Symphony

Symphony No. 4 - Brahms

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), was a German composer of the Romantic era who used trombones sparingly but strategically.

In Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (1885), the three trombones appear exclusively in the fourth movement, where Brahms reserves them for the opening ominous chorale theme (adapted from Bach - derived from a bass line in Cantata BWV 150).

Symphony No. 3 - Brahms

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), was a German composer of the Romantic era who used trombones sparingly but strategically.

Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, was completed in 1883. Scored for three trombones, they are used only in the outer movements (tacet in the third), adding weight and warmth to the symphony’s climaxes and low sonorities.