ABSTRACT
Trombones appeared in operatic orchestras as early as Monteverdi’s Orfeo of 1607. They participated in only a handful of operas, however, and by mid-century seem to have disappeared from the theater. I have found no trace of the operatic use of trombones in the eighteenth century until Gluck used them in Orfeo ed Euridice in 1762, although it is quite possible that some now-forgotten composer used them earlier. In any case, Orfeo is not the first appearance in eighteenth-century theater music. Gluck used one in his ballet Don Juan in 1761 and Handel used three in each of his oratorios Saul, Samson, and Israel in Egypt between 1738 and 1741.
