Bassposaune

As Printed on a Score

Labels the bass trombone in German scores, on its own staff or combined with the third trombone; the older orthography is Baßposaune. It is written in bass clef at sounding pitch. Nineteenth-century German bass trombones were often in F, so the low notes a part assumes may differ from today’s B-flat/F instrument.

Also spelled: Baßposaune

How Composers Use It

The German tradition puts the bass trombone at the bottom of the trombone chorale and pairs it with the tuba for weight; Wagner went further with a contrabass trombone in the Ring. Write it as a true bass voice with time for low notes to speak, and use it at soft dynamics too, where its dark color supports the section without heaviness.

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