ œ œ œ œ ˙
& c ‰ b œ œJ b ˙
bœ œ œ œ œ ˙
J RR J J
65
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Soprano
? c ‰ bœ œ ˙
J
j
& c ‰ œ œ b˙
Cru - ci - fi
[He was crucified
Alto
bœ œ ˙
Vc ‰ J
Bass
bœ œ œ. œ œ œ ˙
œ œœ œ œ ˙
#œ œ œ. œ œ œ ˙
j r r j j
œ œœ œ œ ˙
xus et - i - am pro no
also
for us:
-
Cru - ci - fi
-
xus et - i - am pro no
-
Cru - ci - fi
-
xus et - i - am pro no
-
? c ‰ bœ œ ˙
J
-
xus et - i - am pro no
œ œœ œ œ ˙
J RR J J
œ Œ œ bœ Œ œ œ Œ Ó
œ Œ pœ œ Œ œ œ Œ Ó
œ bœ œ. œ œ œ ˙
bœ œ œ œ œ ˙
J RR J J
Cru - ci - fi
Tenor
œ œœ œ œ ˙
-
j
œ œJ œR . œR œR b œR ˙
Ô
suffered
K under Pontius
j œj œr . œr œr œr ˙
bœ
bis: sub
and
Pon - ti - o
Pi - la
œ b œJ œR . œR œR œ ˙
Ô
J
R
bis: sub Pon - ti - o
Pi - la
#œ œ œ. œ œ œ ˙
J J R RÔ R R
[Composer]
[Arranger]
p
Œ bœ œ Œ œ œ Œ Ó
p
œ Œ œJ œj Œ œJ œj Œ Ó
p
bœ
-
-
bis: sub Pon - ti - o
Pi - la
-
bis: sub Pon - ti - o
Pi - la
-
j j
jj
œ Œ pœ b œ Œ œ œ Œ Ó
to
pas - sus,
pas - sus,
œ Œ œj œ Œ œj œ Œ Ó
J
J
p
to
pas - sus,
pas - sus,
bœ Œ bœ œ Œ j jŒ Ó
œœ
J J
p
to
pas - sus,
pas - sus,
to
Pilate,]
pas - sus,
pas - sus,
As can be seen in this example, the trombones aid in enhancing the Credo’s most gruesome
image, that of Christ’s suffering under Pontius Pilate and His crucifixion. As the voices sing
this emotionally charged text, the harmony begins in E-flat in m. 65 and quickly moves up to
A-flat minor in the last two beats of the measure. After the first measure, with its brief move
to a minor tonality, the harmonies become more dissonant and strained. Measure 66 features
an E-diminished harmony for the entire length of the bar, as the text suggests that Christ was
crucified “also for us.” The dissonance continues in the following measure (m. 67) on an Fsharp diminished chord on beat 1 followed by a 6/4 chord on G (C-minor) on beat 3,
implying a cadence in C minor. At the beginning of measure 68, the harmony moves
deceptively up to an embellishing diminished seventh (B-diminished seventh in 4/2 position
with A-flat in the bass). On beat three of the same
© measure (m. 68) the harmony moves in a
highly irregular fashion to a tonic 6 (C minor triad in 6/3 position), which itself then moves
112
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Missa in C, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie I, Werkgruppe 1, Abteilung 1, Band
4, ed. Monika Holl (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1989), 121-123.
37 back to the dominant seventh, but now also in highly irregular fashion, in the 6/5 inversion of
a G-dominant seventh chord (m. 69) with the leading tone in the bass (and thus denying the
normal resolution of the bass A-flat down by a half step to G). In this course of these brief
five measures, Mozart’s dissonant chordal progression is in itself tormented and strained to
the limits of the harmony as it moves from E flat major to its relative minor (C minor),
matching the gruesome imagery of the text well. The trombones aid these quickly moving
dissonances, not merely to help the voices find their pitches within the chords, but to add
their sacerdotal association to this section and further enhance the imagery of the text. It is
not until measure 72 (where the text speaks of Christ’s resurrection) that the harmonies once
again stabilize into the movement’s primary key of C major. Thus, the tension, which begins
in measure 65, and is continually built through dissonant harmonic structures, is only
released as the text speaks of Christianity’s most meaningful event, the Resurrection. By
using the trombone section to support the harmonies sung by the voices here in this powerful
moment in the Credo, Mozart yet again demonstrates the meaningful association the
trombone had in church music.
In Mozart’s unfinished Missa in C Minor (K.427), composed between 1782 and 1783
during his time working in Vienna, he used three trombones (alto, tenor, and bass
instruments) yet again. This piece was personally meaningful for Mozart, and in a letter to
his father on January 4th, 1783 he relates that this mass was intended to represent his marital
pledge to his wife.
It is quite true about my moral obligation and indeed I let the word flow from my pen
on purpose. I made the promise in my heart of hearts and hope to be able to keep it.
When I made it, my wife was not yet married; yet, as I was absolutely determined to
marry her after her recovery, it was easy for me to make it-but, as you yourself are
aware, time and other circumstances made our journey impossible. The score of half
38 of a mass [Missa in C Minor], which is still lying here waiting to be finished, is the
best proof that I really made the promise.113
For Constanze, beside this mass being a fulfillment of their marriage vows, it was also a
piece that celebrated the family’s children.114 The piece even includes several prominent
soprano solos that were intended for Constanze to sing, a symbol of Mozart’s devotion to his
wife. Additionally, Solomon notes that this work was also intended to be a peace offering
between Mozart and his father, in order to heal the divisions that had occurred within the
family.115
With all of the combined meaning of this work, it seems a shame that the mass was
never completed. The work only contains the Kyrie, Gloria, part of the Credo, and unfinished
drafts of the Sanctus and Benedictus. Trombone parts are found in every movement in the
mass except for the Credo fragment and the Benedictus. Specifically, the instrument is used
simply to double the voices of the choir in these sections, except in the Sanctus where they
participate in accompanimental figures.116 There, the trombone parts show a great deal of
independence from the orchestra, and are written in a highly florid bravura style reminiscent
of the obbligato use of the instrument in the works of Mozart and his predecessors studied
earlier in this chapter.
113
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Letters of Mozart and His Family, ed. and trans. Emily Anderson (London:
Macmillan, 1966), 834.
114
Solomon, 270-271.
115
Ibid, 270.
116
Guion, 139.
39 Score
Sanctus
[Subtitle]
[Composer]
[Arranger]
117
Example 1.6: Sanctus from Missa in C Minor, mm. 12-17
Bc ‰ œ œ œ
12
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Soprano I
Alto I
Tenor I
Bass I
Soprano II
Alto II
Tenor II
Bass II
Bc ‰ œ œ œ
œ
œœ
œœ
œ
" œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ
" œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œœ œœ
œ
?c ‰ œ œ œ
œ œœ œ
œ œ œ œ œ j
&c ‰ J J R R J œ Œ
" œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ œj
Ó
Œ
J
j j r r j
& c ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œj Œ
sunt
cae - li
et ter
-
ra,
Vc
sunt
cae - li
et ter
!
-
ra,
&c Ó
sunt
? c ‰ œJ œJ œR œR œJ
cae - li
Œ
et ter
&c
!
?c Ó
Œ
Vc Ó
Œ
œ
J
-
ra,
Œ
Ó
Œ
Ó
Œ
Ó
Œ
œ œj ‰
J
ple - ni
œ œ
J J
œ œ
J J
ple - ni
ple - ni
œ
J
œ
J
œ œ œ
R R J
ple - ni
j
œ
ple j
œ
œ œ
J J
ple - ni
sunt
sunt
cae
cae
-
-
li
li
et ter
et ter
j
œ Œ
ple - ni
j j r r j
œ œ œ œ œ
sunt
cae - li et ter ‰ œJ œJ œ œ œj
R R
sunt
cae - li et ter œ œ œ œ œ
‰ J J R R J
‰
j
œ
ni
j
œ
[Heaven
-
-
j Œ
œ
ra,
j
œ Œ
ra
œ
J
ra
Œ
ra
©
117
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Missa in c, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie I, Werkgruppe 1, Abteilung 1, Band 5,
ed. Monika Holl and Karl-Heinz Köhler (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1983), 134-136.
40 2
œ
B !œœœœœœ œ !œœœ œœœ œ
œ
B !œœœœœœ œ !œœœ œœœ œ
14
Sanctus
œ
œ
œ
?! œœœ
œ
œ œ !œœœ œœœ œ
œœ
œ
œ. œ œ
j j r rœ
&‰ œ œ œ œ
J R J
&‰
sunt
and
j
œ
sunt
j
‰
œ
V
j œr œr œ
œ
cae - li et ter
j r r
œ œ œ œ
-
ra
glo - ri - a,
-
œ
ra
glo - ri - a,
cae - li
-
ra
-
ra
glo - ri - a
-
ra
glo - ri - a,
-
œ
ra
glo - ri - a
cae - li
earth
et ter
are full
?‰ œ œ œ œ œ
J J R R
sunt
et ter
r rœ
& ‰ œj œj œ œ
sunt
& ‰ œj
sunt
j
V‰ œ
sunt
cae - li
et ter
j œr œr œ
œ
cae - li et ter
j r r
œ œ œ œ
cae - li
et ter
?‰ œ œ œ œ œ
J J R R
of
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
sunt
cae - li
et ter
-
ra
sunt
cae - li
et ter
-
ra
j r
œ. œ œ
Your
œ.
J
glo œ.
J
glory.]
œ œ
R
œri - œa
R
œ. œ œ
J R J
j r
œ. œ œ
œ #œ œ œ
˙
œ œ œ œ
˙
œ œ #œ œ œ
J J RR
glo
-
˙
œ
tu
˙
tu
ri - a tu
-
glo
˙
-
œ
tu
-
glo - ri - a
tu
-
œ
Ó
˙
˙
Ó
"
"
a.
"
œ Œ Ó
œ
a.
-
˙
œ Œ Ó
a.
ri - a tu
-
a.
œ Œ Ó
-
tu
˙
-
œ
œ œ #œ œ œ
J J RR
tu
œ œ œ œ
œ
Œ Ó
-
œ œ
R
œri - œa
R
œ.
J
glo œ.
J
œ œ œ œ
"
Œ Ó
"
œ Œ Ó
"
a.
"
a.
œ Œ Ó
œ Œ Ó
a.
Ó
"
a.
As seen in the excerpt from the Sanctus above (example 1.6), the three trombones move
generously around the accompanimental figures in technically demanding successions of
sixteenth notes as the voices sing that “Heaven and earth are full of Your (God) glory”;
similar to the previously studied obbligato writing for the trombone. It is this extensive
bravura and florid orchestral use of the trombone that would have displeased Joseph II, who
had taken steps to eliminate these types of complicated uses of the orchestra in Viennese
church music.118 Yet, for Mozart, his need to emphasize certain sections of the mass with the
118
Both Joseph II of Vienna and Salzburg church officials had taken steps to purge complicated orchestrations
in church music. See Solomon, 271.
41 trombone section, the attempt to mend his relationship with his father, and most importantly
his marital promise to Constanze, trumped the attempts of others to limit his creativity. This
work, while unfinished, served as a symbol of Mozart’s love for his family and as yet another
example of his use of the sacerdotally associated trombone to enhance certain elements of the
text.
No survey of the trombone in German sacred music would be complete without a
look at Mozart’s final piece of music for the church, his unfinished Requiem (K. 626, 1791).
During the work’s composition, Mozart fell ill and died before he could complete the mass.
In desperate need of money, Constanze took it upon herself to have one of Mozart’s students,
Franz Jacob Freystädtler, finish the Requiem, most likely to have it ready for Mozart’s
funeral on December 10th at St. Michael’s Church in Vienna.119 This, however, did not
happen, and Constanze next hired Joseph Eybler to finish the work by the Lenten season of
1792. Eybler was only able to finish drafts of the orchestration for a few movements, and
when he left the project, Constanze finally hired Mozart’s colleague Franz Xaver Süssmayr
(1766–1803). With Süssmayr’s additions, the first performance of the piece occurred on
December 14, 1793 at the Neuklosterkirche in Vienna.120
Mozart’s original fragment for the mass only includes a written trombone part in the
Tuba mirum, but he indicated that he wanted three trombones included in the Kyrie and the
Sanctus as well.121 Nevertheless, the Tuba mirum, one of the most famous trombone solos in
the repertoire, includes an extended eighteen-measure tenor trombone line written to
accompany the bass solo. The end of this movement was finished later by Süssmayr, and
119
Simon P. Keefe, “‘Die Ochsen am Berge’: Franz Xaver Süssmayr and the Orchestration of Mozart's
Requiem, K. 626,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 61, no. 1 (Spring 2008), 3.
120
Keefe describes that Süssmayr had not been selected originally by Constanze due to a fight which they had,
and one about which Mozart’s widow could not remember the cause. See Keefe, 3.
121
Christoph Wolff and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart's Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies,
Documents, Score (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 86-90. 42 includes eleven more measures of the trombone solo. In this movement, Mozart uses the solo
trombone to represent mankind’s divine call to judgment, which is similar to his use of the
alto trombone in “Jener Donnerworte Kraft.” The text for the movement comes from the
book of Revelation, in which at the end of days, God will judge all of mankind.
III Sequence, no. 2, “Tuba mirum”
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulcra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.
The trombone will send its wondrous sound
throughout earth's graves,
and gather all before the throne.
Mors stupebit et natura,
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
quidquid latet, apparebit,
nil inultum remanebit.
Death and nature will be astounded,
when all creation rises again,
to answer the judgment.
A book will be brought forth,
in which all will be written,
by which the world will be judged.
When the judge takes his place,
what is hidden will be revealed,
nothing will remain unpunished.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix justus sit securus?
What shall a wretch like me say?
Who shall intercede for me,
when the just ones need mercy?
It is with this movement’s proclamation of God’s judgment that Mozart uses the solo
trombone to enhance this prophetic text. Within the fragment, shown in example 1.7 below,
one can see an obbligato style of composition akin to Mozart and his predecessors’ earlier
use.
43 Score
Tuba mirum
[Subtitle]
Example 1.7: Tuba mirum from Mozart’s Requiem,
mm. 1-18122
1
Tenor Trombone
1
Bass Solo
5
5
9
9
B bb C ˙
? b C
b
!
œ œ
œ œ
!
˙
ẇ
œ
˙
trombone
[The
bœ œ
bœ œ œ œ œ
œ
U
b
œ
œ
œ
Bb ‰ œ
œ
bœ œ œ
Œ Ó
? b
b w
B bb œ œ œ œ ˙
so
sound
? bb ˙ .
tu
Tu
-
-
-
œ
ba
w
-
ba
U
œ.
[Composer]
[Arranger]
!
œ
U
œ
œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ
mi - rum
will
send
œœœ Œ
œ
spar - gens
its
wondrous
!
œœœ œ
œ œœ
œœ œ
œ
‰
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œœ œ
œ œ
œ.
œ œ œ Œ œ . œr œ
Œ
J œ
œ
J
œ
R
œ.
mir - um
-
-
spar - gens
so
-
-
num,
num
per
se - pul - chra
throughout earth's graves
re - gi and
œ œ bœ nœ œ œ œ œ œ
n
œ
œ
B bb ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
!
Œ ‰J
bœ
13
œ. œ
œ œ œ
œ. nœ œ
? bb œ œ Œ J œ
J
Œ
J R
œ
œ.
bœ œ nœ
R
13
o - num,
gather
B bb œ
17
? bb w
17
thro
œ
œ
co - get
all
-
œ
-
o - mnes
before
œ
an the
œ
te
œ
-
thro - num,
throne.]
co - get
nœ
œ
-
œ
Œ
Œ
o - mnes
an - te
Ó
Ó
num.
The trombone begins with a three-measure declamatory solo statement in B-flat major, which
precedes the singer’s entrance. The instrument’s motive is copied by the voice, and is then
©
followed by the trombone part moving in a series of rapid eighth notes as the bass sings that
the trombone will help raise the dead so that God can judge mankind. From this point (mm.
5-18), the instrument’s obbligato line is independent of the voice and moves sporadically
between similar and contrary motion. This type of sudden movement, along with the abrupt
122
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Requiem, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie I, Werkgruppe 1, Abteilung 2, Teilband
1, ed. Leopold Nowak (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1965), 24.
44 leaps found in the solo voice part (mm. 10, 14), helps to enhance the image of the apocalyptic
event occurring; the opening of the earth’s graves so that all may be judged by God. The slur
markings found in the last few measures of this obbligato passage are the only ones Mozart
specifically implied, yet trombonists today usually interpret the entire section from measure 5
to 18 as a series of legato phrases. Whereas this fragment is not as highly ornate as Mozart’s
use of the solo alto trombone in the aria “Jener Donnerworte Kraft,” they are both similar in
their purposeful use of the instrument to aurally represent and enhance God’s calling. This
extended eighteen-measure solo is the only one that Mozart wrote in his Requiem, and with
the serious nature of the Tuba mirum’s text, it is understandable that Mozart would use the
sacerdotally associated trombone to enhance this section of the work.
The history of the trombone’s use in sacred music from the seventeenth to the
eighteenth century is indeed rich. Both Catholic and Lutheran composers used the instrument
within their church music to enhance the solemnity of their works. As a doubling agent,
soloistic obbligato instrument or accompanimental instrument, the trombone was sacerdotally
utilized throughout Germanic-speaking Europe. This, of course is due in part to the
instrument’s use prior to the seventeenth century by the Stadtpfeifer, a tradition that survived
well into our period of study. Additionally, with Germany as the main source of instrumental
manufacturing, and its abundance of virtuosic players, the trombone was also readily
available to many of the composers studied here. Surrounding all of this is the fact that
German composers understood the biblical role of the trombone in both Catholic and
Lutheran churches. It is in this environment that Mozart used the trombone to enhance the
drama within his church music through methods begun by composers like Joseph I, Johannes
Fux, George Reutter the Younger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Friedrich Doles, Johann
45 Adam Hiller and others. As will be see, Mozart’s own use of the trombone in his sacred
music provided the model for his utilization of the instrument to enhance sacred themes in
his operas Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte. Indeed, it is with Mozart that we
will see sacred compositional elements innovatively mixed into the operatic medium.
46 Chapter II
Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice and Alceste, and Mozart’s Idomeneo
As seen from the first chapter, Mozart’s purpose for including the trombone in his
operas is based on the cultural significance of the instrument in eighteenth-century German
church music. In this chapter I will look at how Mozart uses this cultural understanding of
the trombone to enhance the religious symbolism associated with the god Neptune in
Idomeneo. First, however, I must acknowledge that Mozart’s use of the instrument to
enhance this character’s sacerdotal qualities, and those of others in his operas was not
completely new. Prior to Mozart, Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) used the trombone
in a number of his operas to enhance the sacred significance of certain characters and scenes.
Gluck’s use of the trombone is similar in purpose to Mozart, yet was only an early model
from on which Mozart expanded. With Gluck, the instrument was used simply to double
vocal parts and those of other instruments within the orchestra; a type of operatic inclusion of
the trombone that was uncommon in Germany during this period.123 But it is not until Mozart
that one sees Gluck’s use of the trombone taken to another compositional level by
elaborating on harmony, dynamics, and overall expression within the orchestration.
This chapter will begin with a brief look at Gluck’s use of the trombone in his operas
Orphée et Euridice and Alceste. My analysis will give my subsequent survey of Mozart’s
operas a basis on which to trace the development of his creative use of the trombone. Next, I
will examine Mozart’s purpose for using the trombone in Idomeneo and analyze No. 28 from
Act III, Scene 10 (Neptune’s recitative). This analysis of Idomeneo will show how Mozart
123
David Guion, The Trombone: Its History and Music, 1697-1811, Musicology Series (Amsterdam: Gordon
and Breach Publishers, 1988), 229.
47 used the trombone section to enhance the sacred meaning of Neptune’s text by expanding on
the model Gluck used in his operas.
Mozart scholar Daniel Heartz states that Idomeneo came from a long-standing
operatic tradition and surpassed its predecessors, adding that “even the Mannheim-Munich
forces were not ready for its boldness.”124 This tradition of elaborate large-scale operas that
incorporated both French and Italian dramatic and musical elements was an area that Mozart
helped develop.125 But one of the founders of this tradition was Christoph Willibald Gluck, a
German opera composer who worked in both Vienna and Paris.126 Gluck was known as an
operatic reformer, noted for his ability to successfully combine Italian and French opera
styles into theatrical works intended to develop human stories and situations in a realistic
manner.127 He wrote over thirty-five full length operas, including five in which he used the
trombone: Iphigénie en Aulide, Orphée et Euridice, Alceste, Iphigénie en Tauride, and Echo
et Narcisse (I will refer to the Paris versions of the operas, for reasons discussed below). The
majority of these operas had originally been written in Italian for performance in Vienna, but
were later revised for production in Paris, including the two which I will examine here:
Orphée et Euridice and Alceste. These works are useful to this survey because both were well
known by both Mozart and his father while in Paris, and many comparisons have been made
between the sacred scenes in Alceste and Idomeneo.128
For my analysis, I will use the Paris versions of Orphée et Euridice and Alceste,
partly because Mozart himself gained familiarity with these scores during his stay in Paris in
124
Daniel Heartz, “The Genesis of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo,’” The Musical Quarterly 55, no. 1 (January 1969): 18.
David Cairns, Mozart and His Operas (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006), 34.
126
Prior to Gluck, the trombone was used in a small number of operas by Italian composers like Monteverdi.
See Guion, 229.
127
For more information on Gluck’s various operatic reforms see Alfred Einstein, Gluck, trans. Eric Blom (New
York: McGraw Hill, 1972), 98-106; Patricia Howard, Gluck and The Birth of Modern Opera (New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1963), 1-111.
128
Stanley Sadie, Mozart: The Early Years, 1756-1781 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006), 535.
125
48 1778.129 Daniel Heartz comments that Mozart was constantly studying opera libretti in Paris
during his stay and that Gluck’s operas had made a strong impression on him.130
Additionally, David Guion argues that only Gluck’s Paris versions are truly authentic, since
his Vienna editions include numerous additions by various composers.131 A look at specific
scenes that incorporate the trombone in Orphée et Euridice and Alceste will give us an
understanding of the type of operatic climate Mozart entered into when he wrote Idomeneo.
In looking at the Paris versions of both scores, I will examine scenes from both Acts I and II
of Orphée et Euridice, and the High Priest’s scene from Act I of Alceste.
Gluck’s purpose for including the trombone in his operas was similar to Mozart’s: to
enhance the sacred and supernatural elements of the drama on stage. Undoubtedly, it is
important to first look at Gluck’s use of the instrument in his operas to observe the
innovations made by Mozart himself. For Gluck, the driving force behind his opera
compositions was expression and drama within the work.132 This expression in terms of his
trombone use, however, is limited in its dynamic shading, text inflection, rhythmic use, and
harmonic coloration. Principally, the trombones do not participate as independent voices
within the scenes and are only used to increase the volume of the orchestra as they double
voices of the choir and instruments in the ensemble. This rudimentary use of the instrument
is elaborated on in terms of harmony, dynamics and overall musical expression by Mozart,
and a true analysis of Mozart’s advances is incomplete without an understanding of Gluck’s
use of the trombone.
129
Daniel Heartz states that Mozart had studied many of Gluck’s scores in Paris, pointing specifically to
Alceste. See Heartz, 230.
130
Daniel Heartz, “Mozart, His Father and ‘Idomeneo,’” The Musical Times 119, no. 1621 (March 1978), 230.
131
Guion, 233.
132
Hector Berlioz, Gluck and His Operas, trans. Edwin Evans (London: WM. Reeves, 1914), 60.
49 I will begin this examination of Gluck’s operas with the epic Greek tale of Orpheus
and Eurydice (Orphée et Euridice). The story, which has been set by a plethora of
composers, is concentrated on Orpheus (Orphée) and his search for his recently deceased
wife Eurydice (Euridice). Gluck’s version of the opera opens with Orpheus and a group of
shepherds and nymphs surrounding the tomb of his dead wife Eurydice, mourning of her
passing. Cupid (Amor) visits Orpheus and says that he may travel to the underworld to bring
back Eurydice on the condition that he not look at her until they have returned to Earth.
Orpheus agrees and travels to the underworld, but is soon stopped by the Furies (guardians of
the underworld), who tell him he cannot pass. Soon, they let him continue to find Eurydice
after he enchants them with music from his lyre. However, as Eurydice is being led out of
Hades, Orpheus cannot help but look back at her and she dies yet again (falling back down to
the underworld). As Orpheus contemplates suicide in order to join his wife, Cupid brings
Eurydice back to Orpheus and the opera ends with a chorus praising love.133
In the opera, Gluck used the trombone section only to double the voices of the choir
and the string/wind parts within two scenes: the funeral of Eurydice in Act I, Scene 1 and
Orpheus’ encounter with the Furies in Act II, Scene 1. In the opening scene, Gluck has the
trombones double the voices of the choir as they mourn Eurydice’s death. As the chorus of
shepherds and nymphs sing of their horrible loss and grieve, the trombones double their parts
and enhance the solemnity of the funeral scene.
133
Originally, the story does not finish with Gluck’s joyful ending, and instead, Eurydice remains in the
underworld while Orpheus remains alone on earth until he is eventually ripped apart by Thracian Maenads.
50 p
Score
Orfeo Act I, Scene 1
[Subtitle]
Example 2.1: Orphée et Euridice Act I, Scene
1, mm. 15-22134
B bbb C œ ˙
p
B bbb C œ ˙
p
? bb C œ ˙
b
p
bb C
b
&
œ ˙
p Ah!
dans
b b C [Ah! in
b
&
œ ˙
p Ah! dans
b
œ ˙
Vbb C
15
Alto trombone
Tenor trombone
Bass trombone
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
œ ˙.
S
œ ˙.
œ
œ
˙.
˙.
S
œ ˙.
œ ˙.
S
œ ˙ nœ œ œ ˙.
ce
this
bois
forest
œ ˙.
bois
œ ˙.
ce
p Ah! dans ce bois
? b C œ ˙ œ ˙.
bb
p Ah! dans ce bois
˙ œ Œ Œ
S
œ ˙ œ
Œ Œ
S
œ n˙ œ Œ Œ
S
œ ˙ œ Œ Œ
œ
tran - qui - le et
quiet
and
so - mbre,
dark,
˙
˙
Eu - ri
Euridice!
˙ œ Œ Œ ˙
œ
œ
˙.
œ n˙ œ Œ Œ ˙
˙.
œ
˙ œ Œ Œ ˙
so - mbre,
œ
˙
˙.
œ
[Arranger]
˙ œ
Œ ˙ ˙
S
œ n˙ œ Œ n˙ ˙
S
œ ˙ œ Œ ˙ ˙
S
œ ˙ œ Œ ˙ ˙
˙
œ
tran - qui - le et
[Composer]
Eu
-
tran - qui - le et
so - mbre,
Eu
-
tran - qui - le et
so - mbre,
Eu
-
œ
-
di - ce!
si
if
ton
your
˙ œ Œ
˙ ˙
œ n˙ œ Œ n˙ ˙
ri
-
di
ri
-
di - ce!
˙ œ Œ
˙ ˙
si
ton
ri
-
di - ce!
si
ton
œ
- ce!
si
ton
˙
œ Œ
˙
œ Œ
œ Œ
n˙
œ Œ
˙
om - bre,
shadow,]
˙
n˙
om
œ Œ
œ Œ
-
bre,
om
-
bre,
om
-
bre,
˙
œ Œ
As seen in example 2.1, the three trombones play the exact same figures as the alto, tenor,
and bass vocal parts. The only variation comes in the added sforzando dynamic effects,
which emphasize harmonic changes. In essence, the trombones become a timbral backup for
the choir, in a similar manner as the doubling spoken of in the various masses and sacred
pieces in the first chapter of this document. By using the trombone in this church-based
compositional manner, Gluck is able to help certify to the audience that this scene is of
strong sacred significance. He will continue to use the instrument throughout this chorus in
the exact same manner, adding solemnity to Eurydice’s funeral.
Gluck used the trombone section next in Orphée et Euridice in Act II, Scene 1 to
double the voices of the Furies as they refuse Orpheus’ entrance into Hades to rescue
Eurydice. As Orpheus is stopped by the Furies, the© tempestuous guardians of Hades’ gates,
134
Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orphée et Euridice, Christoph Willibald Gluck Sämtliche Werke, Abteilung I,
Band 6, ed. Ludwig Finscher (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1967), 15. The musical examples in this chapter include
literal translations by the author to demonstrate how Gluck and Mozart set each word in the text.
51 the trombones are included in their choruses.135 As seen in an excerpt from one of the
choruses of the Furies below, Gluck used the trombones in the orchestra along with the
clarinets, bassoons, violins, violas, celli, and basses, to emphasize the Furies’ statements of
Non (“No”). This occurs while Gluck used a separate string orchestra (not shown in the given
excerpt) to play moving quarter note figures, and a harp within the same group to play
constant eighth note triplets that are meant to symbolize the music of Orpheus’s lyre.
135
This scene was lengthened by Gluck for the Parisian version that we are studying here.
52 Score
Orfeo Act II, Scene 1
Example 2.2: Orphée et Euridice Act II, Scene[Subtitle]
1, mm. 131-134136
b
&b C Ó
˙
f˙
131
Clarinet I, II
Bassoon I, II
Alto trombone
Tenor trombone
Bass Trombone
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Orpheus
? bb C Ó
f
˙
f
˙
f
˙
f
˙
˙
f
˙
˙
f
˙
f
Ó
B bb C Ó
B bb C Ó
? bb C Ó
b
&b C Ó
b
&b C Ó
B bb C Ó
b œ
Vb C
œ
f
˙
Spec - tres,
[Furies,
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
Violoncello and Bass
b
&b C Ó
b
&b C Ó
b
Vb C Ó
Ó
Ó
Ó
Ó
Ó
Ó
Ó
œ
lar larvae,
Ó
Non!
[No!]
f
˙
˙f
Non!
? bb C Ó
? bb C Ó
˙Non!
f
œ
ves,
Ó
Ó
Ó
f
˙
f
˙
f
˙
f
˙
˙
f
˙
˙
f
˙
f
Ó
Ó
Ó
f
˙
f
˙
˙
f
˙
˙
f
˙
f
Ó
Ó
Ó
Ó
œ
f
˙
om
shadows
Ó
Ó
˙
-
f
˙
Ó
˙
˙f
Non!
Ó
f
˙
˙f
Non!
Ó
Ó
Ó
Ó
˙
œ
bres
œ
ter
frightful,
Ó
œ
ri
Ó
f
˙
Ó
˙
Non!
Ó
f
˙
Non!
f
œ
-
bles,
f
˙
˙˙
f
˙
˙
˙
f
˙
f
Œ
f
˙
œ
So
be]
Non!
Ó
Ó
Non!
f
˙
f
˙
f
˙
f
˙
Ó
Non!
f
˙
˙f
Ó
f
˙
f
˙
Ó
Non!
Ó
˙
f˙
Ó
Non!
Non!
f
˙
˙
f˙
Ó
[Composer]
[Arranger]
f
˙
f
˙
Non!
f
˙
Non!
Ó
Ó
˙
Non!
f
As seen here, the trombone section’s primary role is to double the Furies’ chorus. Within the
context of the larger orchestra, the trombones dominate the overall timbre, as they have the
©
overwhelming advantage with regard to dynamics when compared to any of the other string
136
Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orphée et Euridice, Christoph Willibald Gluck Sämtliche Werke, Abteilung I,
Band 6, ed. Ludwig Finscher (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1967), 88.
53 or wind instruments.137 This dominance aids the sudden declamations of Non by the Furies,
who are constantly denying Orpheus’ entrance to the sacred realm of the underworld. Here,
Gluck also used the sacerdotal understanding of the trombone as a doubling instrument in
church music to enhance the Furies’ supernatural status. Furthermore, Gluck’s use of the
trombone in a scene dealing with the afterlife and judgment is reminiscent of Mozart’s use of
the trombone in similar sacred moments in the previously studied Tuba mirum of his
Requiem, “Jener Donnerworte Kraft” from Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots, and the Tuba
mirum of George Reutter the Younger’s Requiem, among others. Here, Gluck conjures the
same sacerdotal image that Mozart, Reutter, and others did in their works, yet this time in the
operatic literature. This, combined with the understood significance of trombone doubling in
church music, helps to enhance the sacred meaning of the scene using a somewhat limited
palette of harmony and rhythm.
As has been seen in our brief study of Orphée et Euridice, Gluck used the trombone
section to enhance the sacred elements of the scenes by doubling the vocal parts of the chorus
of the mourners, and that of the Furies. These two groups of characters are connected with
the reality of death, which was a theme with which trombones were associated in requiem
masses and other sacred works (like those previously studied). For Gluck’s Orphée et
Euridice, the mere sound of the trombones doubling the choir parts, as was the case in church
music dating back to the Renaissance, was enough for the scene to be sacerdotally significant
in the minds of his audiences. This was a useful tactic for Gluck, and one that he used in the
five operas where he utilized the trombone, including Alceste.
From Orphée et Euridice I now turn to Gluck’s 1776 Paris version of Alceste, in
which his use of the trombone seems to have inspired Mozart’s similar employment of the
137
Guion, 234.
54 instrument in Idomeneo. Several Mozart scholars who have written about Idomeneo mention
that the High Priest and Oracle scenes of Alceste, the former which I will examine here, have
numerous similarities to Mozart’s Neptune scene in Idomeneo. Daniel Heartz notes that “The
High Priest’s harangue at the beginning of Alceste obviously inspired the similar scene in Act
III of Idomeneo.”138 Trombone scholar Trevor Herbert adds that it is likely that Leopold
Mozart, who was present at Gluck’s first performance of Alceste suggested to his son that he
use the trombone in Idomeneo for the same sacerdotal enhancement (I will explore Leopold’s
letter on the subject in greater depth below).139 Both Gluck’s use of the trombone in Alceste
and Mozart’s in Idomeneo are similar, relying on a short recitative passage that accompanies
a male voice of a character with sacred connotations. However, Gluck’s use of the trombone
is dynamically and harmonically static, whereas Mozart keeps Gluck’s general form but
layers on further levels of harmonic and dynamic expression to enhance the text.
Alceste, a tragedy in three acts, centers on Alceste and her husband Admète, the king
of Thebes. Admète is dying, and after the High Priest prays to Apollo (Apollon) to turn death
away from the king, Apollo’s Oracle states that the only way for him to live is if another
takes his place. Alceste offers to take her husband’s place, and prepares for her journey to the
underworld. Alceste asks to see her husband one more time, and as his health improves, her
sacrifice becomes known to all. Admète implores her to renounce her pact, but she remains
true to her promise and dies. After much mourning, Apollo relents and resurrects Alceste in a
scene of godly sympathy. Alceste and Admète are reunited on earth and the story ends
happily.
138
139
Heartz, “Mozart, His Father and ‘Idomeneo,’” 230.
Herbert, 118.
55 Throughout the course of the opera, the trombone section again plays in moments of
supernatural and religious significance as in Orphée et Euridice. In Alceste, they help
enhance the characters of Apollo, the High Priest, the Oracle, and the Infernal Deities,
heightening the sacerdotal significance of these characters and the scenes in which they
appear. Like Orphée et Euridice, the trombones are primarily used to double the chorus or
other instruments in the orchestra, with one important exception, the High Priest scene from
Act I, Scene 3 (which I will study here); where they are used independently from the choir
and larger orchestral texture. Scrutinizing the High Priest’s scene is particularly useful, since
Alceste likely served as a model for Mozart’s Idomeneo.140
In Act I, Scene 3, Gluck used the trombone section in one of the smallest orchestral
ensembles of the entire opera, combining them with two bassoons and two French horns.
This more intimate use of the instruments emphasizes the important sacred nature of the
scene in a way not possible with simple doubling. Within the scene, the trombones help
enhance the solemnity of the High Priest’s prayer, in which he implores Apollo to turn death
away from their king.
140
Edward Dent, Mozart’s Operas, a Critical Study (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), 40.
56 Score
Alceste Act I, Scene 3
141
Example 2.3: Alceste Act I, Scene 3, mm. 37-48
[Subtitle]
ww
˙˙
& c ww
?c w
?c
37
2 Bassoons
2 Horns in C
Trombones I, II
[Bass] Trombone
The High Priest
Bc w
w
?c
Ó
!
!
˙˙
Ó
!
!
˙˙
Ó
!
!
˙
Ó
!
!
œ. œ
Œ œJ œJ
J ˙
!
w
? w
Dieu puis - sant,
[God powerful,
w
œ . œJ
é - car - te
depart from
!
!
& w
w
!
!
!
!
? w
!
!
43
B w
w
? Ó
œ œ œ. œ œ
J
ΠJJ
de la
of
[Composer]
œ œ
J J
mort le glai - ve ef- fray
death's
sword
frightening.]
w
du
the
ww
ww
[Arranger]
ww
ww
w
w
ww
ww
œ . œJ œ
Œ
ww
trô
throne
-
ww
ne
!
˙˙
Ó
ww
ww
˙˙
Ó
˙˙
Ó
w
w
˙
Ó
ww
˙
ww
Ó
!
!
ant.
©
As one can see here, the trombone section is used to play static C-major chords, emphasizing
the High Priest’s prayerful text which states “Powerful Apollo, turn away death’s frightening
sword from the throne (king).” Within this text, the High Priest pleads for Apollo to spare the
141
Christoph Willibald Gluck, Alceste, Christoph Willibald Gluck Sämtliche Werke, Abteilung I, Band 6, ed.
Rudolf Gerber (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1957), 65.
57 life of the king, a powerful supplication that lends itself well to the use of the sacerdotally
associated trombone section. The instruments’ entrance in the key of C, which was described
by many theorists of the period, including Christian Shubart, as having completely pure and
innocent qualities (which lends itself well to the Christian view of the sacred), helps to
harmonically strengthen the spiritual association of the High Priest.142
Additionally in this scene, the trombones are used along with the other instruments in
a more independent manner than in the previously studied Gluck excerpts (when they were
simply used to double choir and instrumental parts). In essence, the trombones, used in a
lighter scoring, prominently add their timbre to the C-major chord and help alert the audience
to the sacred significance of the High Priest’s prayer. This scene is genuinely important
because it bears a striking resemblance to Neptune’s scene in Idomeneo. In looking at
Gluck’s Alceste (Act I, Scene 3) and Idomeneo (Act III, Scene 10) side by side, there are a
few noticeable similarities in their use of the trombone. In both, there is similar use of space,
instrumentation, and block chords, but the parallels end there. It is with Mozart’s Idomeneo
that one notices the trombone used to enhance the text of the libretto through sudden
harmonic shifts, specific expression markings, emphasis on the relation of the text, space and
silence, and the deploying of tension and release. These methods help take Mozart’s use of
the trombone far past Gluck’s usual reliance on the instrument to simply double choir and
instrumental parts or play static chords in an effort to enhance the sacred significance of a
character or scene.
The differences between Gluck and Mozart’s operatic inclusion of the trombone are
substantial, even though their purpose for using the instrument is the same: to help heighten
142
Schubart, 377.
58 the sacred significance of a scene.143 Edward Dent states that both Mozart and Gluck aimed
to heighten the level of expression in their operatic works (presumably in all aspects,
including the trombone parts), but Mozart was unique in that “He was a much more
accomplished composer for the orchestra than Gluck, even at the age of twenty or less.”144
Mozart’s progressive use of harmonies and expressive devices aligned his operas with the
Classical period’s pursuit of ever-more advanced orchestration, while Gluck remained static
in his early-Classical style of operatic composition. It is fitting that Mozart, with his highly
developed compositional skills, would further advance the use of the trombone in the opera
orchestra to aid the sacred expression he knew was possible.
Idomeneo, including Neptune’s scene, was likely fashioned from Mozart’s own
knowledge of Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice and Alceste, but it is inappropriate to give too
much credit to Gluck. As Daniel Heartz states, “The genesis of Idomeneo is as complex and
as mysterious as that of any great masterpiece. It cannot be reduced to simplistic explanations
involving Gluck, or any other master.”145 Furthermore, even though Julian Rushton
acknowledges the fact that Mozart’s use of the trombone is probably modeled after Gluck’s,
he adds that Idomeneo’s synthesis cannot be attributed only to him.146 David Cairns
continues by writing that it is the combination of French drama, Gluck’s operas, and
Mozart’s own instincts that inspired Idomeneo.147 These comments reflect the notion that
Idomeneo is a synthesis of Mozart’s total compositional experience during this period of his
life, which includes the models and techniques set by Gluck and others. In terms of Mozart’s
trombone use, Idomeneo has more harmonically and expression-filled interaction between
143
Guion, 173, 240.
Dent, 43.
145
Heartz, “The Genesis of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo,’” 17.
146
Julian Rushton, W.A. Mozart, Idomeneo, Cambridge Opera Handbooks (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1993), 65, 67-68.
147
Cairns, 34.
144
59 Neptune and the instruments when compared with either Orphée et Euridice or Alceste. As a
whole, it is Mozart’s own ingenuity in his writing for the trombone section that helped create
a new and more expression-oriented place for the instrument within his theater works,
starting with Idomeneo.
Idomeneo, written between 1780-81 by the 25-year old Mozart for performance at the
1781 Munich carnival, is said by Stanley Sadie to represent the compositional peak of
Mozart’s serious operas, the genre that he was fondest of.148 Mozart’s composition of this
drama seamlessly blends large-scale French opera and Italian opera seria conventions to
create what he called a dramma per musica.149 He used the trombone in this work only in one
scene from the third act, in which Neptune offers forgiveness and casts off his cloak of anger.
Mozart was able to use a trombone section in this opera in part because of the
wonderful musicians, many formerly of the Mannheim orchestra, who were available to play
this new work.150 Mozart’s use of heightened expressive devices in Idomeneo, in the form of
sudden dynamic shifts and extreme crescendo/decrescendo figures in, came from the
experience he gained with the Mannheim players during his visits to the region in 1777 and
1778.151 In a letter to his father on November 8, 1777, Mozart notes that upon hearing the
wonderful musicians of the Mannheim orchestra, he conveyed to Elector Carl Theodor that
his “dearest wish is to write an opera here.”152 Mozart’s dream to write the opera in
Mannheim never materialized, but when the commission from Elector Theodor came in the
summer of 1780 to write the main opera for the next year’s carnival in Munich (a pre-Lenten
148
Sadie, 545.
Rushton, 62-64.
150
Sadie, 523.
151
Heartz, “The Genesis of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo,’” 18.
152
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Letters of Mozart and His Family, ed. and trans. Emily Anderson (London:
Macmillan, 1966), 362.
149
60 tradition), he jumped at the offer.153 By this time, the courts of Mannheim and Munich had
been amalgamated, with Count Theodor in direct control from Munich. Accompanying
Count Theodor on his move to Munich were many of the members of the Mannheim
orchestra, the court opera orchestra and ballet, and other highly prized musicians from the
Elector’s former home. Many of these musicians were to be employed for Mozart’s opera for
the carnival, so, in a sense, his dream to write an opera for Mannheim came true.154
The commission for Idomeneo came soon after Mozart was actively trying to work as
a composer in Paris. The young composer spent several months in the city in 1778,
evaluating the operatic climate by attending various operas, reading libretti, and studying the
scores of numerous composers, including Gluck, to find inspiration.155 He seems to have
been searching for a subject for a new large-scale opera like Idomeneo well before the actual
commission was ever received, and his stay in Paris gave him the operatic inspiration to
proceed with his greatest serious opera.156
Additional inspiration for Idomeneo may have come out of Mozart’s personal
tragedies that overtook him during this period of his life. First, his mother passed away in
July of 1778, and his father responded poorly to the situation, causing a rift between himself
and Mozart. Secondly, as Mozart journeyed from Paris in 1778 through Mannheim, Munich
and finally Salzburg, his love for the young Aloysia Weber weighed heavily on him.157 On
his arrival in to Munich, however, Aloysia told Mozart that she did not love him, sending
him deeper into depression. Thus, with a combination of the death of his mother, arguments
with his father, the loss of the woman he loved, and his general discontent in Salzburg,
153
Heartz, “The Genesis of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo,’” 34.
Stanley Sadie, “Genesis of an Operone,” in W. A. Mozart, Idomeneo, by Julian Rushton, Cambridge Opera
Handbooks (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 25-26; Sadie, Mozart, the Early Years, 523.
155
Heartz, “Mozart, His Father and ‘Idomeneo,’” 230.
156
Heartz, “The Genesis of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo,’” 2.
157
In 1779 Mozart unhappily took a court position in Salzburg at the end of his travels from Paris.
154
61 Mozart eventually settled on the tragic tale of Idomeneo; a story that seems to parallel his
own tumultuous circumstances as it features situations of family turmoil, the difficulties of
love, and forgiveness.
Idomeneo, which comes out of the mythic Greek story of The Iliad and is based on
Fenelon’s Adventures of Telemachus from 1699, is the story of King Idomeneo and his son
Idamantes. In the story, Idomeneo is transporting prisoners back to his homeland of Crete
from Troy with his son and heir to the throne, Idamantes. A large storm occurs soon after
leaving Troy and King Idomeneo makes a bargain with Neptune’s priests to save the ship and
its crew. The deal consists of Neptune receiving a human sacrifice from Idomeneo, which
will be the first man whom he sees as he steps off of the boat. In a cruel twist of fate,
Idamantes is the first he sees. Idomeneo finds that he cannot kill his son and breaks the
covenant. Eventually, after Neptune sends a sea monster, Idomeneo hears the deity’s voice in
scene ten of act three, and a new deal is struck. Neptune is impressed by the love that
Idomeneo has for his son and the love that has formed between Idamantes and Ilia, and
therefore allows Idomeneo’s son to live, but only if Idomeneo gives up his throne to
Idamantes. Neptune states that all will be forgiven and the heavens will be happy.158 In a
secco recitative, Neptune sings “He has won love, Idomeneo will be pardoned by Neptune if
Idomeneo will cease to reign as king. The old promise will be dismissed. It is Idamante and
Ilia who will reign as heaven will reward the innocent. Peace will be restored to the kingdom
of Crete and stability will return to the Heavens in this worthy switch.” The opera ends with
Idamantes taking the throne alongside his bride Ilia and, through deus ex machina, peace is
restored in the kingdom.
158
Dent, 33-66.
62 The story of Idomeneo is religious to its very core. This sacredness surrounds the love
which Idomeneo has for his son, the love that Idamante and Ilia share, and Neptune’s
lovingly exhibited divine mercy. Within the story, the most sacerdotal character is Neptune
himself. This is due not only to his position as a deity, but because he is responsible for
brokering the eventual love that wins out in the end. Neptune’s compassionate forgiveness
seems even more meaningful for Mozart’s eighteenth-century Christian audiences (and for
our twenty-first-century ones as well) when one understands that forgiveness is imparted
when Idomeneo is about to be punished for his sin, and the deity is at the height of his
anger.159 This idea of a divinity showing compassion over his people is a deeply spiritual
interaction, and is one of the many themes of love within the opera. Using the trombone
section to stir up the mighty image of a god who moves from anger to supreme forgiveness is
a testament to its understood position as a sacred instrument. Moving further with this idea,
Edward Dent notes that “To Mozart’s audience, the mere sound of trombones would be
unfamiliar, unless they had heard them in church.”160 This move by Mozart, in using the
instrument singularly in Neptune’s scene in which the idea of redemption through love is
announced, shows that he understood the trombone’s ability to enhance the sacred nature of
the scene for his audience.
The addition of the trombones to Idomeneo was a carefully thought-out process, with
Leopold Mozart likely influencing Wolfgang’s use of the trombone section to enhance
Neptune’s recitative. Leopold wrote to his son on November 18, 1780, that, “The voice
[Neptune] and its accompaniment must be moving, terrifying and altogether unusual; and it
159
Jean Starobinski and Richard Pevear, “The Promise of ‘Idomeneo,’” The Hudson Review 55, no. 1 (Spring
2002): 15.
160
Dent, 64.
63 can be a masterpiece of harmony.”161 In this letter, Leopold is suggesting that his son must
use an accompaniment for the deity’s appearance that can terrify and move his audience, a
role that the trombone had in sacred works like “Jener Donnerworte Kraft” and the two
requiem masses (in the Tuba mirum sections) studied in chapter one. It is likely, when
thinking of the trombone’s frequent use to heighten images of the divine in sacred music, that
Leopold was suggesting that Mozart use the instrument to heighten the sacred image of
Neptune for a similar purpose.
Additionally, on December 29, 1780, Leopold further stressed the importance of
Neptune’s scene to his son:
I assume that you will choose very deep wind instruments to accompany the
subterranean voice. How would it be if after the slight subterranean rumble
the instruments sustained, or rather began to sustain, their notes piano and
then made a crescendo such as might almost inspire terror, while after this and
during the decrescendo the voice would begin to sing…. The attention of the
audience is aroused; and this attention is intensified by the introduction of a
quiet, prolonged and then swelling and very alarming wind instrument
passage, and finally becomes strained to the utmost when behold! a voice is
heard. Why, I seem to see and hear it.162
Here, one can see Leopold actually pressuring his son to enhance Neptune’s voice by using
deep wind instruments to help inspire the terror of Neptune’s voice through carefully placed
messa di voce (referring to the idea of a crescendo closely followed by a diminuendo, used as
an expressive device) contrasted with sustained tones. By using the term “deep wind
instruments,” Leopold essentially urges his son to include either the low reeds instruments or
the trombone section. With the trombone’s already established presence as a sacred signifier
in powerful moments of a divinity’s power (as seen in the aforementioned sacred works in
161
162
Mozart, Letters, 666.
Ibid, 700.
64 chapter one), it seems probable that Leopold is suggesting that his son use the instrument in
this scene. These two letters show how important Neptune’s accompaniment was to Leopold,
and in the end, it was the trombone section that was to provide the dynamic and harmonic
power in the scene and thus enhance Neptune’s sacred message of heavenly power and
forgiveness.
In January of 1781, one can finally see Mozart’s response to his father’s ideas in a
letter he wrote to Leopold on the third of the month, stating, “The accompaniment to the
subterranean voice consists of five instruments only, that is three trombones and two French
horns, which are placed in the same quarter as that from which the voice proceeds. At this
point the whole orchestra is silent.”163 Here, Mozart finally crafts the use of the trombones in
the scene, presumably based on the urging of his father to help heighten the spiritual impact
of Neptune.
Mozart’s plan to use the trombones in just this one scene met with significant
resistance, however. For one, Mozart was under the constant scrutiny of the Munich theater
director Joseph Anton Seeau. Seeau, who negotiated the contract and oversaw the progress of
the entire genesis of the opera, proposed many cuts, including trying to shorten, or eliminate,
the trombones’ parts in Neptune’s recitative.164 In a letter Mozart wrote to his father on
January 10-11, 1781, he noted that, “In addition to many other minor rows with Count Seeau
I have had a desperate fight with him about the trombones. I call it desperate because I had to
be rude to him, or I should never have got my way.”165 Here, it is clear how strongly Mozart
felt that the use of three trombones for just a few moments of music was of enormous
163
Mozart, Letters, 703.
Heartz, “The Genesis of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo,’” 3-4; Sadie, “Genesis of an Operone,” 41-42.
165
Mozart, Letters, 706.
164
65 importance in the opera.166 However, Mozart’s attempts to get his way failed and he ended
up composing four different versions of the scene (three that include the trombone section
and one that does not) for Seeau’s approval.167 The director’s critical attitude resulted in
Mozart and Varesco constantly changing the length and structure of this scene and others up
until the night of the premiere on January 29, 1781.168 But, regardless of the issue of the
length of this recitative, Seeau and Mozart’s quarrel about using the trombones was not truly
about the duration or structure of the number. Rather, as is common in productions to this
day, the problem was in the budget. As Stanley Sadie states, “Clearly the hire of three extra
players for a few moments’ music did not please the intendant [Seeau].”169 As is clear from
Mozart’s own “desperate fight” with Seeau, he obviously felt that the use of the trombones
would enhance the dramatic implications of this short moment in the opera so tremendously,
that the hire of three players was worth the expense. However, in the end, after numerous
alterations and attempts to negotiate with Seeau, the trombones did not participate in the
opening performance, and Seeau’s frugality won out.
As noted above, four versions of the recitative exist today, which are referred to in the
Neue Mozart Ausgabe as 28a, 28b, 28c and 28d. Number 28c is the version that engages the
entirety of Varesco’s text, and is therefore most likely Mozart’s original version. Number
28b is the scene likely used in the Munich premiere, without trombones, and 28a and 28d
feature brief uses of the trombone, often without the messa di voce effects.170 As for which
166
This use of the trombone in Neptune’s scene will be spoken of in subsequent paragraphs, but it is known as
28c in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe. Mozart was required to compose several versions of his trombone
accompaniment, and 28c contains his most extensive use of the instrument.
167
Sadie, “Genesis of an Operone,” 41-42. The four versions of Neptune’s scene (No. 28) were presumably all
written during Mozart’s composition of Idomeneo for the Munich premiere. I have not found any credible
evidence to suggest that the various revisions were completed after January 29, 1781.
168
Sadie, Mozart, the Early Years, 533.
169
Ibid, 532.
170
Sadie, “Genesis of an Operone,” 41-42.
66 version is the most authentic, that question died with Mozart. But as Daniel Heartz points
out, Mozart was writing with the highly skilled instrumentalists of the Mannheim orchestra in
mind. He knew that they could handle a wide range of dynamic and emotional expression,
helping add depth to Mozart’s opera.171 Thus it seems likely that 28c, with its extensive use
of dynamic and expression markings, was most fit for the genius of the Mannheim musicians.
But whatever the case truly may be, for the purposes of this chapter an examination of the
longest and closest version to Varesco’s original libretto, 28c, will be used.
Besides the trombone’s physical presence and Mozart’s use of its sound to evoke
sacred and supernatural reactions from Germanic audiences, it is also important to examine
how Mozart compositionally used the trombone section to heighten the dramatic impact of
Neptune’s voice in this scene. In this analysis I will examine the idea of using the trombone
to enhance what Leopold Mozart called the “terror within the harmony,” Mozart’s use of
dynamic inflection, the separation of text and music to heighten the meaning of certain
words, and the use of harmonic tension and release in Neptune’s scene to heighten the drama
of the god’s decree.172 Led by the sacred trombone sound, these compositional methods give
Neptune’s scene of divine forgiveness a great amount of enhanced dramatic effect (indeed, a
great deal more than Gluck achieved in his operas).
Our analysis of Mozart’s use of the trombone in Act III, Scene 10 begins with a look
at how he used quickly changing chordal qualities to enhance Neptune’s changing emotional
state within the scene (Leopold’s “terror within the harmony”). Throughout this recitative
Mozart moves swiftly between key centers in an effort to represent Neptune’s sudden shift
from an angry deity to one of benevolent forgiveness. As seen in example 2.4, the first four
171
172
Heartz, “The Genesis of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo,’” 18.
Mozart, Letters, 666.
67 measures begin in C minor (the recitative’s written key) with a D-dominant seventh chord
occurring in m. 2, serving as a passing chord to V (G) in measure 3. This passing dominant
seventh chord serves to immediately alert the audience to the instability of this scene as it
seems to chillingly rise to the G major chord as Neptune rises from the ocean. Yet, the key of
C minor only lasts for 4 measures and he then quickly places a C-major chord in m. 5, which
is prepared by both the G-major chord in measure 3 and the three G quarter notes sung by
Neptune.
Score
Idomeneo m. 1-6
[Subtitle]
Example 2.4: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm.
1-6173
B bbb C w
#U
w
U
w
? bb C U
b w
nw
U
nw
U
Adagio
1
Alto trombone
B bbb C U
w
Tenor trombone
Bass trombone
Horns I, II in C
1
The Voice
(Neptune)
&
!
w
w
!
w
U
w
!
w
!
Ha vinto
A
[He has won
w
w
w
w
!
Œ œ œ œ
w
nw
!
U
U
w
!
U
w
U
C ww
? bb C
b
U
[Composer]
[Arranger]
˙
-
w
˙
mo - re...
love...]
w
w
!
In the first four measures of this recitative, Mozart keeps the trombones’ accompaniment in
C minor as Neptune enters, angry at Idomeneo’s disobedience. As described above, after the
chilling D-dominant seventh passing chord in measure 2, the next sudden harmonic change
occurs after the deity begins to sing, with a C-major chord occurring on the word “love”
(amore) in m. 5. This quick harmonic movement from a minor to a major tonality suggests
173
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Idomeneo, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 11, ed. Daniel
Heartz (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1972), 566.
68 that Neptune’s emotional state is in flux as he issues this decree, and, on the mention of love,
Neptune’s initial anger appears to momentarily stop as Mozart’s pure and innocent C-major
chord is played. Further in the recitative, the harmonies continue to quickly change on many
important words in the text (not shown in the example) like “promise,” “pardoned,” and
“stability.” These types of occurrences throughout the recitative help to highlight important
words in the text that signify specific moments of emotional change within Neptune’s decree,
one of forgiveness for Idomeneo instead of damnation.
Another example of Mozart’s sudden harmonic changes in this recitative occurs in
measures 21-30, shown in example 2.5. Here, Mozart moves through a series of seventh
chords in a circle of fifths progression, eventually moving to a D major sonority in measure
26. This lasts for only a few measures and Mozart soon moves to G minor in measure 29.
Score
Idomeneo m. 21-30
[Subtitle]
Example 2.5: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm.
21-30174
21
Alto trombone
Tenor trombone
Bass trombone
Horns I, II in C
The Voice
(Neptune)
w nw
#
w
w
b
Bbb C
!
p
ƒ
B bbb C n w n w w w
!
ƒ
p
? b C w
!
bb
w w w
p
ƒ
w
w
w
!
& C w w w ww
p
ƒ
? b C w ! ! ! n˙ œ œ
bb
se...
[promise...
[Composer]
nw
w
#w
w
w
w
ww
n˙
ww
Ó ÓŒ
ces - si es
- ser re...
he stops to be king...
!
w
!
w
w
!
w
w
w
w
w
w
!
n œ œ . œJ œ œ
lo
it
w
[Arranger]
˙ ˙
si - a I - da - man - te...
is
Idamante...
ӌ
œ
ed
and]
174
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Idomeneo, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 11, ed. Daniel
Heartz (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1972), 566.
69 Relating to the text itself in this excerpt, Neptune gives the terms of the new arrangement to
King Idomeneo: that of relinquishing his throne to Idamante. Harmonically, Mozart sets mm.
21-27 in D major, with a brief implication of F major, while Neptune states that Idomeneo
will cease to be king. This leads to a G-minor chord in measures 29-30 as Neptune issues the
order that Idamante will become the new king, in essence forgiving Idomeneo as long as he
allows Idamante to reign.
Both of these examples (2.4 and 2.5) of Mozart’s sudden harmonic changes (that
enhance the dramatic effect of the text) are reminiscent of his similar harmonic use of the
instrument within the sacred music studied in chapter one. One example of this is the given
Credo excerpt from Mozart’s Krönungsmesse found in example 1.5. This use of the
trombones, in vocal doubling, helps dramatically enhance the image of the crucifixion by
using quickly changing dissonant harmonies, and is similar to the examples above from
Idomeneo. Both the Credo and Neptune’s recitative express the idea of forgiveness and hope
for the future, and it is useful to this study that Mozart uses sudden harmonic shifts in both to
help enhance the sacred meaning of the works.
Of course, the trombones do not create the sacred aesthetic through harmony alone.
Another compositional element that helps to heighten the drama of Neptune’s voice is
Mozart’s use of expression markings. In this case, Mozart’s use of messa di voce figures
throughout the entirety of the recitative serve as the most notable expression marking. This
type of expression begins on the endings of important words to help to create the effect of the
deity’s words as being imperative commandments. One example of this can be seen in
measures 5 and 6 (example 2.6), where the messa di voce on the word “love” (amore) aids in
emphasizing the power of Idamante and Ilia’s love, and that of Neptune for his people,
70 echoing through the god’s decree with the use of a harmonically “pure and innocent” Cmajor chord.175
Score
Idomeneo m. 4-10
[Subtitle]
Example 2.6: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm.
4-10176
4
Alto trombone
Tenor trombone
Bass trombone
Horns I, II in C
The Voice
(Neptune)
B bbb C
!
? b C
bb
!
B bbb C
&
C
!
!
? bb C Œ œ œ œ
b
Ha vinto A
[He has won
w
nw
w
w
w
˙ ˙
w
w
!
!
!
!
!
w
w
w
[Composer]
!
!
!
˙ œœ
Œœ œ œ
!
a
mo - re...
love...
I -
w
w
w
w
w
w
w
[Arranger]
w
w
w
˙˙ Ó
Œ œ
do-me - ne - o per - do - na
Idomeneo
will be pardoned
il
he]
Two measures later, the messa di voce markings occur again on the word perdona (pardon),
heightening the impact of Neptune’s forgiveness with a sudden F-minor chord. As
demonstrated here, Mozart’s use of these expression markings help to enhance the
importance of these words, showing them as crucial commands, and are used in conjunction
with carefully chosen chords to further achieve this musical aim. Whereas messa di voce
markings are nearly impossible to find in the trombone parts in Mozart’s sacred music, he
does use a variety of different dynamic markings to serve a similar purpose. As shown in the
examples from chapter 1, these include sforzandi, forte-piani, subito forte, and piano
markings and many more. In essence, these expression markings in his sacred music serve a
similar purpose as the messa di voce in Mozart’s Idomeneo; marking important harmonic and
175
©
Schubart, 377.
176
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Idomeneo, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 11, ed. Daniel
Heartz (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1972), 566. 71 textual moments with a sudden change in dynamic-related expression to help certain words
(and their meanings) echo throughout a section of music.
A third method Mozart used to heighten the sacerdotal significance of Neptune’s
emotionally charged text, is his careful use of space, or silence, between sung words and
instrumental accompaniment. In this case, he is cautious to not let the text be overpowered by
the dynamic effects of the trombone section, only allowing Neptune’s words to be enhanced
by the instrument’s use. Mozart accomplishes this compositional idea in Neptune’s recitative
by separating the trombone chords from Neptune’s vocal line, and in doing so, allows the
deity’s decree to freely echo as highly respected pronouncements of his will. One example of
this can be seen in measures 45-52 (example 2.7), where the trombones remain virtually
silent while Neptune is singing.
Score
Idomeneo m. 45-52
[Subtitle]
Example 2.7: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm.
45-52177
B bbb C w n w
p
b
B b b C nw
nw
p
? bb C
b w w
p
& C ww ww
p
? bb C w !
b
45
Alto trombone
Tenor trombone
Bass trombone
Horns I, II in C
The Voice
(Neptune)
za.
[innocent.
#w
nw
w
w
w
!
w
ƒ
nw
ƒ
[Composer]
[Arranger]
!
!
!
w
ƒ
ww
!
ƒ
nœ
Ó Œœ œ œ œ
La
pa - ce ren-de
The peace will be restored]
w
p
nw
w
p
ww
p
w
w
w
p
w
ƒ
nw
ƒ
w
ww
!
w
ƒ
w
w
ƒ
!
rà
177
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Idomeneo, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 11, ed. Daniel
Heartz (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1972), 567.
72 Even the word “restored” (renderà) that begins in measure 50 is only followed by a piano Bflat major chord, making the accompaniment barely present. In this example, and throughout
the recitative as a whole, Mozart does not overpower the verbalization of Neptune with
trombone accompaniment, and heightens the dramatic impact of the deity’s sacred recitative.
This compositional method of space was used by Mozart in his sacred works as well.
As studied in chapter one, the excerpt from Mozart’s “Jener Donnerworte Kraft” from Die
Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots (example 1.3) features the solo trombone most often playing
during the Christian’s rests. In the Tuba mirum fragment from Mozart’s Requiem (example
1.7), the trombone opens with a solo phrase and then cuts out for the opening of the baritone
soloist’s entrance of “Tuba mirum spargens sonum” (“The trombone will send its wondrous
sound”). In the Tuba mirum the space between the trombone and the voice helps to
emphasize the text’s representation of Judgment Day, and in “Jener Donnerworte Kraft,” it
enhances the sacred message of repentance. In these two examples, as in Neptune’s
recitative, the trombone’s moments of silence aid in allowing the seriousness of the text to be
understood.
One final method that Mozart employs in the trombone parts to add emotional depth
and to enhance Neptune’s sacred significance is his attention to the idea of tension and
release. Within this scene, Mozart uses the trombone section to both strengthen and alleviate
the harmonic tension found in Neptune’s text in numerous instances. In measures 57-70,
shown in example 2.8, Mozart clearly uses harmonic tension in his trombone and horn
accompaniment.
73 Score
Idomeneo m. 59-70
[Subtitle]
Example 2.8: Idomeneo Act III, Scene 10, mm.
57-70178
B bbb C
57
Alto trombone
Tenor trombone
Bass trombone
Horns I, II in C
The Voice
(Neptune)
B bbb C
? bb C
b
&
C
!
!
!
!
? bb C Ó œ œ ˙
b
B bbb w
ƒ
b
B b b nw
ƒ
? bb
b #w
ƒ
w
&
w
ƒ
? bb
!
b
Sta - bi - li
[Stability
!
-
˙
to
!
!
!
!
!
w
sì
so
w
F
w
F
ww
F
!
!
64
w
F
!
!
!
w
!
de
worthy.]
[Composer]
[Arranger]
!
!
!
!
!
w
!
w
p
nw
p
w
p
ww
p
w
-
!
!
w
nel
in the
nU
w
U
w
U
w
U
ww
U
w
!
ciel
heavens
w
f
più
w
più
w
w
w
più
più
!
!
f
!
f
f
!
˙
no
U
w
U
w
nw
nU
w
w
w
U
U
-
˙
do
crux
U
U
w
w
!
U
!
w
w
!
gno.
After Neptune sings the word “Stability” (Stabilito) in measures 57-58, Mozart immediately
destabilizes the harmony by including a C-minor chord; interestingly placed, as the previous
harmonic movement progressed through a series of major tonalities: G major, B-flat major,
©
and A-flat major (mm. 45-56, not shown in the example). In measure 62, Mozart returns to
A-flat major on the word “heaven” (ciel) in a brief release of the tension that arrived on the
C-minor chord, but then immediately negates the release in a passing F-sharp diminished
seventh chord in measure 64, which creates another moment of tension in the scene. It seems
178
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Idomeneo, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 11, ed. Daniel
Heartz (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1972), 567.
74 that all of the tension of the drama related to Neptune’s new promise is heightened by the
trombone/horn accompaniment’s often unsettling harmonic progression, and is ultimately
released by the final C major resolution in measure 70, emphasizing the restoration of peace
in the heavens.
Once again, this building and releasing of tension was also used in Mozart’s sacred
music. This exact type of harmonic tension releasing to a C-major chord can be seen in the
same example from the Krönungsmesse mentioned earlier in this analysis (example 1.5). In
the Credo, the harmonic tension that builds up throughout the images of Christ’s crucifixion
is eventually released when the text mentions the resurrection, the Christian symbol of new
life and forgiveness. Like the end of Neptune’s recitative, the Credo excerpt releases the
tension on a C-major chord, which as mentioned, is associated with purity, hope, and other
Christian images. Mozart understood that by using the sacerdotally-associated trombone in a
similar harmonic model of tension and release in Neptune’s recitative, he would enhance the
overall sacred and powerful meaning of the text.
Mozart’s use of the trombone to represent the sacred character of Neptune, as shown
above, is accomplished through the use of a variety of compositional techniques. These
techniques were added to by Mozart based on models set out by composers like C.W. Gluck.
For Mozart, Gluck’s use of the trombone in operas like Orphée et Euridice and Alceste gave
him a basis from which to expand on the harmony, dynamic coloration, and various means of
expression in his serious opera Idomeneo. All of these techniques aided Mozart in enhancing
the image of Neptune as a god of anger who turns from this emotion in order to grace his
followers with the gift of forgiveness. Undeniably, this is a deeply religious moment within
Idomeneo, and it is fitting that Mozart would use the trombone to enhance this sacred
75 imagery. It is Mozart who, with Idomeneo, begins a more innovative use of the trombone in
his operatic works, which he will continue in his 1787 opera Don Giovanni.
76 Chapter III
Don Giovanni
Mozart’s next use of the trombone in his operatic output occurred six years after
Idomeneo with one of his most well known works, Don Giovanni (K. 527). The Spanish
story of Don Juan, or Don Giovanni in Italian, originated in the seventeenth century. Edward
Dent suggests that in Germany itself, the story of Leonitus, which was produced in the plays
of the Jesuit fathers throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is similar to the
Don Juan legend and helped portray the problems of the “sins of the spirit.”179 Mozart’s own
version of the Don Juan or Leonitus story was the basis for his 1787 dramma giocoso, Don
Giovanni. The work was premiered in the city of Prague for Pasquale Bondini’s theater
company. Within the course of the drama, Mozart uses the trombone section (consisting of an
alto, tenor, and a bass trombone) to represent the otherworldly nature of the Commendatore’s
ghostly spirit, embodied in the statue of the murdered Commendatore, and its use is closely
associated with the statue’s appeal to have Don Giovanni repent for his sins—a type of
death-bed offer of atonement—and ultimately with the Commendatore’s (working as one of
God’s messengers) subsequent decree of eternal damnation.180 The trombone section appears
in only two scenes: the graveyard scene in which Don Giovanni first meets the statue (Act II,
Scene 11), and in the finale of the opera (Act II, Scene 15) where Don Giovanni is given a
chance to repent by the Commendatore, but refuses and is sent to hell. In both instances, the
instrument enhances the Commendatore’s ghostly spirit through sudden harmonic shifts,
179
Edward Dent states that in Germany, the Jesuit fathers often produced morality plays about the character
Leonitus. The stories had a similar message of morality as Mozart’s Don Giovanni, but focused more on the
message of sins of the spirit rather than of the flesh. Edward Dent, Mozart’s Operas, a Critical Study (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1991), 120.
180
My thanks to Dr. Jeffrey Sposato for helping me to fully understanding the meaning behind this moment in
the opera.
77 dynamic coloration, and the heightening and resolving of tension throughout. Additionally,
the mere presence of the trombone helps directly heighten the solemnity of these scenes for
the Prague, and later Viennese, audiences who were well aware of the instrument’s sacred
connection.
The Prague premiere took place on October 29, 1787, after numerous production
issues with the cast and theatre director Pasquale Bondini. Bondini commissioned the work
itself after Mozart “saved” his theater company with the revival of Le nozze di Figaro in
January of 1787.181 Mozart chose Lorenzo Da Ponte, his librettist for Le nozze di Figaro, to
once again write the text for this new endeavor. Mozart himself had been “waiting to express
himself with this work” and his creativity was enabled through Da Ponte’s masterful
engineering of such a well-known story for the Prague public.182 For this commission,
Mozart hoped to elicit the same enthusiastic response as Le nozze di Figaro in Prague, and he
meant to do so by further pushing the envelope of his compositional innovation (by once
again using the trombone).183
A great deal of controversy surrounds Da Ponte’s libretto, with numerous plays and
musical works being seen as possible sources for his and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Laurel
Zeiss suggests that Antonio Salieri’s 1785 opera La Grotta di Trofonio was one of the main
sources for Mozart’s opera, as well as Gluck’s own operas and his ballet Don Juan.184
181
David Cairns describes how Mozart’s second series of performances of Le nozze di Figaro with Bondini’s
theater company in Prague helped keep the troupe economically viable, and that the director now yearned for
more success with another Mozart opera. David Cairns, Mozart and His Operas (Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 2006), 137-138.
182
Ibid, 139.
183
In a letter to his friend Baron Gottfried von Jacquin on January 15, 1787, Mozart states hat he was filled with
great “pleasure while all these people flew about in sheer delight to the music of my ‘Figaro.’” Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, The Letters of Mozart and His Family, ed. and trans. Emily Anderson (London: Macmillan,
1966), 903.
184
Laurel Zeiss, “Permeable Boundaries in Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni,’” Cambridge Opera Journal 12, no. 2
(July 2001): 132-133. 78 Furthermore, Edward Dent suggests that the libretto came out of a series of plays and operas
about the Spanish victimizer Don Juan by Tirso de Molina, Goldini Tirso, and Jean-Baptiste
Poquelin (Molière), among others.185 These works, along with the Jesuit morality plays of
Leonitus, and possibly additional similar Don Juan stories moving throughout European
cultural circles, seem to have inspired Da Ponte’s own story. One of these works in
particular, Gluck’s ballet Don Juan (1761), uses a single trombone in the final scene where
the villain is damned to hell. However, the use of the trombone here is very limited and, like
Gluck’s works studied earlier, simply adds a brief moment of orchestral volume as it doubles
the other instruments.
The most immediate sources for Da Ponte and Mozart’s work is Giovanni Bertati’s
(1735-1815) opera from 1787 entitled Don Giovanni Tenorio. Bertati’s work itself, a brief
one-act opera, has many similarities to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, mainly in the story’s
structure. David Cairns suggests that “Generally, where Da Ponte follows Bertati he comes
out of the comparison more stylish, more concise and more effective.”186 In terms of the
scenes of Mozart’s Don Giovanni that concern this study (those with the Commendatore’s
statue), Berati’s version, while including these moments, does not use a trombone section.
The idea to use the instruments to represent the sacerdotal themes of the statue’s text was
completely Mozart’s idea, as Laurel Zeiss notes: “The supernatural elements of the plot call
forth musical language that goes beyond the ordinary. The ghost of the Commendatore, for
example, does not ‘speak’ in normal tones.”187 This otherworldly characterization of the
statue is enhanced by the trombone section, in a manner worthy of the heavy issues of
morality that this opera raises.
185
Dent, 135-136.
Cairns, 149.
187
Zeiss, 132. 186
79 Mozart’s story focuses on the nefarious Don Giovanni and his various sins against the
other members of the drama and those outside the stream of events. The first act opens with
the masked Don Giovanni forcing himself on Donna Anna, the daughter of the
Commendatore. After hearing the scuffle, the Commendatore runs in to stop it, and confronts
Giovanni. In a swordfight the Commendatore is killed and Donna Anna and her betrothed,
Don Ottavio, vow revenge. Donna Elvira, a recent conquest of Don Giovanni, enters looking
for him and soon after Leporello, Giovanni’s servant, comically reads a list of Don
Giovanni’s 2,065 sexual conquests in the famous “Catalog” aria. Following the aria, the story
turns to Don Giovanni’s attempt to seduce Zerlina, a peasant bride, who is warned by Donna
Elvira about Giovanni’s true intentions. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio arrive as Giovanni
exits, and identify him as the man who tried to rape her. Next, the drama turns to Don
Giovanni hosting a ball, where he once again seduces Zerlina, and as she screams, he blames
Leporello for the crime.
In the second act, Don Giovanni, disguised as Leporello, begins by attempting to
seduce Donna Elvira’s maid in a serenade. Soon Masetto, Zerlina’s husband, enters with a
gang of men looking for Giovanni, and the disguised criminal pretends to guide them to him.
At that point, Giovanni beats Masetto almost to death and escapes to a graveyard where he
meets Leporello. Upon looking at the statue dedicated to Donna Anna’s murdered father, the
Commendatore, the statue comes to life and addresses them. Impudently, Giovanni invites
the statue to supper, who agrees to come. That evening, the Commendatore arrives at
Giovanni’s estate for dinner, and asks Giovanni to now join him for dinner. Unafraid,
Giovanni accepts this offer and takes the statue’s hand. At this point, the Commendatore
reveals that at this final moment of the criminal’s life: he must repent for his sins
80 (presumably offering Giovanni a chance at purgatory rather than hell). In defiance to the
statue’s generous offer, Don Giovanni refuses to repent and is ushered to hell by a chorus of
spirits. The opera ends with a sextet of the leading characters who sing that “All evildoers
come to an evil end,” which alerts the audience to the moral of the story.
The details of this story are of the utmost importance in our understanding of why
Mozart insists on using the trombone to enhance the religious nature of the Commendatore’s
statue. In essence, the story described above is based on the various sins against society by
the aristocrat, Don Giovanni. Not only does he seduce numerous women, both in the opera
itself and outside its plot (as described in Leporello’s “Catalog” aria), but he is shown to be a
murderer, in his killing of the Commendatore and attempted murder of Masetto; a liar, in his
blaming of Leporello and his use of disguise; and a remorseless man who shows his belief
that he has done nothing wrong by refusing the statue’s offer to repent. All of these misdeeds
show that Don Giovanni is an immoral man who sees himself as above the law of both man
(having abused his aristocratic authority) and God, and who must be punished.188 Mozart’s
Don Giovanni is, as David Cairns notes, “the logical consequence of the Enlightenment’s
cult of individualism and unrestrained liberty.” In essence, “He has to be stopped, but cannot
be by any normal human agency.”189 The only force that can stop Giovanni’s extreme abuse
of his aristocratic privileges is an element of the divine, which in this opera is the statue of
the Commendatore (serving as God’s messenger). The understanding of Don Giovanni’s sins
is crucial in recognizing the very reason he is in need of God’s divine offer, a proposition that
is enhanced through Mozart’s use of the sacerdotally significant trombone section.
188
More information on this subject is found later in this chapter and in: Nicholas Till, Mozart and The
Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue and Beauty in Mozart’s Operas (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1992),
145-149.
189
Cairns, 162-163.
81 The issues of Don Giovanni’s immorality as described above have been tied to
various themes that occurred during the Enlightenment in Europe (the environment in which
Mozart was composing) by authors such as Nicholas Till and Julian Rushton.190 Among the
core Enlightenment developments were those related to social reform, which stemmed from
the rise of a literate and educated middle-class; and a growing equality of all men, regardless
of class, under the law (and, conversely, a curtailing of aristocratic authority).191 For our
study, it is important to also look at the notion of the individual in the Enlightenment
separating himself from the ethical and moral conventions of society, as the character Don
Giovanni so openly does.
In the opera, one of Don Giovanni’s most salient characteristics is that he sees the
world as a source of never-ending pleasure and complete freedom: its ethical and moral
restrictions mean nothing to him.192 Immanuel Kant wrote openly about the need for the
individual to follow his own understanding without the guidance of another, and become
self-liberated, and Don Giovanni seems to exhibit an extreme version of this type of selfliberation.193 But such a lifestyle was seen as threatening to destroy the delicate nature of the
aristocracy and its place in the new social hierarchy that was constructed during this period.
Nicholas Till notes that “The very mobility of eighteenth-century society gave rise to
pressure for a stricter set of rules, of obligations and responsibilities.”194 As the new middle
class grew in economic power, the need and support for the aristocracy waned throughout
190
See Till, 197-228; Julian Rushton, W.A. Mozart: Don Giovanni, Cambridge Opera Handbooks (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1981).
191
Dorinda Outram, Panorama of the Enlightenment (London: Thames and Hudson, 2006), 10-89; Ulrich Im
Hof, The Enlightenment, trans. William E. Yuill, The Making of Europe Series (Cambridge: Blackwell
Publishers, 1994), 13-79, 113-122, 157-212; Till, 1-6, 38-47, 85-101, 145-149, 197-228.
192
Geoffrey Clive, “The Demonic in Mozart,” Music and Letters 37, no. 1 (January 1956): 4.
193
From Immanuel Kant’s contribution to the Berlinische Monatsschrift essay contest (Berlin, 1784), cited in
Outram, 29-30.
194
Till, 147.
82 Germany, and Europe in general. Ulrich Im Hof adds that the middle class had become a
significant economic and political factor that the aristocracy was forced to reckon with.195 In
Mozart’s opera, Giovanni is essentially the embodiment of an abusive member of the
aristocracy whose own reckoning comes in the form of God’s most severe punishment,
eternal damnation.
Nicholas Till raises the important question of why Mozart’s vision of an “angry and
vengeful God” is present in the opera; it is, after all, in stark contrast to a general
Enlightenment tendency to cast off this Old Testament view of God.196 His answer is that
“the Enlightenment also fervently believed in a just universe, and reserving its judgment on
heaven and hell, was frequently tempted to invoke a little divine intervention on earth (as in
Idomeneo) to uphold its belief in a just God.”197 In other words, the Enlightenment sought
not to eliminate God’s presence on earth, but to limit it to issues that required divine
intervention, like Don Giovanni’s obvious extreme immorality and abuse of his aristocratic
authority. Nicholas Till further suggests that “Belief in the existence of an all-powerful and
punishing God had come to be understood as the necessary condition for any sort of social
order: the only means of quelling the Don Giovannis of the modern world.”198
In the opera, as already noted, God’s punishment—as well as his final offer of
repentance—is doled out by the Commendatore’s statue. For Mozart, one way to add a truly
convincing element of awe-inspiring spirituality to these moments was to use the trombone.
The instrument’s use primarily in church music and not in theater, along with its overall
understood sacred significance in Germany during the sixteenth through the eighteenth
195
Im Hof, 50.
Till, 197.
197
Ibid,198.
198
Ibid, 221.
196
83 centuries, gave him the perfect vehicle through which to enhance the Commendatore’s
presence and grave message to Giovanni. As with Idomeneo, Mozart employs the trombone
to enhance the statue’s sacred status through various uses of harmony, expression markings,
and the building and releasing of tension. These techniques help the trombone section
enhance the “shadow of the spectral” which looms over the final act of the opera.199
The first scene in which the trombone section is used to enhance the statue of the
Commendatore is in Act II, Scene 11. The scene opens in a graveyard that contains numerous
statues serving as monuments to dead lords, including the man Don Giovanni murdered in
the first act: the Commendatore. Don Giovanni enters over a wall, fleeing after beating
Masetto, and bumps into his servant Leporello, who is upset that his master almost caused
him to be beaten by Donna Elvira. In reply, Don Giovanni pompously states “Well, wasn’t
this an honor for you?” He then goes on to boast about his seduction attempt of Donna
Elvira’s maid while still disguised as his servant, and Leporello is amazed at his indifference.
Leporello then states, “But what if the woman had been my wife?” At this, the ever selfserving master replies, “Better yet!” It is in this instance of complete immorality that the
statue of the Commendatore speaks, telling Don Giovanni that “You will cease laughing
before dawn.” At this statement, Don Giovanni quickly looks for enemies in the graveyard.
The statue once again speaks, stating, “Audacious scoundrel! Leave the dead in peace.” As
Leporello backs away, trembling, his master forces him to ask the statue to come to supper
with them, a sign of his lack of fear for the spectral voice. After Leporello asks the question
to the statue, Don Giovanni himself moves forward and boldly asks the statue “Will you
come to supper?” The Commendatore responds with the answer of “Yes”, and then Leporello
and his master leave to make preparations for their banquet.
199
Zeiss, 135.
84 The trombone section’s purpose in this first entrance of the Commendatore’s statue is
intended to help conjure in the audience’s mind a character who is imbued with a divine
presence. In order to inspire this level of religious association, Mozart does not use melodic,
but rather specific harmonic movement. Julian Rushton suggests that Mozart’s harmonies in
these sections are both “tremendous and beautiful,” and help him enhance the otherworldly
elements (including the presence of the Commendatore’s statue).200 In the entrances of the
Commendatore’s voice in the scene, the trombone section plays specific chords that help to
enhance the sacred authority of his words, as if they are coming from God Himself, and does
not rely on any other type of expressive or dramatic devices within the orchestration.
(Interestingly, Dent notes that Mozart had originally intended only trombones to be used in
this scene, but had to hastily add oboe and bassoon parts to his score just before the premiere.
Apparently at rehearsal, Mozart was afraid the trombonists would not be able to play their
parts, so he added the winds as a safeguard.)201
The first entrance of the Commendatore’s voice, as mentioned above, comes in
response to Don Giovanni’s boasting of his seduction of Donna Elvira’s maid and his
pleasure in taking advantage of married women. Example 3.1 shows the statue’s first
entrance and the related trombone parts.
200
Julian Rushton, W.A. Mozart: Don Giovanni, Cambridge Opera Handbooks (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1991), 119.
201
Dent, 169. 85 Score
Don G 3.1
[Subtitle]
[Composer]
[Arranger]
Example 3.1: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 11, mm. 51-54202
Oboe I, II
&c œ
Clarinet I, II
&c œ
51
˙
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
w
˙
˙
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
w
˙
Bassoon I, II
B c œœ
# ˙˙
œœ
n œœ
# œœ
Alto Trombone
Bc œ
#˙
œ
œ
#œ
œ
œ
Tenor Trombone
Bc œ
˙
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
?c œ
˙
œ
œ
œ.
#˙
œ œ
J
œ
˙
ri
laughing
der
Bass Trombone
Commendatore
?c œ
Di
[Of
Violincello
and Bass
?c œ
œ.
fi
you
œ œ
J
-
ni
will
œ
-
rai
cease
#œ
œœ
œœ
#˙
œ
œ
pria
before
œ
œœ
Ó
Ó
˙˙
# ˙˙
# ˙˙
Ó
œ
˙
˙
#˙
Ó
œ
˙
#˙
˙
Ó
˙
Ó
˙
Ó
œ œ
J J
dell'
œ
au dawn.]
w
w
ro
˙
-
˙
ra.
˙
Ó
As one can see in this brief four-measure moment, the trombone section helps to enhance the
text of the Commendatore’s statue as he states Di rider finirai pria dell’aurora (“Your
laughing will cease at dawn”). These words foreshadow Don Giovanni’s damnation, and the
power of the chords produced by the dominant trombone section heighten this. The section
opens in D minor, which is used throughout the opera as the key of vengeance and fate and
will return in the finale in multiple places.203 However, by the end of the first full measure he
adds an A-minor chord (in my opinion, giving a rich and darkened sound) that is soon
202
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 17, ed.
Wolfgang Plath and Wolgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter,©1968), 369. The musical examples in this chapter
include literal translations by the author to demonstrate how Mozart set each word in the text.
203
The key of D minor is used by Mozart throughout the opera to show vengeance. It is also used by the
composer in many of his other operas, including the Queen of the Night’s famous vengeance aria “Der Hölle
Rache” in Die Zauberflöte. See F.R. Noske, “Don Giovanni: Musical Affinities and Dramatic Structure,” Studia
Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 12, no. 1/4 (1970): 183; Lydia Goehr and Daniel Herwitz,
The Don Giovanni Moment: Essays On The Legacy of An Opera (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006),
xviii.
86 followed in measure 52 by a dissonant D-sharp diminished seventh chord acting as a
secondary dominant (vii°7/V) in the key of A major (the key in which the cadence occurs in
m. 54). During this dissonant harmony, the statue speaks the words pria dell’aurora (“cease
before dawn”). Here, in more foreshadowing, the Commendatore’s statue is predicting both
the ceasing of Don Giovanni’s laughter and his life. This D-sharp diminished chord helps to
heighten the tension in the Commendatore’s statue’s call to “cease” which eventually is
resolved in the move to A major by the end of this given example.
This quick use of a dissonant harmony to heighten the tension of the drama is similar
to Mozart’s compositional use of the trombone in his church music, as seen in the Credo
excerpt from Mozart’s Krönungsmesse from chapter 1 (example 1.5). In the Credo excerpt,
the sudden diminished chords help bring out the drama in the Crucifixion, and, in a similar
vein, the composer’s similar harmonic use of the trombone in this moment from Don
Giovanni helps to enhance the drama of the Commendatore’s hidden pronouncement of death
for Giovanni. As in Idomeneo, Mozart’s use of the sacerdotally significant trombone section,
along with a compositional technique found in the trombone parts of his church music, gave
this moment in the second act of the opera even more sacred significance.
The statue’s next entrance in the scene follows Don Giovanni’s attempt to find the
origin of the ghostly voice. As he moves throughout the graveyard, the Commendatore
suddenly speaks again, stating Ribaldo, audace lascia a’morti la pace (“Audacious
scoundrel! Leave the dead in peace”). These words are an effort for the statue to once again
make his presence known, and to divulge that Don Giovanni’s true nature is well known to
God (for whom the Commendatore speaks). In this moment of the opera, Mozart once again
used specific harmonies to enhance the text, as shown in example 3.2.
87 Score
Don G 3.2
Example 3.2: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 11,[Subtitle]
mm. 59-63204
Oboe I, II
Clarinet I, II
Bassoon I, II
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Commendatore
j 59
j
3
& 4 œ œ œ ‰œ
j
j
& 43 œ œ œ ‰ œ
j
j
œ
œ
B 43 J œœ b œœ ‰ œœ
J
B 43 œJ œ b œ ‰ œJ
B 3 œ œ œ ‰œ
4 J
J
? 3 j œ œ ‰œ
4 œ
J
? 3 œ œ œ ‰œ
4 J
J
Ri - bal - do,
[Scoundrel,
Violoncello
and Bass
au
audacious,
? 3 j œ œ ‰œ
4 œ
J
[Composer]
[Arranger]
œ œ Œ
œ
œ œ
œ œ Œ
˙.
œ
œ
œ œ
b # œœ œœ Œ
œœ
œœ b œœ
˙.
œ
#œ œ Œ
œ
œ œ
˙.
œ Œ Œ
bœ œ Œ
œ
œ œ
œ #˙
œ Œ Œ
œ œ Œ bœ
œ #œ
˙.
œ Œ Œ
œ œ Œ
da - ce.
œ œ œ œ œ ˙.
J J JJ
la - scia a'mor - ti la
leave to the dead
œ œ Œ bœ
œ #œ
œœ
˙œ. # ˙
pa
peace.]
˙.
Œ Œ
Œ Œ
Œ Œ
Œ Œ
œ Œ Œ
-
ce.
œ Œ Œ
In this section, the music begins in C major, but tonicizes G major by the end of the excerpt
(moving as before [example 3.1] from tonic to dominant). One of the most aurally distinct
moments in this section occurs in measure 60, as the trombones and orchestra play a
dissonant C-sharp diminished seventh chord as the statue finishes the word audace
©
(“audacious”). This chord’s purpose within the harmonic structure serves only as a dramatic
coloration as opposed to a part of the functional harmony since the C-sharp does not resolve
up as expected to D (yet another moment of expressively marked non-resolution). Mozart’s
204
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 17, ed.
Wolfgang Plath and Wolgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1968), 370.
88 use of sudden dissonance and lack of harmonic resolution in this measure helps to emphasize
the reckless and bold nature of Giovanni, as stated by the Commendatore, and creates tension
in this otherworldly scene. Mozart relieves the tension by the end of the statue’s second
appearance by cadencing to a stable G-major chord in measure 63 as he finishes the word
pace (“peace”). This, however, is approached in the last beat of measure 61 with another
dissonant sounding C-sharp diminished seventh chord (this time with the C-sharp resolving
correctly to the D in m. 62), emphasizing the grave nature of the word morti (“dead”). This
helps lead into the 4-3 suspension of the D-major chord (V/G) occurring in measure 62
(which tonicizes the key of G). The sacred imagery within this brief five-measure section is
enhanced by the use of the trombone to play specifically placed chords to heighten the
tension of the drama, again, in a manner similar to his use of the instrument in certain areas
of his church music.
These two statements by the statue of the Commendatore, as strengthened by the
trombone section and the orchestra’s harmonies, give the graveyard scene an ominous
sentiment. As the scene progresses, Don Giovanni boldly asks the statue to supper, with
which he replies “Yes.” This occurs in Leporello and Don Giovanni’s duet O statua
gentilissima that follows these two statements by the Commendatore. However, Mozart did
not use the trombone in the statue’s singular pronouncement of “Yes,” instead, saving the
instrument’s sound for its extensive use in the finale. Yet, regardless of the trombone
section’s brief nine measures of music in this scene, their presence is pivotal in showing the
sacred nature of the Commendatore’s presence and ominous text. In essence, Mozart brings
the instrument in from, as Cairns describes it, “the darkness, breaking in on the simple
89 (secco) recitative with an effect that no amount of familiarity can ever dim,” and gives the
work a solemn sentiment not experienced in the opera until this moment.205
Mozart’s next use of the trombone in Don Giovanni occurs in the finale of the opera.
The scene opens in a hall within Don Giovanni’s house with a table fully set for a banquet, as
musicians play and servants hastily make the feast ready. Donna Elvira soon bursts into the
hall and emotionally urges Don Giovanni to stop his wickedness and save himself, yet he
brushes her comments aside and attempts to eat his meal as he states, “Long live the women!
Long live the good wine! Sustenance and glory of humanity!” Upon hearing Don Giovanni’s
bold submission to his own sinful ways, she runs out of the hall and a scream is heard as she
encounters the oncoming statue of the Commendatore (taking place off-stage.) The statue
knocks on the door, Leporello hides under the table trembling, and Don Giovanni opens the
door. The stone guest states, “Don Giovanni, you have invited me to dine with you, and I’ve
come,” and with this, the trombone section begins playing. Don Giovanni replies that he
cannot believe what is happening and offers the statue food, and with this, the statue states,
“He who feeds on celestial food does not feed on the food of mortals. Other cares, more
weighty than these, another desire has guided me to come here below.”
Soon after, the statue tells Don Giovanni that, “You invited me to supper; Your duty
now you know. Answer me: will you come to dine with me?” Without a second thought, Don
Giovanni states that he has no fear and “I will come.” The Commendatore’s statue asks for
Don Giovanni’s hand as a token, which he confidently gives (showing that he has no fear of
death and the afterlife). Then, as Don Giovanni’s hand is taken, the statue asks Don Giovanni
“Repent, reform your life: It’s the last moment.” Don Giovanni replies that he will not do so,
and after many failed attempts to gain his repentance, the statue states “Ah! There’s no more
205
Cairns, 150.
90 time left for you!” With this, the statue disappears and Don Giovanni is tormented by a
chorus of spirits who sing, “Everything that is happening to you is little for the sins you
committed. Come: there’s a pain even worse.” As the chorus sings these words, a fiery chasm
opens onstage and Giovanni is dragged down into hell. With the disappearance of the
Commendatore’s statue, however, the trombone section continues to play, representing both
the damnation which the stone guest bestowed upon the unremorseful sinner and the
otherworldly nature of the chorus of spirits.
This scene, which is one of the most awe-inspiring moments in all of opera, includes
the trombone section to both enhance the statue’s offer of an opportunity for repentance, and
to accompany the judgment of eternal damnation. Cairns notes that throughout this scene,
“the rising harmonic progressions…thrill us to the core every time.”206 And, in addition to
specific harmonies enhancing the dramatic and divine words of the statue, Mozart also
includes various dynamic and expression marks within the trombone section to enhance the
Commendatore’s text and the sacerdotal nature of the scene in general. These sudden
changes in dynamics by the trombones and the other members of the orchestra help to, in
Dent’s words, “disconcert the nerves like the pitching of a ship in a storm.”207 In the case of
the moments that will be described below, the trombone section once again is a selfcontained unit. In general, the other instruments of the orchestra do not double the
trombones’ parts unless it is necessary to play a loud orchestral hit during a specific moment
to enhance the drama onstage. Instead, the other instrumental parts provide the moving
musical motives as the trombones dominate the enhancement of the Commendatore’s statue.
As has been noted by Laurel Zeiss, “A shadow of the spectral hangs over this entire work,”
206
207
Cairns, 162.
Dent, 173. 91 and it is in this finale that Mozart’s spectral messenger, the Commendatore’s statue, sends the
sinful Don Giovanni into the pits of hell, dramatically enhanced by the use of the trombone
section.208
In Act II, Scene 15 (located within the finale of the opera), Mozart used the trombone
section to heighten the sacerdotal association of the Commendatore as he meets Don
Giovanni at dinner. The trombones enter as the Commendatore sings his first words of the
finale, one of the most famous entrances in all of Mozart’s operas.
208
Zeiss, 135.
92 Score
Don G 3.3
[Subtitle]
Example 3.3: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15,
mm. 433-440209
B b C #w
ƒ
Bb C w
ƒ
? b C nw
ƒ
? C
!
b
433
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Commendatore
Bb w
p
Bb w
p
? w
b
p
? Œ
b
œ Œ Ó
w
œ Œ Ó
#w
œ
!
438
a
to
œ
ce
dine
œ
-
nar
with
˙
te
you
-
œ
!
!
Œ Ó
!
œ Œ Ó
Ó
!
w
!
w
!
œ
œ Œ Ó
w
Œ Ó
[Composer]
[Arranger]
˙
œ. œ
J
Don
[Don
!
Gio
Giovanni,
van
-
˙
ni,
w
˙
co
Ó
œ
m'in
you
œ
-
vi
invited me,]
As seen in example 3.3, the scene opens in the key of D minor with the orchestra, including
the trombone section, playing a fortissimo G-sharp diminished chord (serving a secondary
dominant function, vii°7/V), whose dissonant sound and lack of normal resolution (because
the G-sharp in the alto trombone fails to resolve up to an A; similar to previous examples in
this chapter in terms of harmonic movement) helps to immediately set the tense mood of the
moment. After this initial loud entrance, and the less tense A-dominant seventh chord
©
following it in measures 435-436 (V7), the instruments all drop out as the statue sings his first
lines. Following this initial orchestral entrance, the trombones are the only members of the
orchestra to play the D-minor chord in measure 438 and the A-minor chord in measure 440.
209
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 17, ed.
Wolfgang Plath and Wolgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1968), 425.
93 In these measures, the trombones’ softly played chords help to provide, as Edward Dent
states, the initial “solemnity of the scene.”210 Mozart signaled this solemnity by only using
the sacerdotally significant trombone section during this moment, and not the entirety of the
orchestra. Thus, the trombone’s inclusion establishes this scene as having important religious
implications as the Commendatore first joins Giovanni in what will turn out to be the
reprobate’s final meal.
Another important moment in which Mozart used the trombone section in this scene
occurs in measures 487-501 (example 3.4). Here, the composer used the section to enhance
the sacerdotal significance of one of the Commendatore’s important questions, verrai tu a
cenar meco? (“Will you dine with me?”). In this moment, the trombones’ presence in the
scoring and harmonic emphasis of the statue’s message heightens the religious implications
of the question. Here, the Commendatore’s statue is essentially asking Don Giovanni to join
him where he resides (some type of afterlife), and be renewed by the food of heaven (a
possible allusion to Christ’s offering of His body during the last supper).211
210
Dent, 173.
Many authors have different views of the meaning of this scene. David Cairns suggests that Don Giovanni is
being offered salvation and a trip to heaven with the Commendatore: Cairns, 161-164; Edward Dent notes that
Don Giovanni is simply offered an invitation to join the statue, and evades a translation of the Commendatore’s
question: Dent, 169; Robert Donington suggests that the statue is asking Don Giovanni if he would like a type
of “unearthly nourishment of the spirit,” [possibly a type of spiritual cleansing]: Robert Donington, “Don
Giovanni Goes to Hell,” The Musical Times 122, no. 1661 (July 1981): 448.
211
94 Score
Don G 3.4
[Subtitle]
Example 3.4: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15,
mm. 487-501212
Bb C w
Í
Bb C w
Í
? C
b w
Í
?b C ˙
487
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Commendatore
Tu
[You
Bb w
493
Bb w
?
cresc.
b w
b
˙
sa know;
Bb w
499
w
Ó
˙
i;
?
ra
you
˙
-
i
come
sti
to
-
spon
answer
b˙
p
w
p
cresc.
w
w
cresc.
˙
a
#w
Í
#w
Í
#w
Í
œ #˙.
ri
Bb w
b ẇ
b
?
b
Œ
-
w
ce - na,
supper,
#˙
˙
#˙
˙
di me,
!
ri
b˙
-
n˙
œ. œ n˙
J
˙
˙
˙
or
you
b˙ n˙
cresc.
b˙ n˙
cresc.
bw
Í
œ b˙.
mi,
˙
tuo do - ver
duty
now
bw
Í
bw
Í
Œ
n˙
n˙
il
your
˙
#œ #˙
b˙ n˙
cresc.
bœ b˙
spon
answer
w
-
di me:
mi:
Œ
œ
ver will
w
bw
p
b˙
tu
˙
#˙
-
nw
Í
nw
Í
nw
Í
n˙
w
cresc.
˙
˙
m'in - vi - ta
invited me
w
w
˙
˙
œ. œ ˙
J
w
cresc.
˙
˙
w
cresc.
?
˙
[Composer]
[Arranger]
bœ
a
ce
to
-
œ
w
˙
nar
dine
me
with
˙
-
co?
me?]
Once again, Mozart uses the trombone section more as an independent entity, playing its own
©
harmonic material in parallel octaves that is enhanced by sudden forte-piani and crescendi.213
The forte-piano markings emphasize the beginning of the Commendatore’s speech in
212
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 17, ed.
Wolfgang Plath and Wolgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1968), 435-436.
213
Mozart’s use of the trombones in parallel octaves is significant in that it is a reference to church music,
specifically plainchant, and helps to enhance the sacred imagery of this section. This will be discussed in depth
in further examples in this chapter.
95 measures 487 and 491 and each of his exclamations of rispondimi (“answer me”), in which
he shows his urgent need for a response. As Giovanni listens to the statue asking to join him,
the trombones also help propel the crescendo, which continues to heighten the tension in the
scene. This leads to a final and sudden resolution in the dynamic in measure 500. Here, the
piano dynamic once again takes over as the Commendatore’s statue finishes by asking verrai
tu a cenar meco? (“Will you dine with me?”). With this question, and its intense sacred
implications, the dropping of the volume acts to alert the audience to the grave nature of Don
Giovanni’s predicament.
The next, and perhaps most important moment of sacred significance within this
scene occurs in measures 523-527 (example 3.4), as the Commendatore communicates his
final challenge to Don Giovanni: Pentiti cangia vita: è l’ultimo momento! (“Repent, reform
your life: it’s the last moment!”). It is in this moment, directly after Don Giovanni freely
takes the hand of the Commendatore’s statue (feeling the cold chill of death enter his body)
that the major question in the entire opera is asked, will Don Giovanni repent for his sinful
ways and have some type of hope in the afterlife? Or, is he actually incapable of feeling
remorse even in the face of God’s ghostly messenger. Mozart used the trombone section here
to enhance the religious implications of the Commendatore’s call for repentance, the final
question that the villain will be asked in his life.
96 Score
Don G 3.5
Example 3.5: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15,
mm. 523-527214
[Subtitle]
Bb C
!
!
#˙.
Œ
!
Bb C
!
!
˙.
Œ
!
?b C
!
!
Œ
!
523
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Commendatore
? C Ó ˙
b
Pen
[Repent,
œœœ œ œ
JJ
ti - ti, can - gia
reform (your)
f
f
˙.
fœ
#œ
vi - ta:
life:
Œ œ
è
it's
˙.
Œ
f
˙.
Œ
˙.
f
œ œ
Œ
f
œ. œ œ. œ
J J
l'u - ti - mo
the
last
[Composer]
[Arranger]
mo
moment!]
Ó
men - to!
As seen in measure 523, the trombone section (and orchestra) begins this moment by playing
a forte D-dominant seventh chord on the word vita (“life”). This orchestral hit emphasizes
the statue’s call for repentance and is aided by the returning sound of the sacerdotally
associated trombone section (briefly absent as Don Giovanni relates how cold the stone
guest’s hand is). As the statue speaks the word momento (“moment”), the trombone section
joins back in with the orchestra on a forte G-minor chord and highlights the fact that it is now
Don Giovanni’s final moment to repent for his sins. Harmonically, the cadence in G minor
helps to aid in this sense of finality within the text. These sudden forte entrances by the
trombones on the tonic and dominant in the G minor cadence emphasize two of the most
important words that the Commendatore speaks, providing weight to the statue’s question.
©
This gives the Commendatore’s statement more impact for an audience that already would
have recognized the importance of the trombone in sacred music.
214
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 17, ed.
Wolfgang Plath and Wolgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1968), 440.
97 In this scene, Mozart continued to use the instrument to aid in emphasizing certain
parts of the text, in an effort to highlight the importance of these words and show the grave
nature of this unearthly scene. This is musically represented by further sudden changes
between loud and soft, including Don Giovanni’s reply of No (“No”) to the statue’s demand
for repentance (seen in measures 538-545 of example 3.6). Here, the trombone’s use is
Mozart’s first inclusion of the instrument to accompany the voice of Don Giovanni, as they
previously played only during the Commendatore’s verses. This accompaniment begins eight
measures before this given excerpt as Don Giovanni states “No, I won’t repent, get away
from me.” In this instance, and continuing through the end of the scene, the trombone section
now becomes a vehicle with which Mozart enhances the statue’s call for repentance and Don
Giovanni’s refusal and eventual damnation.
98 Score
Don G 3.6
Example 3.6: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15,
mm. 538-545215
[Subtitle]
Bb C w
p
b
Bb C w
p
? C
b
w
p
?b C
!
bœ.
?b C
bœ œ Œ
J
538
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Don Giovanni
Commendatore
B b #w
f
B b #w
f
?
b #w
f
? #˙
b
Pen - ti - ti!
[Repent!
543
?b
No!
No!
Ó
!
bw
b˙.
bw
p
bw
p
f
w
f
w
f
˙
Ó
No!
[No!
!
˙
Í
˙
Í
˙
Í
˙
w
p
bœ.
˙
˙
Í Í
œ ˙ ˙
Í Í
˙ ˙
Í Í
Ó
!
œ
f
˙.
f
!
bœ œ Œ
J
nw
f
n˙
No!
No!
[Composer]
[Arranger]
˙
!
Pen - ti - ti!
Repent!
b˙
Í
b˙
Í
b˙
Í
!
Ó
Ó
Sì!
Yes!
#w
Í
#w
Í
#w
Í
#˙
No!
No!]
Ó
!
Sì!
Yes!]
As can be seen in measures 538-545, the trombones play sudden harmonic changes that
move from soft, when the statue speaks, to loud, when Giovanni speaks. Here, Mozart
attempts to emphasize the solemnity of the Commendatore’s
statue’s text by keeping the
©
dynamic down, and relating the arrogant boastings of “No” by Don Giovanni with the
powerful forte dynamic supported by the trombone section. In measures 542 and 544, Mozart
uses sudden forte-piano markings as the statue attempts to elicit a Si (“Yes”) from Don
215
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 17, ed.
Wolfgang Plath and Wolgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1968), 442-443.
99 Giovanni by speaking the word himself. This type of dynamic inflection heightens the
tension of the scene and makes the statue seem more impatient with Giovanni’s repeated
denials.
The lengthy rejection of the Commendatore’s statue’s call for repentance eventually
comes to a halt in measures 549-553, as seen in example 3.7. Here, the tension of the scene
reaches its climax, and the statue states that tempo più non v’è (“there isn’t any more time”).
Essentially, Don Giovanni has been given his chance, and this is where the Commendatore’s
statue pronounces God’s decree of eternal damnation. This is represented in the trombone
section, and throughout the orchestra, through a series of unison notes.
Score
Don G 3.7
Example 3.7: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15,[Subtitle]
mm. 549-553216
Bb C
549
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Commendatore
w
p
Bb C w
p
w
? C
b
p
?b C w
Ah!
[Ah!
#w
w
#w
w
w
#w
w
#w
tem
Time
-
po
any
#w
#w
[Composer]
[Arranger]
w
w
#w
w
più
longer
non
there
#w
w
˙
˙
˙
˙
Ó
Ó
Ó
Ó
v'è.
isn't.]
As seen in this excerpt, the trombone section doubles the voice, moving through a unison Bflat, C-sharp, D, G-sharp, A, and eventually ending on a D. This type of unison movement
adds even more religious significance to the Commendatore’s pronouncement of damnation,
216
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 17, ed.
Wolfgang Plath and Wolgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1968), 443-444.
100 as the unison note movement is reminiscent of chant from early church music.217 The use of
the trombone here, in a possible reference to (although surely not a direct quotation of)
church-based chant, helps to emphasize the statue’s divine decree of damnation and enhances
the sacred nature of the moment. This is accomplished both through the described sudden
recognition of liturgical music and the instrument’s already understood significance therein.
As the great fiery chasm opens on stage and the chorus of spirits drag Don Giovanni
to hell, a damnation which the libertarian criminal created for himself, Mozart continues to
use the trombone section to enhance the terror of God’s judgment. As seen in measures 563570 (example 3.8), the trombone section plays the powerful sforzando unison A’s in the first
two measures, as the chorus sings Tutto a tue colpe (“Everything for your sins”).
Score
Don G 3.8
Example 3.8: Don Giovanni Act II, Scene 15,[Subtitle]
mm. 563-570218
Bb C
563
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Choir
Bb
?
b
?b
˙
˙
S S
C #˙ ˙
S S
C ˙ ˙
S S
.
C ˙ œ œJ
w
f
w
f
w
f
w
˙
S
˙
S
˙
S
˙
S
˙ ˙
S S
˙ ˙
Tut - to a tue col - pe
[Everything for your sins is
è
po little.
[Composer]
[Arranger]
˙ Ó ˙˙
˙ ˙
SS
S S
˙ Ó ˙˙
˙ ˙
SS
S S
˙ Ó ˙˙
˙ ˙
SS
S S
˙ Ó ˙ œ. œ ˙ ˙
J
co.
Vie - ni: c'è un
Come there's
mal
a
w
f
w
f
w
f
w
nw
nw
nw
!
peg - gior!
pain
worse.]
This first sung statement by the chorus is finished when they state poco (“little”), describing
how Don Giovanni’s sins are so grievous that this descent to hell is only a small taste of what
217
Early church music relied extensively on unisons melodies, especially in chant. Georgia Stevens even writes
on page 206 of her article on the subject that “Gregorian Chant is unison music.” For this and more information
on the subject, see Georgia Stevens, “Gregorian Chant, The Greatest Unison Music,” The Musical Quarterly 30,
no. 2 (April 1944): 205-225.
218
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 17, ed.
Wolfgang Plath and Wolgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1968), 446-447.
101 is to come. On the word “little” in measure 565, a dissonant sounding B-flat diminished
seventh chord is heard, emphasized by the forte dynamic in the trombone section and the rest
of the orchestra, suggesting that indeed worse is to come.219 As the spirits finish their
statements in the next three measures, they state Vieni: c’è un mal peggior! (“Come, there’s a
pain worse [than this]!”), the trombones again play unison A’s until they move back to
unison B-flats in the last measure as the entire orchestra plays a G-minor chord while the
spirits finish their statement. This harmony adds more tension to this horrific moment on
stage, and is only slightly resolved by the orchestra on the G-major chord that follows in
measure 570. The tension is marginally relieved in measure 570, but is followed by further
dissonant harmonies as the spirits repeat the same text while Don Giovanni writhes in pain.
In addition to Mozart’s use of dissonance to add tension, he also continues his use of unison
intervals (in this case the octave) in the trombone and voice parts, alluding to early church
music.
This use of the constant building of tension throughout this scene is similar, as seen in
earlier examples from this chapter, to the Credo from Mozart’s Missa in C (K. 317,
“Krönungsmesse”) from chapter one (example 1.5), in which he also adds tension with
sudden diminished chords to aid in emphasizing gruesome, yet sacred, elements of the text.
In addition, the trombone’s use in this moment, in which Don Giovanni has been judged, is
appropriate for an instrument that was used by Mozart, Reutter, and others in their requiem
masses and other sacred works to enhance God’s judgment (see examples 1.2, 1.3, and 1.7).
Mozart’s audiences would have been familiar with the trombone’s association with God’s
219
For brevity, the given example only shows the trombone and choir parts. The full orchestra supplies the
entirety of the harmony described in this analysis.
102 judgment in the Bible and its use to enrich this image in sacred music, allowing them to more
easily connect the sacerdotal meaning of this moment in Don Giovanni.
The use of the trombone in Act II, Scene 15 shows Mozart’s own inventive manner of
using a liturgically based instrument to enhance both the solemn power of the
Commendatore’s generous death-bed offer of repentance and eventual decree of damnation.
The use of sudden harmonies, dynamic and expression related devices, coupled with the
ever-present use of tension and release, gives this scene an overwhelming sense of divine
intervention. Robert Donnigton correctly notes that in this finale, the trombones leave the
audience without any doubt of the solemnity of this moment and the importance of the event
that is occurring.220 It is the Commendatore’s (God’s messenger) final call for Giovanni’s
repentance and decree of damnation that provides the major element of Christian morality in
the opera, which is upheld by the end of the work as the villain is cast into the hell he
created.221All of the sacred elements of this scene are vividly enhanced by Mozart’s use of
the sacerdotally associated trombone section within the orchestration.
Don Giovanni is a musically rich opera, which overflows with numerous issues of
immorality and aristocratic abuse, supplied by the main character, Don Giovanni, whose sins
include sexual abuse, deceit, pride, his inability to feel any type of remorse, and many others.
The Commendatore’s divine attempt to solicit Don Giovanni’s repentance at the last moment
of his life, enhanced by the use of the trombone section, fails because the libertine sees no
fault in his immoral behavior and abuses of his aristocratic power. With the old aristocracy
fighting to hold onto their power during the Enlightenment by following strict social
guidelines, Giovanni acts as the ultimate social offender, one whose sins are so grievous that
220
221
Donington, 448.
Ibid, 446. 103 only God’s intervention can stop him. In the opera, the trombone section, with its socially
understood sacred significance, enhances the Commendatore’s statue’s divine words through
the compositional techniques described above. By using the instrument primarily in the
moments when the statue of the Commendatore sings, Mozart sends a clear message to his
audience that these scenes are of utmost religious significance, and thus gives this dramma
giocoso an amount of drama worthy of serious opera like Idomeneo.
104 Chapter IV
Die Zauberflöte
Advancing in my survey of Mozart’s use of the trombone as sacred signifier, I will
now examine his singspiel Die Zauberflöte (K. 620). This piece was Mozart’s final staged
work before his untimely death in 1791, the same year as the singspiel’s first performance on
September 30th in Vienna. Die Zauberflöte is a conglomeration of music, dialogue, and
symbolic scenery that culminate in a work that is aurally beautiful and, in most productions,
visually breathtaking. It combines elements of fantasy taken from numerous German literary
sources, symbolism from the initiation rituals of the Freemasons, elements of Christian
theology, and Mozart’s own unique compositional style. The singspiel’s religious imagery is
concentrated on the head priest, Sarastro, and his brother priests, who are represented in the
orchestra, in part, by the trombone section (once again consisting of an alto, tenor, and bass
trombone). His orchestral use of the instrument here is more extensive than in any of his
previous operas, and this is befitting of the immense sacred imagery within Die Zauberflöte.
Mozart uses the trombone specifically in this singspiel to help enhance the spiritual
significance of the characters (Sarastro and his priests) that represent the forces of good
which dwell within this fantastical setting.
My analysis of Mozart’s use of the trombone in Die Zauberflöte will begin with the
instrument’s use to represent the famous “threefold chord” throughout the work, also known
by Mozart scholars also as the dreimalige Akkord (lit. thrice-repeated chord), which is
symbolic of the “knocking” that signals a Freemason’s acceptance into the order. This will be
followed by an analysis of the trombone’s use to enhance the solemn march settings in the
105 second act, and the use of the instrument in Sarastros’s aria from the same act (No.10). These
will be analyzed to show how the trombone is included to heighten the drama of specific
elements of the libretto’s text and enhance the Christian and Masonic symbolism throughout.
This survey will end with a look at how Mozart uses the trombone in the adagio section of
the finale of the second act (No. 28), where the two men in armor (associated with Sarastro’s
order) speak to Tamino about the path to enlightenment.222 This final scene, once again,
features three knocks (again the “threefold chord”) played by the trombone section, followed
by the two men singing a duet based on Martin Luther’s chorale Ach, Gott, vom Himmel sieh
darein’, accompanied by the trombones playing Luther’s exact chorale melody. In this case, I
will show the religious significance of using the trombone section to represent these two
characters in such a sacerdotal musical form, the chorale. Throughout some of these analyses,
I will also point out instances where the trombones move in parallel intervallic motion and
legato groupings of slurred notes that have strong associations to church and Masonic music.
This singspiel’s trombone parts will be analyzed in this manner in order to help connect the
Masonic and Christian symbolism in the work to Mozart and his audiences’s own spiritual
beliefs.
The authorship of Die Zauberflöte’s libretto has been debated well into the twentieth
century, with Karl Ludwig Giesecke and Emanuel Schikaneder both pointed to as authors.223
Peter Branscombe suggests, in a lengthy study of the authorship controversy, that the issue is
based in part on the absence of copyright law in the eighteenth century, and that this work
was merely one of the many plagiarized works of the period. Giesecke himself is said to have
222
Peter Branscombe, W.A. Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, Cambridge Opera Handbooks (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1991), 65.
223
As a child, the German actor was known as Johann Georg Metzler, later in his career in Ireland he was
known as Sir Charles Lewis Giesecke. The argument seems to have started in 1849 when Julius Cornet, a
celebrated tenor, declared that Giesecke wrote the majority of the libretto. See Edward Dent, Mozart’s Operas,
a Critical Study (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), 234-235. 106 not been above plagiarizing the works of others, and this could be the reason the controversy
arose in the first place. The majority of Mozart scholars today attribute the libretto to
Schikaneder because the work does not contain any of Giesecke’s artistic qualities, but is
closely tied to Schikaneder’s artistic development.224 This issue of authorship is important
because it contributes to the notion that multiple people influenced the libretto for Die
Zauberflöte, many of whom are important in the hierarchy of the Freemasons including both
Schikaneder and his most influential collaborator, Mozart himself.225
The libretto itself is based on numerous sources from which Schikaneder and Mozart
constructed their story. Nicholas Till suggests that one of the main influences for the
singspiel was the German novel-type known as the Bildungsroman. These eighteenth-century
books featured stories about young heroes who endured numerous trials and adventures,
which acted as training lessons for these boys, so that they may properly enter, or be
initiated, into society.226 Mozart’s singspiel itself seems to parallel this type of adventurefilled story line rather closely. Another source for the libretto, which has been heavily
addressed by Mozart scholars like Peter Branscombe and Jacques Chailley, is John
Terrasson’s story of “Sethos” (1731). This fantasy novel seems to parallel the libretto of Die
Zauberflöte, as does Jacob August Liebskind’s story of “Lulu oder Die Zauberflöte” (1791)
and other similar literary works of the period.227 However, as Chailley points out,
But all of those sources (undoubtedly one could locate others) remain very
secondary. The essential source, almost the only true one, was above all the
224
Branscombe, 87-91.
Jacques Chailley, The Magic Flute, Masonic Opera (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1971), 18.
226
Nicholas Till, Mozart and The Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue and Beauty in Mozart’s Operas (New York:
W.W. Norton and Company, 1992), 275.
227
Sethos is the story of a young Egyptian hero who must overcome a serpent and numerous trials with his
companion Orpheus. Lulu is the story of Prince Lulu who must rescue the fairy’s magic box, and win the love
of the Princess by using a magic flute. Both stories are directly related to Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. See
Branscombe, 10-34.
225
107 Masonic ritual considered not only in its literal sense, but also in the very
essence of its symbolism and of the initiate traditions that supported it.228
The suggestion here that one of Mozart’s main sources for Die Zauberflöte was the Masonic
initiation ritual (in which Mozart himself was a participant) is a heavily debated topic. Yet,
even scholars like Branscombe and others who question Chailley’s notion that the work is
one large piece of Masonic pageantry, suggests that it is obvious that the singspiel has
Masonic influences and symbolism.229 Joscelyn Goodwin notes that, “A simplistic view of
The Magic Flute ignores all symbolism and allegory and sees the story in ethical terms of
black and white. No wonder it seems so confusing.”230 With this, Goodwin suggests that Die
Zauberflöte is inherently a symbolic work, brimming with different levels of meaning that
make the work almost unintelligible if the symbolic elements are not addressed. Even more
importantly, Edgar Istel points out that Mozart, while working on the opera, stated that he
would “soon bring Freemasonry a worthier offering.”231 This “worthier” Masonic piece
seems to allude to Die Zauberflöte, giving the claim that Masonic symbolism can be found
within the singspiel merit.
Mozart’s purpose for creating a singspiel with such telling sacred themes based on a
plot concentrated on very real Masonic rituals is congruous to his identification as a
Freemason. Within Die Zauberflöte, the ritual Masonic imagery is combined with Christian
symbolism to, conceivably, express very real elements of Mozart’s own spiritual beliefs. For
Mozart, as Alfred Einstein suggests, “Catholicism and Masonry were two concentric
228
Chailley, 37.
Branscombe, 137.
230
Joscelyn Goodwin, “Layers of Meaning in ‘The Magic Flute,’” The Musical Quarterly 65, no. 4 (October
1979): 473.
231
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, taken from remarks given to his Masonic brothers at the lodge Zur Wahrheit
und Eintracht, Prague,1791, cited in Edgar Istel and Theodore Baker, “Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ and
Freemasonry,” The Musical Quarterly 13, no. 4 (October 1927): 525. 229
108 spheres,” in essence, his personal spirituality was influenced equally by both.232 Nicholas Till
notes that Mozart himself was an ardent Catholic, attending mass and praying the rosary
often, a very important part of his spiritual life.233 His Catholic faith seemed to mix well with
the combination of enlightened and ancient views of faith that he and his Masonic brethren
practiced.234 Maynard Solomon suggests that Mozart was an ardent follower of Masonic
tradition, and held a strong belief in its ideals, rituals, and outlook on its religious association
to Christian beliefs.235 Mozart fully accepted this Masonic view of spiritual life, as Paul Nettl
notes, which he symbolized in much of his music including Die Zauberflöte.236
Mozart was an esteemed German Mason, attaining the high degree of Fellowcraft in
1785, and belonged to the noted German lodge Zur Neugekrönten Hoffnung (“New Hope
Crowned”). Additionally, he also attended the lodge of the Grand Master Ignaz von Born,
who was one of the most influential Masons in Europe at the time. Mozart wrote numerous
pieces specifically for Masonic lodges themselves, like Die Maurerfreude (“The Mason’s
Joy” K. 471), Lasst uns mit geschlungen Händen (“Let Us Join Our Hands” K. 623a), and
many others. It is well known that Mozart was so ardent a participant in his lodge that he
guided his own father, Leopold, into initiation, as well as other important composers like
Joseph Haydn. Mozart even remained a member of his lodge while travelling extensively,
upholding the values of Freemasonry and his Catholic faith.237
These Masonic values were constantly under attack at this time, starting with a Papal
Bull (an official communication sent by the Pope, often in the form of an order or decree for
232
Alfred Einstein, Mozart: His Character, His Work, trans. Arthur Mendel and Nathan Broder (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1945), 84.
233
Till, 129.
234
Maynard Solomon, Mozart, a Life (New York: Harper Collins, 1995), 331.
235
Solomon, 330-331.
236
Paul Nettl, Mozart and Masonry (New York: Da Capo Press, 1970), 23. 237
Solomon, 321-335.
109 his fellow Bishops to implement) issued in 1738 by Pope Clement XII outlawing Catholics to
be involved in Masonic lodges.238 This was followed in 1785 by a massive restructuring and
amalgamation of the lodges by Joseph II in Vienna as he began to worry about possible
Masonic political opposition and uprisings.239 Despite all of this upheaval, Mozart remained
a Freemason during this period of its decline, and, under these circumstances, it is possible
that “Mozart and his librettist and fellow Freemason Emmanuel Schikaneder composed The
Magic Flute in order to present Freemasonry in a favorable light, less to glorify than to
defend it.”240
Mozart’s apparent desire to bring Freemasonry a worthier offering that was solemn in
nature (Die Zauberflöte) is spoken of by the composer in his letters. Writing to Constanze on
October 8-9, 1791, Mozart notes that he wanted the sacred moments in the singspiel to be
taken seriously by the audience. In this letter, he speaks about his experience attending Die
Zauberflöte with an unnamed Bavarian acquaintance, stating, “Unfortunately I was there just
when the second act began, that is, at the solemn scene. He made fun of everything. At first I
was patient enough to draw his attention to a few passages. But he laughed at everything.
Well, I could stand it no longer. I called him a Papageno and cleared out.”241 In this
statement, Mozart expresses his intention that this solemn moment, and presumably all
similar scenes in the work, be paid a certain amount of respect and reverence. Of particular
interest is the detail that the scene which Mozart points out in his letter, when Sarastro and
his priests enter in the beginning of act two, is one of the very moments in which Mozart uses
the trombone section to help enhance the sacred imagery of those characters. Mozart’s own
238
Dudley Wright, Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry (London: William Rider and Son, 1922), 15-35.
Solomon, 322.
240
Jacques Henry, Mozart the Freemason: The Masonic Influence on His Musical Genius, trans. Jack Cain
(Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2006), 105-106.
241
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Letters of Mozart and His Family, ed. and trans. Emily Anderson (London:
Macmillan, 1966), 969.
239
110 description of the need for the audiences’s reverence during the solemn scenes of the work
shows the sacred significance of the singspiel itself, aided by the religious association of the
trombone section.
With Mozart’s sacred intentions in Die Zauberflöte recognized, it is important to
understand the general story of this singspiel before I move on to how the trombones are used
to enhance the religious significance of this work. The plot revolves around the heroic
character Tamino, a prince from a far-off land, who is sent on a quest by the Queen of the
Night. The Queen is very powerful and seemingly well intentioned, bestowing the gift of a
magic flute to aid Tamino on his quest. Tamino is asked by the Queen to rescue her daughter,
the princess Pamina, and destroy Pamina’s captor, the evil Sarastro. Sarastro, the head of an
organization of brother priests, is wanted dead by the Queen. Along the way, Tamino goes
through various trials with his sidekick Papageno, a strange bird catcher, and soon realizes
that Sarastro is not evil but very good. It is quickly discovered that the Queen of the Night is
actually the villain in the story, and is out to destroy Sarastro’s enlightened brotherhood.
Eventually, Tamino undergoes a series of trials and becomes a member of Sarastro’s order,
the evil Queen is defeated, and all ends well.
Mozart uses the trombone section in Die Zauberflöte to musically enhance the sacred
implications surrounding the characters of Sarastro and his brother priests. The character of
Sarastro has been argued to represent the renowned Freemason, Ignaz von Born, whose death
in the summer of 1791 sparked debate at whether the entire singspiel was meant as a type of
memorial to Born.242 Whether this is true or not, Sarastro and his priests do seem to parallel a
Freemason Grand Master and his brothers within the lodge. In contrast, the instrument is not
242
Robert Spaethling, “Folklore and Enlightenment in the Libretto of Mozart’s Magic Flute,” EighteenthCentury Studies 9, no. 1 (Autumn 1975): 58-59.
111 used for the characters of Tamino, Pamina, the Queen, or anyone else not associated with the
temple positions. Thus, one of Mozart’s objectives is to have the mere presence of the
trombone’s sound signify the sacred images of Sarastro and his priests. As the trombone is
used in its greatest operatic output by Mozart in Die Zauberflöte, the table below will aid in
breaking down the moments in the libretto where the instrument is used (table 4.1).
112 Table 4.1: The Trombone’s Presence in Die Zauberflöte. 243
ACT I
Overture
1. Introduction
2. Aria
3. Aria
4. Recitativo ed
aria
5. Quintetto
6. Terzetto
7. Duetto
8. Finale
Contents
Orchestral: Adagio-Allegro-Adagio-Allegro. All in Eflat.
Tamino enters with the serpent chasing him, the three
ladies kill the serpent then leave to report to the Queen.
Tamino hears the panpipe of Papageno and hides.
Papageno (servant of the Queen) enters and sings about
his bird-catching skills and want for a wife. He talks
with Tamino and claims that he killed the serpent.
The three ladies return to punish Papageno for his lie.
He is given water, a rock, a padlock for his mouth, and
Tamino is given a portrait of the Queen’s daughter
Pamina. He falls in love with the portrait and swears to
rescue Pamina from the tyrant.
The Queen appears with the ladies. She promises
Tamino that Pamina will be his forever if he rescues
her. She sings angrily about Sarastro, the tyrant.
Papageno laments about his padlock, the ladies enter
and warn him not to lie again as they remove it. All
five characters sing about why one should not lie.
Papageno becomes Tamino’s companion for the quest
and Tamino receives a magic flute while Papageno is
given a glockenspiel.
The Moor, Monastatos, threatens Pamina and attempts
to have his way with her. Papageno enters and all three
sing.
Pamina and Papageno sing about the comforting power
of love.
Tamino finds the Temples and deduces that Sarastro
must not be evil. A male chorus (priest-like)
accompanied by strings and trombones accompany his
song about the eternal night turning to light. He rushes
to find Pamina after playing his magic flute, but is
captured by Monastatos. They all meet as Sarastro
enters. He punishes Monastatos and Tamino and
Pamina are pardoned and led off into the Temple of
Examination by the priests.
Trombone
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
243
This table was compiled based on information by Peter Branscombe. See Branscombe, 45-66. 113 ACT II
9. Marcia
10. Aria
11. Duetto
12. Quintetto
13. Aria
14. Aria
15. Aria
16. Terzetto
17. Aria
18. Coro
19. Terzetto
20. Aria
21. Finale
Contents
Sarastro enters while the orchestra plays a stately
march. Then, a group of priests enter with a solemn
march played by trombones and a small group of winds
and strings.
Sarastro sings a bass hymn-like aria echoed by the
priests featuring the trombone section. He asks the
gods Isis and Osiris to protect Tamino and Papageno.
During the trials, the priests warn Tamino and
Papageno to avoid the temptation of women.
The Three Ladies try to tempt Tamino and Papageno to
speak. Tamino urges his companion not to speak, and
after many failed attempts, the Three Ladies withdraw.
The priests enter, complemented by a brief four
measure trombone accompaniment as they tell Tamino
that he has passed his first trial.
Monastatos sings about his inability to fall in love, due
to his being a Moor. He tries to steal a kiss from the
sleeping Pamina.
The Queen reveals herself as truly evil with an angry
aria. She shows her vengeance and wrath, and vows to
disown Pamina if she does not kill Sarastro.
Sarastro casts out Monastatos, who decides to join the
Queen. Sarastro then comforts Pamina in his aria about
love, friendship, and forgiveness.
Tamino is told to be courageous in the trials and
Papageno is told to be silent. The three boys return the
companions’ instruments and give them food and
drink.
Pamina sings about how her happiness is gone and
ponders suicide if she does not receive Tamino’s love.
The priests enter and sing a chorus about the sun
dispelling the darkness of night and of Tamino’s
impending admission into the worthy order.
Pamina is grieving about love and does not
comprehend Sarastro and Tamino’s promises. Sarastro
says that it is time for all to depart.
Papageno sings about wanting a girlfriend or wife, and
proposes suicide if he does not acquire one.
The Armored Men sing a chorale accompanied by the
trombone section as Pamina joins Tamino in the trials,
Papageno finds Papagena, Sarastro destroys the Queen,
the priests hail the new initiates of the order, and
reason and beauty reign.
Trombone
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
114 As one can see in the table, the trombone section is used very sparingly in the first
act. The presence of the instrument in the overture is mainly to play the “threefold chord,” as
well as fill in the orchestral scoring of the faster passages. The second and final time the
trombone is used in this first act is in the finale. Here, the trombone is heard along with a
male chorus that sings about eternal night turning to light (an important symbolic image in
Freemasonry).244
In the second act, the trombone is used in the first four sections to enhance the
solemnity of the priests’ entrance, bolster Sarastro’s prayer to Isis and Osiris, emphasize the
priests’ warning against temptation, and enhance the priests’ entrance after the Three Ladies
withdraw. The instrument is next used in a chorus of the priests, leading to its extensive
participation in the finale. Within the finale of act two, it is used to once again announce the
threefold chord, play a Lutheran chorale melody, as well as participate as a further sacred
signifier for Sarastro’s order. All of these occurrences of the instrument’s admission seem to
be strategically placed by Mozart in order to heighten the audiences’ perception of Sarastro
and the priests as sacred characters.
It is important to note one symbol present throughout the entirety of Die Zauberflöte:
the number three. This can be seen in the number of temples, priests, knights, ladies, doors of
the temple, and numerous other examples. The topic of numerology within the singspiel has
been written about extensively and is heavily debated, so our understanding of the issue
within Die Zauberflöte will be limited to its association with Mozart’s trombone usage. To
understand the number three within the context of the Masonic initiation rite, notice Jacques
Henry’s explanation of the relationship of the number to the ritual:
244
Istel, 514.
115 As soon as he enters the lodge, the freemason is surrounded by the meaningful
visual symbols. They are always there before him: the floor layout itself (the
black and white checkerboard tiling); the three steps that lead to the Grand
Master’s chair: the lights placed on the three columns representing the three
order of Doric, Ionian, and Corinthian…and so on.… By capturing these same
symbols in the musical composition and transposing their contents into
harmonies, Mozart built his musical composition.245
In addition, Nicholas Till states, “Throughout the opera too can be found an elaborate
numerology that confirms the operas’ relation to the higher degrees of mystical masonry.”246
This considerable emphasis of the Masonic influence of numerology, and particularly the
number three, is meaningful in an understanding of the symbolism of this number in the
sections of the singspiel featuring the trombone section, and in Die Zauberflöte in general. It
must also be noted that the number three corresponds strongly to Christian symbolism as
well, biblically evident in the three parts of God’s temple, three gifts to the Israelites, the
Holy Trinity, and so on. Thus, it is conceivable that Mozart used the number three
extensively in the singspiel to connect with the combined association the number had in
Freemasonry and in Christian theology, marking the work as sacerdotally significant for both
Masons and Christians.
My analysis of the trombone’s role in Die Zauberflöte begins with a look at the
composer’s use of the instrument to sound the “threefold chord,” which is connected to the
numerological symbolism mentioned above. These chords (heard three times in each instance
in which they appear) first surface in the overture of Die Zauberflöte and are used to
foreshadow the ritual of initiation that Tamino will experience later in the drama. In the ritual
Masonic ceremony itself, the Grand Master asks those members present whether they find
the postulates worthy to be admitted. The Masons’s response of three knocks repeated three
245
246
Henry, 23. Till, 298.
116 times indicates an affirmative answer (each followed by a pause).247 It is my belief that
Mozart intended to represent the Masonic “knocking” through his use of the trombone
section to play in the moments the tripartite chords occur within the singspiel. This use of
three chords serves as a Christian symbol as well, with the chord being heard three times as a
numerical reference to the importance of the number in the Bible. The trombones are used in
this compositional motive to enhance the sacred significance of the knocking, alerting the
audience to the possible religious implications of this compositional element within the
opera.
The first two occurrences of the “threefold chord” occur in the overture to Die
Zauberflöte and the trombone section plays them in conjunction with the strings and winds.
A faster section that outlines the upcoming music of the singspiel follows these chords.
Score
Magic Flute 4.1
Example 4.1: Die Zauberflöte Overture, mm. [Subtitle]
1-3248
1
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
B bbb C ˙
S
B bbb C ˙
U
? bb C ˙
b
S
Œ
S
Œ
U
Œ
U
‰ . œR ˙
‰ . œR ˙
r
‰. œ ˙
[Composer]
[Arranger]
U
Œ
œ ˙
‰. R
U
U
‰ . œR ˙
U
‰ . œr ˙
Œ
Œ
U
Œ
Œ
Œ
U
Œ
Œ
Œ
247
Chailley discusses the meaning of the three “knocks” in the Masonic ritual in depth, comparing them to
Mozart’s use in Die Zauberflöte. See Chailley, 237.
248
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 5. For brevity, all examples of the “threefold chord”
only include the trombone parts. The full orchestra fills in the remaining elements of the harmony. 117 The first statement of the “threefold chord” (example 4.1) begins in the first measure of the
overture with three separated chords: E-flat major, C-minor, and E-flat major (I-vi-I in Eflat). Despite the fact that in this first occurrence the three chords are not heard three times
each, this first manifestation of the motive still serves to foreshadow the initiation trials of
Tamino and Papageno (in which the motive is used) that will occur later in the opera.
Although the trombone section plays these chords along with the rest of the orchestra, I
believe the loud dynamic possibility of the instrument helps it to stand out within the
orchestration, giving it a dominant musical presence in this statement. Additionally, because
of the sacred significance of the trombone in church music from the sixteenth through the
eighteenth centuries and the instrument’s use here, these three measures are more
sacerdotally significant for his audience; enhancing the underlying Masonic and Christian
meaning.
Score
Magic Flute 4.2
[Subtitle]
Example 4.2: Die Zauberflöte Overture, mm. 97-102
U
B bbb C Œ ‰ . œ ˙ ˙ Ó
R
97
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
B b b b C Œ ‰ . œr ˙ ˙ UÓ
? b b C Œ ‰ . œr ˙ ˙ UÓ
b
[Composer]
249
Œ ‰. œ ˙
R
Œ ‰ . œr ˙
Œ ‰ . œr ˙
[Arranger]
˙
˙
˙
U
Ó
U
Ó
U
Ó
Œ ‰. œ ˙ ˙
R
U
Ó
U
Œ ‰ . œr ˙ ˙ Ó
U
Œ ‰ . œr ˙ ˙ Ó
The second occurrence of the threefold chord in the overture occurs in measure 97 (example
4.2), before the second allegro section, on three B-flat chords. In this manifestation, the
trombone section plays the motive accompanied only by the winds of the orchestra, with the
249
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 18. 118 strings completely absent. This absence of the string section helps the trombone parts in this
moment to be heard even more clearly, conceivably giving this occurrence of the “threefold
chord” more sacred meaning due to the increased aural presence of the sacerdotally
significant trombone section. Once again, these three chords help to represent the “knocking”
of initiation, a foreshadowing of the solemn induction trials that Tamino and Papageno will
go through. Here, Mozart uses a more rhythmically uniformed motive that is even further
indicative of the Masonic “knocking” of initiation, which usually is understood as three
knocks heard three times.250
The “threefold chord” is played by the trombone section for a third time in Act II,
Scene 1, within the course of the dialogue separating Marsch der Priester (“March of the
Priests”) and Sarastro’s aria, O Isis und Osiris (“O Isis and Osiris”). In this section of
dialogue, Sarastro and his priests confer whether Tamino is worthy enough to undergo the
trials in order to be admitted into the temple. This is similar to the actual Masonic ritual, in
which the Grand Master asks those members present whether they find the postulates worthy
to be instated.251
250
251
Chailley, 237.
Ibid.
119 Score
Magic Flute 4.3
[Composer]
[Subtitle]
Example 4.3: Die Zauberflöte, Act II, Scene 1,
mm. 1-6 (Between Marsch der Priester
and O
252
[Arranger]
Isis und Osiris)
1
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
B C Œ ‰. œ ˙
R
U
˙ Ó
B C Œ ‰ . b œ ˙ b ˙ UÓ
R
? C Œ ‰ . b œr ˙ b ˙ UÓ
Œ ‰. œ ˙
R
Œ ‰.bœ ˙
R
Œ ‰ . b œr ˙
˙
U
Ó
b ˙ UÓ
b˙
U
Ó
Œ ‰. œ ˙
R
Œ ‰.bœ ˙
R
Œ ‰ . b œr ˙
U
˙ Ó
b ˙ UÓ
U
b˙ Ó
In this occurrence of the “threefold chord” (example 4.3) the trombone section again plays
only with the wind instruments of the orchestra, and leads them in musically enhancing the
priests’ acceptance of Tamino.253 Once again, three B-flat chords are played over the course
of six measures, and again, include a slight pause after each grouping, which Mozart marks
with a fermata-enclosed rest. Here, the trombones play the exact six-measure motive seen in
the previous example (example 4.2). This is significant in that it helps provide a sense of
consistency in the appearance of the motive, enhancing the power of the trombones’
foreshadowing of the event to come. Mozart’s use of the trombone in the first three
appearances of the “threefold chord” demonstrates his attempt to add sacred significance to
this idea of the knocking sounds of initiation in a solemn ritual.
Mozart also used the trombone section to enhance another important element of
Masonic and Christian imagery within the singspiel, that of the solemn march. As noted by
© with initiation are always slow and have
Henry, the Masonic processional marches associated
252
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 193. 253
I believe they lead the winds since they are dynamically the strongest and have such a prominent association
to church music.
120 solemn characteristics.254 These marches are meant to move the postulates and lodge
members to their respective positions in a manner befitting the sanctity of the ritual. Within
the context of Die Zauberflöte’s story, Chailley describes the “March of the Priests” from the
beginning of act two as, “Solemn and meditative, it immediately locates this act in a quasiliturgical ambiance.”255 Here, Chailley notes that the beginning of the second act is marked
as religious by using this type of solemn march, which includes the sacerdotally significant
trombone section.
Score
Magic Flute 4.4
[Subtitle]
Example 4.4: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene 1 (No. 9), mm. 1-8
1
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
˙ ˙
˙
Bb C ˙ ˙
˙
Bb C
sottovoce
?b C ˙ ˙
sottovoce
Bass Trombone
&b C ˙ ˙
sottovoce
Violin I
&b C ˙ ˙
sotto voce
Violin II
Bb C ˙ ˙
sotto voce
Viola
?b C ˙ ˙
sottovoce
Violincello and
Bass
sotto voce
˙
˙
˙
˙
˙
[Composer]
[Arranger]
256
Ó
!
!
˙
Ó
!
!
˙
Ó
!
Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ.
Œ
œ ˙
œ œ œ œ
˙
!
œ˙
J
˙
˙
w
Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
˙.
Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
Œ
œ
Œ
œ
Œ
œ.
œ
œ
J
w
œ
254
Henry, 24.
Chailley, 235. 256
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 191. 255
121 Magic Flute 4.2
2
6
Bb ˙
Bb œ
œ
?b ˙
Bb ˙
?b ˙
œ
Œ
œ
Œ
j
œ œ.
& b œ.
&b œ
Œ
œ
˙
œ
nœ
œ
nœ
J
nœ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
˙
˙
˙
œ Œ ..
œ Œ ..
œ Œ ..
œ
œ
œ́
n˙
œ
œ
ÿ
œ́
œ
ÿ
œ́
˙
œ
œ
œ
ÿ
œ
ÿ
˙
œ Œ ..
œ. nœ œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ œ́
˙
œ Œ ..
Π..
œ Œ ..
As seen in this excerpt from the march (example 4.4) the trombone’s role is to play in a more
separated and articulated manner that emphasizes the underlying melody played by the
strings and winds in the orchestra, adding a distinctive timbral color.257 Additionally, the
trombones (mainly alto and tenor) are written almost exclusively in parallel thirds (as can be
seen throughout the given excerpt). Branscombe has noted that this type of parallel motion
has Masonic meaning due to its extensive use in known Masonic music.258 However, with the
considerable use of this type of motion in sacred music as well, it seems logical that this is
also a strategy Mozart took directly from liturgical composition. This can be seen directly in
George Reutter the Younger’s Requiem excerpt in chapter one, where the two trombones
move in thirds throughout (example 1.2) in a manner almost identical to this moment from
act two of Die Zauberflöte. This type of intervallic motion can also be seen throughout
257
The wind and string parts are compositionally similar in the score, so only the string parts were chosen in
example 4.4 to show contrast with the trombone parts.
258
Branscombe describes the use of parallel motion (mainly thirds and sixths) as being used extensively in
Masonic music to add a sense of reverence to a melody, in reference to the same idea in church music
composition. See Branscombe, 137.
122 Mozart’s Agnus Dei from Missa Solemnis (“Waisenhauskirche”) (example 1.4), where all
three trombones participate in various types of parallel movement. Whether or not the
parallel thirds are suggestive of Masonic compositional elements, or simply a continuation of
the heavy reliance of this parallel motion by sacred music composers like Mozart, the
trombone section nonetheless is used to enhance the solemnity of Sarastro’s and his priests’
entrance. In this march, the instrument, with its socially understood sacred significance and
use in specific interval structures, helps the audience begin to associate Sarastro and his
priests with the forces of good in the singspiel, in the way the Queen of the Night had been
seen in act one.
Another scene in which Mozart’s inclusion of the trombone significantly enhances
the sacred elements of Die Zauberflöte, is in Sarastro’s aria at the beginning of Act II, Scene
1, No. 10. In this aria, Sarastro prays to the gods Isis and Osiris to watch over Tamino and
Papageno and strengthen them for the trials. A choir of priests echo the final sections of
Sarastro’s verses (shown in the text below).
Text of O Isis und Osiris from Act II, Scene 1 (No. 10)
Sarastro:
O Isis und Osiris, schenket
O Isis and Osiris, give
Der Weisheit Geist dem neuen Paar! The spirit of wisdom to the new pair!
Die ihr der Wand'rer Schritte lenket, She who links to her the wanderer's
steps,
Stärkt mit Geduld sie in Gefahr.
Strengthens them with patience in
danger.
Choir:
Stärkt mit Geduld sie in Gefahr!
Strengthens them with patience in
danger!
Sarastro:
Lasst sie der Prüfung Früchte sehen; Let them see the rewards of the test;
123 Doch sollten sie zu Grabe gehen,
So lohnt der Tugend kühnen Lauf,
Nehmt sie in euren Wohnsitz auf.
But, if they should go to the grave,
then, the courageous course of virtue rewarded,
receive them in your dwelling.
Choir:
Nehmt sie in euren Wohnsitz auf.
Receive them in your dwelling.
The trombone section begins this aria with smooth legato phrases relying heavily again on
parallel intervallic movement. Chailley notes that this aria’s accompaniment (supplied in part
by the trombone section) is setup like a religious canticle from liturgical music in
fauxbourdon style, which relies on parallel sixths and thirds throughout.259
259
Chailley, 240.
124 Score
Magic Flute 4.6
Example 4.5: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene [Subtitle]
1 (No. 10), mm. 1-7260
1
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Sarastro
8
B b 43 ˙
p
B b 43 ˙
œ ˙
œ ˙
œ œ. œ œ ˙
J
j
œ. œ œ ˙
œ
Œ ˙
Œ
Œ ˙
Œ ˙
Œ
œ œ œ
Œ ˙
Œ
œ ˙
œ œ œ
œ
O
O
œ
Bb ˙
? œ
b .
? œ
b
œ.
œ
schen - ket
give
I Isis
œ
˙.
˙.
˙.
œ
˙.
˙.
˙.
œ.
˙.
˙.
˙.
œ
der
the
˙
Weis
spirit
œ
-
heit
of
œ œ
˙
Geist
wisdom
œœ
˙
Œ ˙
p
? b 43 ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙
œ ˙ Œ ˙
p
? 3 ∑
∑
∑
Œ Œ œ ˙
b 4
Bb œ
[Composer]
[Arranger]
dem
to the
sis
O
Osiris,
œ.
œ
˙
neu
new
und
and
-
œ
en
œ.
˙
œœ
˙
si
-
ris,
œ.
œ.
œ.
œ.
œ.
œ.
Œ
Paar!
pair!
In example 4.5 the trombone accompaniment once again moves largely in parallel motion, a
compositional element from church and Masonic music that helps enhance the sacred nature
of Sarastro as he asks Isis and Osiris for their aid. An example of this occurs in the first three
©
measures, where the bass and tenor trombones often move in parallel thirds and octaves,
while the alto and tenor trombones move in parallel sixth motion. Along with this musical
reference to Masonic and church music, the sacerdotally significant trombone section sets up
260
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 194. The musical examples in this chapter include
literal translations by the author to demonstrate how Mozart set each word in the text.
125 the accompaniment of this aria as having religious meaning, and in turn enhances Sarastro’s
melodic line before he even sings his first note.
In addition to the trombone’s socially understood sacred presence in this aria and its
use to play certain intervallic structures that have both Christian and Masonic implications,
Mozart also used the instrument to emphasize certain key words within the course of the text.
One excellent example of this emphasis of certain important elements of the text can be
found in measures 21-24 of the aria (example 4.6).
Score
Magic Flute 4.7
Example 4.6: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene [Subtitle]
1 (No. 10), mm. 21-24261
.
B b 43 œ
[Composer]
[Arranger]
œ.
œ.
˙
B b 43 œ.
œ.
œ.
œ œ ˙
nœ
œ Œ
Œ
˙
œ
˙
œ
Œ
Bass Trombone
? b 43 œ
œ Œ
nœ
#œ
œ
œ
˙.
œ Œ
Œ
Sarastro
? 3 œ
b 4
œ
nœ
œ
#œ
œ
œ
˙
˙
Œ
21
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
stärkt
mit
[strengthens them
Ge
with
-
duld
patience
sie
in
in
œ
Ge danger.]
fahr.
In this section, Mozart used the bass trombone (doubling the bass voice) to emphasize
Sarastro’s comment “Strengthens them with patience in danger.” The bass trombone, which
is historically the doubling agent for the bass voice in church music, plays along with the
bass melody and enriches the meaning of Sarastro’s text by adding even more sound and
drama in a manner similar to Mozart’s use in his sacred music. Throughout the rest of the
aria, Mozart will also use the bass trombone in one further doubling of Sarastro’s vocal line,
261
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 195. 126 which occurs at the end of his prayer as he states, “Receive them in your dwelling.” These
two occurrences are the only times Mozart used the bass trombone to double the soloist in
this aria (and the opera in general), and thus helps to sum up Sarastros’s prayer: Strengthen
Tamino and Papageno in the trials, and receive them in heaven if they should die. This use of
a trombone to add more drama and help emphasize the melodic material of a bass voice is
similar to the Tuba mirum fragment studied in Mozart’s Requiem (example 1.7). Here,
whereas the trombone solo does not play exactly with the voice, the melodic material the
voice initially sings is played first by the trombonist and much of the trombone
accompaniment helps to harmonically support the vocal line. In both Mozart’s Requiem and
this excerpt from Sarastro’s aria, the trombone is used to enhance significant words of the
sung melody, adding more drama and sacred significance.
Within this same aria, Mozart also used the trombone section to aid in enhancing
another symbolic compositional element, the use of constant legato note movement. Authors
such as Branscombe have suggested that successive movement of legato notes is a Masonic
musical symbol, and that it is found in abundance in music of the Freemasons.262 This idea
can be seen in the trombone parts in measures 34-37 (example 4.7) from Sarastro’s aria, as
the three instruments move primarily in equal two-note legato slurs in parallel motion.
262
Branscombe, 137.
127 Score
Magic Flute 4.8
Example 4.7: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene [Subtitle]
1 (No. 10), mm. 34-37263
œ
Alto Trombone
B b 43 Œ
Tenor Trombone
B b 43 Œ
œ
Bass Trombone
? b 43 Œ
œ
Sarastro
? 3 ˙
b 4
34
sie
[they
[Composer]
œ
Œ bœ
nœ
œ
Œ
˙
œ
œ
Œ bœ
œ
œ
œ
Œ
˙
œ
Œ bœ
œ
bœ
œ
œ
˙.
œ
b˙
bœ
œ
Œ
œ
ge should
hen,
go,
zu
to
Gra
the
-
œ
be
grave
so
then
[Arranger]
Œ
Œ
œ
lohnt
worth
œ
der
the]
Throughout the course of Die Zauberflöte, Mozart used this type of legato-based
compositional device to emphasize what Katherine Thomson calls the “chain of brothers” in
Masonic music. This refers to successive slurred note groupings indicative of the closeness of
brothers within a lodge (like the links of a chain), and is represented in Masonic music by
progressions of slurred legato notes, similar to those shown in examples 4.6 and 4.7.264
However, similar uses of this type of phrasing can also be found in church music, including
the sacred works studied in chapter one of this document. The Agnus Dei from Missa
Solemnis (“Waisenhauskirche”) (example 1.4), for example, shows evidence of successive
slurred notes found in the alto trombone part to help enhance the beginning of this movement
of the mass, and, an even more noticeable example can be found in the Tuba mirum excerpt
©
from Mozart’s Requiem (example 1.7). In measures
15-17 of the Tuba mirum fragment, one
notices that the solo trombone part is entirely slurred as the text speaks about the
instrument’s sound gathering the dead to God’s throne. It is possible, as noted in chapter one,
263
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 195. 264
Katharine Thomson, “Mozart and Freemasonry,” Music and Letters 57, no. 1 (January 1976): 29. 128 that Mozart intended the entire Tuba mirum trombone solo to be slurred, as is interpreted by
nearly every trombonist today, which would lend even more credence to Mozart’s use of
legato phrasing to represent important sacred moments. Whether or not Mozart thought of
these slurred phrases in Die Zauberflöte as a reference to Masonic symbolism or as an
element found within sacred music is debatable, however, it is clear that his use of the
sacerdotally significant trombone in this scene clearly heightens the sacred qualities of
Sarastro’s prayer.
In my final analysis of Mozart’s use of the trombone section in Die Zauberflöte, I will
explore Mozart’s use of the instrument in the finale of act two, beginning with the Armored
Mens’ duet. In this number, two armored men sing to Tamino before Pamina joins him in the
ritual trials (replacing Papageno). These two men exhibit the traits of Sarastro’s temple
priests, and will therefore be looked at for this assessment as members of the temple order.
At the start of the scene, Tamino is preparing for the final trial, and the two men in armor
enter. The music begins with the “threefold chord” heard one final time, with the trombone
section being the sole instruments in the orchestra to plays all three manifestations of the
motive in measures 190-195 (example 4.8).265
265
Only the trombone section plays the entire “threefold chord” motive over the course of the six measures. The
strings and winds of the orchestra drop out in various places. This again shows Mozart’s reliance on the
trombone section to enhance the solemn moment of the final initiation trial.
129 Score
Magic Flute 4.9
[Subtitle]
[Composer]
Example 4.8: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene 10 (Finale), mm. 190-195266
B bbb C œ . œ ˙
J
f
b
B b b C œ. œ ˙
J
f
? b b C œ . œj ˙
b
f
190
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
!
!
!
!
!
!
[Arranger]
˙
j
œ. œ ˙
œ œ œ. œ ˙
J
Ó
Œ œ œ . œJ ˙
j
œ. œ ˙
Ó
œ. œ ˙
J
j
Œ œ œ. œ ˙
These chords signal the beginning of the armored men’s duet which discloses that the
“person who walks this difficult path is purified through fire and water, air and earth; if he
can overcome the fear of death he will receive illumination and be enabled to devote himself
to the mysteries of Isis.”267 In addition, the use of the trombone section throughout this final
“knocking” motive helps to represent Tamino and Pamina’s successful completion of the
trials, and acceptance by Sarastro and his priests. This use of the instrument once again alerts
the audience to the solemn nature of this specific moment in the opera by using the religious
association of the trombone from church music.
Mozart’s second purpose for including the trombone section in this scene is to
emphasize the melody of the armored men’s unison duet, which is set to Martin Luther’s
1524 chorale Ach, Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein.268 The use of the instrument in this chorale
during Tamino’s initiation into Sarastros’s order,©one of the most solemn scenes in the entire
singspiel, connects him to both his Catholic and Lutheran audiences who understood the
trombone as a sacred instrument within their liturgical music. For comparison, Martin
266
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 287. 267
Branscombe. 65.
268
Einstein, 467. The chorale is by Martin Luther and is based on Psalm 12. 130 Luther’s original choral melody is shown in example 4.9 and Mozart’s version of the same
tune used in the duet (transposed up a perfect fourth by the composer) is shown in example
4.10.
Score
"Ach Gott" Hymn
[Subtitle]
[Composer]
Example 4.9: Martin Luther’s melody from Ach, Gott, vom Himmel sieh
darein, mm. 1-6269
[Arranger]
& b 44 œ
1
œ œ œ œ
U
œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
U
œ œ œ Œ
269
Martin Luther, Ach, Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein from Erfurt Enchiridion (Erfurt, Germany, 1524),
courtesy of the Open Hymnal Project, 2009,
http://openhymnal.org/Lyrics/Look_Down_O_Lord_From_Heaven_Behold-Ach_Gott_vom_Himmel.html
(accessed, October 30, 2012).
©
131 Score
Two Priests
Example 4.10: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene[Subtitle]
10 (Finale), mm. 206-215270
B bbb C Ó
206
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
First
Armored
Man
Second
Armored
Man
œ Œ œ Œ œ
p
B bbb C Ó œ Œ œ Œ œ
p
? bb C Ó œ Œ œ Œ œ
b
p
b
œ œ œ
Vbb C Ó ˙
? b C Ó
bb
B bbb Ó
211
œ Œ
Der,
[He
˙
Der,
wel - cher
who
œ Œ
Œ œ Œ
œ Œ Ó
Œ
œ Œ œ Œ œ Œ œ Œ
œ Œ Ó
Œ
œ Œ œ Œ œ Œ
œ Œ
œ Œ Ó
Œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
die - se
this
Stra - ße
street
˙
voll Be - schwer - den,
full of
hardship,
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
wel - cher wan - dert
œ Œ œ Œ
œ
[Arranger]
Œ
wan - dert
wanders
œ œ œ
œ
[Composer]
die - se Stra - ße
œ Œ œ Œ
˙
voll Be - schwer
œ Œ œ Œ
-
œ Œ Ó
œ
Œ
œ Œ œ Œ
œ Œ œ Œ
? bb Ó
b
œ Œ
œ Œ œ Œ
˙
œ Œ œ Œ
˙
˙
wird
becomes
˙
rein
clean
durch
through
Feu - er,
fire,
Was - ser,
water,
Luft
air,
und
and
Er
earth.]
den.
wird
rein
durch
Feu - er,
Was - ser,
Luft
und
Er
den.
? bb Ó
b
˙
˙
œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
Ó
den,
B bbb Ó
b
Vbb Ó
Ó
œ Œ œ Œ
œ Œ Ó
œ Œ œ Œ
œ Œ Ó
œ œ ˙
˙
œ œ ˙
-
˙
Ó
Ó
As seen in these examples, Mozart’s only change© from Luther’s original melody in the vocal
part is the transposition up by a perfect fourth, the doubling of notes in the middle of each
vocal phrase, and the lengthening of certain notes. These changes were conceivably made by
Mozart only to facilitate the pairing of the text with the male unison voices in the duet. The
270
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 288-290. 132 trombone parts however, beside the transposition, have no variation from Luther’s melody
and are written, like the voice parts, in strict parallel motion. This parallelism, as mentioned
in earlier examples from this document, is a compositional reference to church music, and
helps to strengthen the religious nature of this section further. The significance of using the
trombone, an instrument heard in Catholic and Lutheran churches alike, to augment this
chorale is one of the strongest examples of Mozart’s attempt to enhance the religious
elements of the singspiel, and increases the solemnity of this moment of the finale. Only an
instrument with such sacerdotal qualities during this period of German music, like the
trombone, could manage to add sacred meaning to a duet based on a chorale.
As the finale progresses Mozart uses the trombone section in the solemn march that
occurs as Tamino and Pamina await the final trial. In this section of the finale, the trombones
play both before and after the pair’s famous love duet in which they praise music and sing
that it will “lead them safely through the dark night of death.”271 In this scene, a solo flute
(the “magic flute”) plays a beautifully soaring melody, as the trombone section punctuates
the harmony underneath (along with timpani, clarinets, and horns), further strengthening the
number’s solemn beauty.
271
Branscombe, 65.
133 Score
Magic Flute 4.5
Example 4.11: Die Zauberflöte Act II, Scene[Subtitle]
10, (Finale) mm. 362-371272
. .
T œ́ Tœ œ́ œ́ œ́ œŸ. # œ œ œ. œ. œ œ œ. œ. œ. œ. œ́
. !. R
Ô
& c œ œ . œ́ ‰
362
Flute Solo
Alto Trombone
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Bc Ó
Bc Ó
Ÿ. œ
œ́
œ
.
! RÔ œ
œŒ
p
œŒ
œŒ
Ó
œ
Œ
œ
œŒ
Ó
œ
Œ
œ
Œ
œŒ
p
œŒ
Ó
œ
Œ
œ
Œ
p
?c Ó
T
‰ # œ . œ́ œ́
[Composer]
[Arranger]
Œ
.
T b ϫ
œ. œ. œ œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ́ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ́
œ
œ
œ
œ#. œ́
.
œ
œ œ́ ! . œ́ œ . œ œ œ́ Œ
œ́ ‰ œ́ ‰ œ́ ! . RÔ
‰
‰ œ́J
&
J J
365
B Ó
œŒ
B Ó
œŒ
?Ó
œŒ
œ ‰ œJ ‰ œ Œ
J
œ ‰ œJ ‰ œ Œ Ó
J
j ‰ œj ‰ Œ
œ
œ
j ‰ œj ‰ œ Œ Ó
œ
œ ‰ œJ ‰ œ Œ
J
œ ‰ œJ ‰ œ Œ Ó
J
œ Œ
bœ Œ
œ Œ
Magic Flute 4.5
2
œ œœœœ
œ́ ‰ œ́J œ́ ! # œ œ œ œ n œ œ œ́ ‰ œ́J ‰
œœ œ ! œ œ œœœœœ Œ
!
&
J
369
B œ Œ
œ Œ
B œ Œ
œ Œ
?œ Œ
œ Œ
œ ‰œ ‰œ Œ
J J
œ ‰ œJ ‰ œ Œ
J
©
j j
œ ‰œ ‰œ Œ
œ Œ
œ Œ
œ Œ
œ Œ
œ Œ
œ Œ
272
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie II, Werkgruppe 5, Band 19, ed.
Gernot Gruber and Alfred Orel (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), 304-305. 134 Throughout this excerpt (example 4.11), one notices a heavy reliance on parallel thirds
between the alto and tenor trombones, and parallel octaves between the tenor and bass
trombones. Once again, this type of parallel motion has a basis in both Masonic and Catholic
sacred music, and thus makes this entrance seem even more solemn for Tamino and Pamina.
Additionally, the use of the instrument only to frame the love duet, and not while they sing,
shows that Mozart continues his trend to only have the instrument play along with the most
sacerdotally important characters of the singspiel, Sarastro and his priests. However, the use
of the religiously significant trombone section here does help this moment (that precedes the
final trial before the rite of initiation) feel more solemn and important, allowing to the fact
that trials themselves are exceptionally sacred rituals within the drama.
It is clear in these examples that Mozart used the trombone section within Die
Zauberflöte to heighten the sacred imagery of Sarastro and his priests. By using the
trombones for numerological symbolism (including the “threefold chord”), parallel
intervallic motion, successive legato phrase groupings, to play the melody of a Lutheran
chorale, and other uses, Mozart gives Die Zauberflöte a vast amount of sacred significance.
This sacred significance revolves around Mozart’s combined Masonic and Catholic beliefs
that are seemingly both at play in his compositional use of the trombone. The singspiel’s
obvious Christian and Masonic overtones, which are centered around Sarastro, his priests, his
armored guards, and the ritual initiation and trials, make this a work that seems to parallel
many of Mozart’s—and those in eighteenth-century Germany’s—own spiritual beliefs. It is
fitting that he would use an instrument he held in such high sacred esteem as the trombone to
enhance the most spiritually significant characters in this drama. By understanding this,
135 Mozart’s last staged work, and its use of the trombone, one catches a glimpse into his
personal religious views at the end of his life in 1791.
136 Conclusion
As shown in the introduction to this document, the trombone was understood during
the eighteenth century and earlier in Germany as an instrument with important sacred
significance. This association developed because of its appearance in German translations of
the Bible by Martin Luther and Catholic theologians and its presence in encyclopedias and
treatises of the period. This, along with the trombone’s vast use in church music of the
period, helped it to be understood as an instrument of sacred significance by the German
musical public. It was this social understanding of the sacerdotal qualities of the trombone
that propelled Mozart to use the instrument in his operas Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, and Die
Zauberflöte to enhance some of the most important sacred elements of each work. The
trombone’s use by German composers in opera began with Gluck, who used the instrument
mainly to double the voices of the choir and other instruments. Mozart, however, used the
trombone in more innovative ways, which included borrowing compositional ideas from
German church music (including his own) and incorporating them into his operatic use of the
instrument.273 Mozart used the trombone to enhance certain moments of drama within
Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte with specific harmonic treatment of
sacerdotal sections of the text, certain dynamic and expression markings, and an emphasis on
creating moments of tension and release through the harmonies used. These, along with the
trombone’s understood sacred significance, aurally aided the audience in associating the
moments the instrument was used in each opera as having spiritual implications in the drama.
273
In Die Zauberflöte, as seen in final chapter of this document, Mozart also used various compositional devices
based on symbolic associations to the Freemasons and elements found in music written for this group.
137 Due in part to Mozart’s operatic use of the trombone, the instrument was included
extensively in the opera orchestra in the nineteenth century by numerous German composers.
Indeed, Trevor Herbert states that Mozart’s compositional use of the trombone in his operas
provided the basis for the instrument’s use in the nineteenth century, including in the operatic
and symphonic medium.274 The use of the trombone in nineteenth-century German opera is
extensive, beginning first with Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) and, as stated in the
introduction to this document, became particularly prominent in the works of Richard
Wagner (1813-1883). In addition to Beethoven and Wagner, Carl Maria von Weber (17861826) used the trombone in many of his operatic and theater pieces, as did Richard Strauss
(1864-1949), among many others. These composers used the trombone in their operas and
theater works to enhance sacred themes, but also in an ever-expanding manner to represent
images of war, heroism, power, and numerous other ideas.
Of particular importance to German musical history, Beethoven used the trombone in
much of his sacred music, in both versions of the opera Fidelio (originally titled Leonore,
1805-06/14), and in three of his symphonies.275 In his oratorio, Christus am Oelberge, op. 86
(“Christ on the Mount of Olives”), Beethoven continues the trend of his fellow German
composers by using the trombone to represent some of the most sacerdotally important
scenes. This can be seen in his use of the instrument in four of the six numbers of the oratorio
when a heavenly message is either sent from God, or is delivered to God.276 Here,
Beethoven, like Mozart, uses the trombone to represent sacred elements of the text in order to
274
Trevor Herbert, The Trombone, Yale Musical Instrument Series (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
2006),174.
275
The first edition of what was by known by 1805-06 as Fidelio, was originally called Leonore. Beethoven
agonized over this work and constantly revised the opera over his lifetime.
276
Daniel Cloutier, “Ludwig van Beethoven’s Orchestration of the Trombone” (DMA diss., College of Creative
Arts at West Virginia, 2009), 25.
138 enhance the dramatic religious implications of various moments for an audience that would
have understood this aural association.
In Fidelio (Leonore), Beethoven also used the trombone section, in both the 18051806 and 1814 versions of the work, to represent spiritual and solemn events. Of particular
interest is his use of the instrument in the dungeon scene from the No. 12 Melodrama and
Duet: “Wie kalt ist es in diesem unterirdischen Gewölbe.” In this moment of the drama, the
trombones help enhance the topics of spiritualism, death, and the afterlife—sacred ideas I
have demonstrated in both Mozart’s sacred and operatic output.277
Beethoven’s use of the trombone in his Fifth Symphony (1804-1808) marks a starting
point for the instrument’s use in this genre by a major composer, despite its use 40 years
prior to this symphony by a Salzburg composer named Joseph Krottendorfer (1741-1798).278
Beethoven used the trombone in his Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Symphonies very sparingly,
possibly due to his hesitation in using an instrument with such sacred implications in a
symphony. Trevor Herbert states that the trombone’s compositional presence in the Fifth
symphony does not enhance the programmatic ideas of romantic heroism, as many have
suggested.279 I agree that Beethoven’s use of the instrument within his Fifth Symphony does
not actually represent any programmatic intentions; as the symphony itself was not truly
meant to be programmatic. However, in Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (1806-08), known as
his “Pastoral Symphony,” he does use two trombones (alto and tenor instruments) to
minimally aid in the programmatic intentions of at least the fourth movement of the work. In
the fourth movement of the symphony, the trombones help to depict the loudest part of the
277
Cloutier, 47. Beethoven uses three trombones in the 1805-06 version of Fidelio (Leonore) and only two
trombones in his 1814 version of the opera.
278
David Guion, The Trombone: Its History and Music, 1697-1811 (Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach
Publishers, 1988), 135.
279
Herbert, 175.
139 “Thunder Storm” (through a fortissimo dynamic). The instruments are also used in the fifth
movement as well, but in a seemingly unimportant programmatic role.280
More meaningful to our survey, however, is Beethoven’s use of the trombone section
in the choral finale of his Ninth Symphony (1822-24) to enhance certain religious ideas
found in the text. Here, the trombones (in this symphony: an alto, tenor, and bass instrument)
serve to double the voices of the choir, in direct reference to this type of compositional use in
church music as mentioned in chapter one of this document. More importantly, the trombone
section is used in this finale to support and enhance the choir’s text as they sing the beautiful
words based in part on Friedrich Schiller’s 1785 poem An die Freude (“Ode to Joy”). Here,
as text speaks about the truly sacred ideas of the spark of joy from heaven and the need for
brotherly unity, Beethoven’s inclusion of the trombone in its traditional church-based
doubling helps signal to the audience his feelings of solemnity regarding the text.281 Outside
of these particular moments in Beethoven’s Sixth and Ninth Symphonies, his main strength
in his compositional use of the trombone in all of his symphonies lies in his successful
blending of the instrument into broader orchestral textures.282 Guion states that it is because
of Beethoven’s first attempts at using the instrument that it became a permanent member of
the symphony orchestra, which, given that his symphonies set the standard for those that
followed, is no surprise.283
More so than Beethoven, later German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) used
the trombone in all four of his symphonies to suggest, as Herbert notes, an older,
ecclesiastical style of composition; this helps to enhance—in my opinion—the religious
280
Guion, 280-281.
David Benjamin Levy, Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony, Monuments of Western Music (New York:
Schirmer Books, 1995), 4-18, 88-121.
282
Herbert, 175.
283
Guion, 135.
281
140 feeling of certain moments.284 Brahms scholar Raymond Knapp adds that the composer’s use
of the trombone, specifically in the chorale sections, is a direct reference to the strong
religious association the instrument had in German music.285 This use of the instrument can
be seen, for example, in the opening section of the fourth movement of Brahms’s First
Symphony where he ends the opening Adagio portion with the three trombones featured in a
smooth legato chorale before the following Allegro section (which is similar to Mozart’s use
of the trombone in Sarastsro’s aria from Die Zauberflöte studied in chapter 4 [examples 4.54.7]).
Many more German composers including Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Robert
Schumann (1810-1856), Anton Brucker (1824-1896), and Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) also
used the trombone, in part to represent spiritual moments in many of their symphonies.
Examples of this can be seen in in Schumann’s chorale featuring the trombone section in the
fourth movement of his Third Symphony (“Rhenish”) from 1851, and numerous chorale
moments in Mahler’s symphonies. However, the topic of the trombone’s use in the
symphonic medium by German composers is a sizeable subject on its own (one of many
subjects for future researchers). Of fundamental importance here is that Mozart’s influential
use of the trombone in the opera orchestra helped to propel the German composers that
followed him to use the instrument in their own operas, symphonies, sacred pieces, and other
works often to enhance sacerdotal elements.
Without the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the trombone may not have
become a vital instrument within the opera and symphony orchestras. His use of the
284
Herbert, 174.
Knapp mentions this when speaking about the chorale in the fourth movement of Brahms’s first symphony,
but is speaking generally about the composer’s use of the instrument in his chorale sections to suggest religious
symbolism. See Raymond Knapp, Brahms and the Challenge of the Symphony (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon
Press, 1997), 218.
285
141 trombone in the opera orchestra provided the compositional template from which nineteenth
and twentieth-century composers borrowed from for their own works.286 It is my hope that
this study will propel further research into the trombone’s use as a sacred signifier in both
operatic and orchestral music. Much of this work has been started by writers like David
Guion, Trevor Herbert, Daniel Cloutier, and others, but there is a significant amount of
research that still needs to be done. There are many composers, like the aforementioned
Salzburg composer Joseph Krottendorfer, who must be studied in order further decode the
truth behind the trombone’s move from sacred and operatic music to the various genres of
the nineteenth century. By looking at the works of both famous and lesser-known composers
working in Germany from the sixteenth century and beyond, music researchers may yet be
able to discover further instances of the trombone’s use as a sacred signifier before and after
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
286
Herbert, 174.
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