{{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" ("Three Aequales for four Trombones") by Ludwig van Beethoven]] An '''equale''' or '''aequale''' (from {{langx|la|voces aequales|link=no}}, equal voices or parts) is a 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 choirs, usually quartets or trios. The instruments were not necessarily equal in pitch, but formed a closed consort.<ref name=SFSO/>

==Commemoration of the dead== [[File:Stoeber - Beethovens Leichenzug.jpg|thumb|Beethoven's funeral procession, led by a processional cross and four trombonists and sixteen singers performing Seyfried's 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 funeral in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1874]] Aequales were conventionally used in Austria to commemorate the dead. They were performed from towers on 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.<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 (Drei Equale, WoO 30), written for Franz Xaver Glöggl and performed in Linz Cathedral on All Souls' Day (2 November), 1812. Two of them were later performed, with the addition by Ignaz von Seyfried of words from the ''Miserere'', at Beethoven's own funeral in 1827. They were also played as instrumental pieces at the funeral of William Gladstone in Westminster Abbey in 1898.<ref name=bell />

The two ''Aequali'' in C minor of 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 scored ''In memoriam Dylan Thomas'', his setting of "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 of the finale of the sixth ("tragic") symphony of Gustav Mahler, given in 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|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</ref>

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