# Equale

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{{short description|Composition for equal voices}}
{{use list-defined references|date=April 2025}}
[[File:Beethoven 3 Equali WoO 30, published Breitkopf und Härtel, Leipzig, 1888.pdf|thumb|Page 1 of "[Drei Equale für vier Posaunen](/source/Drei_Equale_f%C3%BCr_vier_Posaunen)" ("Three Aequales for four Trombones") by [Ludwig van Beethoven](/source/Ludwig_van_Beethoven)]]
An '''equale''' or '''aequale''' (from {{langx|la|voces aequales|link=no}}, equal voices or parts) is a [musical idiom](/source/musical_idiom). It is a piece for equal voices or instruments.<ref name=grove/><ref name=brown/> In the 18th century the equale became established as a generic term for short, chordal pieces for [trombone](/source/trombone) choirs, usually [quartets](/source/quartets) or [trios](/source/trio_(music)). The instruments were not necessarily equal in pitch, but formed a [closed consort](/source/closed_consort).<ref name=SFSO/>

==Commemoration of the dead==
[[File:Stoeber - Beethovens Leichenzug.jpg|thumb|Beethoven's [funeral procession](/source/funeral_procession), led by a [processional cross](/source/processional_cross) and four trombonists and sixteen singers performing [Seyfried's](/source/Ignaz_von_Seyfried) voice arrangement of his ''Equali''<ref name=SFSO/>]]
[[File:Moravian funeral at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.jpg|thumb|Trombones announcing a death from the belfry and playing at a [Moravian](/source/Moravian_music) funeral in [Bethlehem, Pennsylvania](/source/Bethlehem%2C_Pennsylvania), 1874]]
Aequales were conventionally used in Austria to commemorate the dead. They were [performed from towers](/source/tower_music) on [All Souls' Day](/source/All_Souls'_Day) (2 November), and on the previous evening.<ref name=triton/> They were also performed at funerals.<ref name=SFSO/>

While aequales might be played by other instruments, the sound of trombones was thought to be especially solemn and noble. Trombones had also already acquired [an association with death and the afterlife](/source/Sackbut).<ref name=SFSO/> Finally, the theological symbolism of the trombone, representing divine presence, the voice of the angels, and the instrument of judgment, was thereby underscored.<ref name=triton/>

==Examples==

Notable examples of the genre are the three ''Equali'' for four trombones of [Ludwig van Beethoven](/source/Ludwig_van_Beethoven) ([Drei Equale](/source/Drei_Equale_f%C3%BCr_vier_Posaunen), [WoO](/source/WoO) 30), written for [Franz Xaver Glöggl](/source/Franz_Xaver_Gl%C3%B6ggl) and performed in [Linz Cathedral](/source/Old_Cathedral%2C_Linz) on All Souls' Day (2 November), 1812. Two of them were later performed, with the addition by [Ignaz von Seyfried](/source/Ignaz_von_Seyfried) of words from the [''Miserere''](/source/Psalm_51), at Beethoven's own funeral in 1827. They were also played as instrumental pieces at the funeral of [William Gladstone](/source/William_Ewart_Gladstone) in [Westminster Abbey](/source/Westminster_Abbey) in 1898.<ref name=bell />

The [two ''Aequali'' in C minor](/source/Two_Aequali_(Bruckner)) of [Anton Bruckner](/source/Anton_Bruckner) date from 1847 and are for three trombones. Three years earlier, in 1844, the little-known Wenzel Lambel (1788–1861) of Linz had published ten equali for three or four trombones.<ref name=mem /> [Stravinsky](/source/Stravinsky) scored ''In memoriam Dylan Thomas'', his setting of "[Do not go gentle into that good night](/source/Do_not_go_gentle_into_that_good_night)", for tenor, string quartet and four trombones, which may be an "echo" of the tradition.<ref name=bell />

{{citation needed span|date=April 2025|text=There is a passage of Aequale music in the [coda](/source/coda_(music)) of the finale of [the sixth ("tragic") symphony](/source/Symphony_No._6_(Mahler)) of Gustav Mahler, given in [counterpoint](/source/counterpoint) to four trombones and bass tuba (bars 790–816). Clarinets, bassoons and French horns provide a partial chordal accompaniment. This passage leads directly into the closing bars of the symphony.}}

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name=bell>{{cite book|last=Bellingham|first=Jane|chapter=equale (aequale)|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199579037.001.0001/acref-9780199579037-e-2296|title=The Oxford Companion to Music|date=January 2011 |publisher=Oxford Music Online|isbn=978-0-19-957903-7}} {{Subscription required}}</ref>

<ref name=brown>{{cite Grove|last=Brown|first=Maurice J. E.|author-link=Maurice J. E. Brown|title=Equale|id=08899|year=2001}} {{Subscription required}}</ref>

<ref name=grove>{{cite book|editor-last=Sadie|editor-first=Stanley|editor-link=Stanley Sadie|title=[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians](/source/The_New_Grove_Dictionary_of_Music_and_Musicians)|year=1980|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-0-333-23111-1|edition=reprinted with minor corrections|page=218|volume=6}}</ref>

<ref name=mem>{{cite journal|journal={{ill|Mens en Melodie|nl}}|volume=59|year=2004|publisher=Uitgeverij Het Spectrum|language=nl}} {{title missing|date=April 2025}}{{full citation needed|date=April 2025}}</ref>

<ref name=triton>From sleevenotes, Triton Trombone Quartet: ''German Trombone Music''; BIS-CD-644</ref>

<ref name=SFSO>[https://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Program-Notes/BEETHOVEN-Three-Equali-for-Four-Trombones,-WoO-30.aspx "Beethoven: Three Equali for Four Trombones, WoO 30 │ An die ferne Geliebte, Opus 98 │ Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Opus 60"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225080236/https://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Program-Notes/BEETHOVEN-Three-Equali-for-Four-Trombones,-WoO-30.aspx |date=2016-12-25 }}, Program notes, [San Francisco Symphony](/source/San_Francisco_Symphony)</ref>

}}

{{Portal bar|Classical music}}

Category:Death music
Category:Brass instruments
Category:Compositions for trombone
Category:Musical terminology

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Equale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equale) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equale?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.