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Forsyth, Orchestration

Cecil Forsyth · section 26 of 60

No. 22. The Alto (or Eb) Trombone

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Er. and It. Trombone Alto;' Ger. Altposaune.

This Trombone is now practically obsolete. It is built in the key of Eb, a perfect fourth higher than the Tenor. Its seven positions, therefore, have as their fundamental notes

Original notation
Fig. 291 · Play this example in the reader ▶

and its highest compass is to

Original notation
Fig. 292 · Play this example in the reader ▶

Owing to its narrow bore the notes below

Original notation
Fig. 293 · Play this example in the reader ▶

are poor in quality. They are rarely used. The four semitones above

Original illustration or notation diagram
Fig. 294 · See it in the reader

are for all orchestral purposes unplayable. The pedal notes have never been employed, so that the Alto-Trombone is really a two-octave instrument.

Like all the other Trombones, it was written for as a non-transposing instrument. The part was almost invariably written in the alto-clef, but the bass-clef was used occasionally and conveniently for the lowest notes. Nothing further need be said with regard to this instrument, as its technique is merely that of the Tenor-Trombone shifted a perfect fourth upwards.

1 Some further remarks on the Trombones will be found after the section devoted to the Double-Bass-Trombone, p. 147 et segg.

3 See above, page 135. " Sometimes Irombonino in Italian.