Hector Berlioz: Orasion funèbre (second movement of Grande Symphonie funèbre et triumphale, H. 80)

Orasion funèbre was recorded on April 23, 2022 as part of Douglas Yeo's faculty recital in the Armerding Center for the Arts Concert Hall, Wheaton College, Illinois. It is the second movement of Hector Berlioz's Grande Symphonie funèbre et triumphale.

In this performance, Douglas Yeo is playing a six-valve trombone with independent tubes, an invention of Adolphe Sax (patented in 1852 and 1859) he called "le nouveau trombone Sax à six pistons et à tubes indépendants." The instrument was part of a family of six-valve instruments conceived by Sax to solve the intonation problems that three and four valve instruments have when they use valves in combination. Despite its heavy weight and unusual—even confusing— fingering, and the fact that it did not live up to the claim as an instrument with "perfect intonation," it found some favor in France and Belgium—due in no small part to Sax's aggressive marketing—for the second half of the nineteenth century into the twentieth century. The instrument has a narrow bore of .460" and a 6" diameter bell.

Six-valve trombone by Joseph Persy, Brussels, c. 1897
Piano by Steinway
Caleb Ballard, recording engineer

For more information about music at Wheaton College, visit:

www.wheaton.edu/conservatory

Follow Douglas Yeo's blog, "The Last Trombone," at:

www.thelasttrombone.com

Видео Hector Berlioz: Orasion funèbre (second movement of Grande Symphonie funèbre et triumphale, H. 80) канала The Last Trombone