For all of recorded history musical instruments have been a source of fascination and curiosity for man. Through a major portion of this time one instrument, the trombone, has evolved with a unique design, character, and history. The earliest trombones, called sackbuts, originally had a sliding mechanism located near the mouthpiece. In the sixteenth century this was improved by the addition of the "U-turn" which facilitated holding and playing. This construction innovation was the last major change in trombone design; the trombone of 1600 was essentially the same as the trombone of today.

The selected works by the composers studied in this thesis might well stand as illustrative of the normal development of the use of the bass trombone near the close of the nineteenth century. Although notable progress was made by the cited composers in increasing the bass trombone's usefulness in the orchestra, each composer also continued to use the bass trombone as it had been used in previous years, such as in doubling bass parts, harmonic backgrounds, and for strong rhythmic punctuations.

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The primary purpose of this thesis will be to examine the orchestration of the trombone section in the Viennese symphonies of the early Romantic period. In order to fully understand the function of the trombone section in these syphonies, a review of the trombones usage in previous centuries is in order.