Elegy for Bass Trombone

Description

• Composer: David R. Gillingham
• Publisher: C. Alan Publications

Elegy for Bass Trombone elicits the multifaceted feelings of grief beginning with the trombone playing a solemn lyrical line in A minor against a quiet backdrop of ascending sixteenths of intervals of sixths and fifths in the piano.

Program Notes

Elegy was commissioned by bass trombonist Jonathan Warburton in honor of his father who had recently passed away. The piece was completed in 2016 and a transcription with string quartet accompaniment was commissioned in 2018 by the Arctic Trombone Festival in Norway.

The piece elicits the multifaceted feelings of grief beginning with the trombone playing a solemn lyrical line in A minor against a quiet backdrop of ascending sixteenths of intervals of sixths and fifths in the piano. This segues into a short interlude in G major with a chorale-like accompaniment against the trombone with a sixteenth note pattern. An extensive development follows using both the melodic and accompaniment material. A secondary melody in A Mixolydian ensues and progresses to a short cadenza by the trombone. The original melody then returns in the piano with the trombone playing a variation in sixteenths. A rather sober coda follows fluctuating between G major, E minor, and C minor before closing in G major.