If I were going to try and tell the story of music that was conceived for and written specifically for the trombone (which…several people have done already in these resources, here, here and here), there are a couple of different composers that would have chapters all to themselves.
Eugene Bozza would be one of those composers.
The French conservatory style of writing instrumental pieces to adjudicate the students in each studio on technique and musicality has had an incredibly strong influence on the music in the trombone repertoire. Over the years, the CNSMD composers have provided the tenor and bass trombone community with pieces that are absolutely staples in the repertoire.
Here are a few pieces that came directly from this tradition:
(The year in parentheses is the year it was composed and used for competition)
Cavatine by Camile Saint-Saens (1922)
Morceau Symphonique by Alexandre Guilmant (1928)
Andante Et Allegro by J.A. Barat (1935)
Ballade by Eugene Bozza (1944)
New Orleans by Eugene Bozza (1954 - Bass Trombone/Tuba/Saxhorn)
Concerto for Trombone by Henri Tomasi (1956)
Ballade by Frank Martin (1959)
These pieces are some of the most frequently played pieces pieces on trombone recitals around the world.
Eugene Bozza was a compositional product the French conservatory, having won the Premieres Prix from the Paris Conservatory (the highest award a student at the conservatory can win) three times; once each for violin, composition, and conducting.
Quite the multi-talented musical dude. I would imagine Bozza was almost as good as this guy:
Homage a Bach for Trombone, the focus of this post, was composed in 1957 but was never offered up as a class competition piece. Homage a Bach literally means “in honor of Bach”. Although J.S. Bach never really wrote much for the trombone, except for in his Cantatas (you can read all about that here), this piece by Bozza is written to honor the style in which Bach was know for, which can be summed up in one word, Baroque.
Knowing the history and manner in which Bach wrote is pivotal for performing this piece well, and in a convincing stylistic manner. Style and accuracy are the main goals of the practice sessions on this piece. I am trying to transport the listener back to the mid 1600’s, when concerto’s and opera reigned supreme.
Homage a Bach is not a long piece- roughly 4 minutes and change. I’ve divided it into four different sections for practice.
Section 1: Beginning to rehearsal 1 (introduction)
Section 2: Second bar of rehearsal 1 to rehearsal 6 (Fast)
Section 3: Rehearsal 6 to rehearsal 9 (slow, operatic like (Slow)
Section 4: Rehearsal 10 to the end. (Fast)
For this video, I’ll be working on sections 3 and 4.
Bozza structures this piece in the same way most Baroque composers would have composed a concerto, with a “Fast-Slow-Fast” movement structure, although Bozza through-composed this piece and connects the movements with short piano interludes.
One of the main concerns of my stated goal of style is sound. Mic placement and room size aside, I think the approach to tone should be light and transparent. I could generally have a much lighter approach to the sound in the slow movement, especially when the volume starts to increase and the range starts to ascend. I can hear it specifically in this section:
The slow movement of many baroque concertos was akin to an opera aria, and composers would use the solo line as a way to express emotion and the vocal-like qualities that were highly regarded in opera at the time.
I find that in my own playing, I might be focusing a little too much on trying to correctly (or incorrectly? who knows how accurate I was…) reproduce the articulations that Bozza has written. I think I get bogged down with trying to read the music, and not paint a picture of the music I have in my head.
There is a time and a place for reading the music verbatim- but that is a topic for another post.