"Seventy-Six Trombones" is a show tune and the signature song from the 1957 musical The Music Man, by Meredith Willson, a film of the same name in 1962 and a made-for-TV movie in 2003. The piece is commonly played by marching bands, military bands, and orchestras.[1][2]

In The Music Man

In the musical, it is the primary sales pitch for a boy's band, sung by "Professor" Harold Hill.[3] Hill uses the song to help the townspeople of River City, Iowa visualize their children playing in a marching band by claiming to recall a time when he saw several famous bandleaders' bands in a combined performance. While an average-sized high school marching band might have about 10 musicians playing the trombone, and a large college marching band seldom has more than 30 trombonists, the band that Harold Hill describes to the citizens includes 76 trombones, 110 cornets, "more than a thousand reeds", double bell euphoniums, and "fifty mounted cannon" (which were popular in bands of the late 19th century). The song's opening lines are:

Seventy-six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand ...

The love ballad "Goodnight My Someone", which immediately precedes "Seventy-Six Trombones" in the musical, has the same tune but is played in 3/4 time at a slower tempo. At the end of the musical, lines from "Seventy-Six Trombones" and "Goodnight My Someone" are sung in alternation with each other.[3] This technique is used in opera, but was unknown in Broadway musicals.[3]

Notable performances

  • André Rieu and his orchestra customarily open and enter to the piece.[8]

Homages

In Willson's hometown of Mason City, Iowa, the song is honored (along with the whole plot of The Music Man) in a building called "Music Man Square", which is located next to Willson's boyhood home.[9] In one large room, there are 76 donated trombones hanging from the ceiling.

  • In the romantic comedy The Other Sister, it is used as Carla and Daniel's love song.
  • In the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "Once More, with Feeling", Spike remarks to Buffy "The day you suss out what you do want, they'll probably be a parade! With Seventy Six bloody Trombones playing!"
  • In the 15th episode of the second season of American TV sitcom, The Nanny, a man is supposedly dating Fran's rival when he meets Maxwell and, after performing beginning of the song, reveals himself as a gay dancer trying to make it on Broadway (actually meeting his life partner during a revival of The Music Man).

In Chile, the instrumental march version (with Leroy Anderson's orchestration) was used as a theme song for radio Portales news show La Revista de Portales. It was used because of an earlier use on the news show La bitácora en Portales.[10]

References

  1. Allen, Ira R. - '76 Trombones' for (Ronald) Reagan, 76 February 6, 1987
  2. McNary, Sharon - The Big Challenges Facing What May Be This Rose Parade's Most Unusual Marching Band. LAist- Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), December 30, 2021
  3. 1 2 3 Nachman, Gerald. Showstoppers! The Surprising Backstage Stories of Broadway's Most Remarkable Songs. United States: Chicago Review Press, 2016.
  4. Gramophone. United Kingdom: General Gramophone Publications Limited, 1981.
  5. Marches in Hi-Fi at AllMusic
  6. Our Man in Hollywood at AllMusic
  7. Radio Times 14 November 1982
  8. Juregensen, John - A Maestro for the Masses. Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2010
  9. Mergen, Melanie - Mason City's Music Man Square to throw birthday bash for Meredith Willson. Globe-Gazette, May 11, 2021
  10. Radio Portales de Santiago. Spanish Language Wikipedia
  11. Dik Voormekaar – De Dik Voormekaar Show, Label: CNR – 540.019 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo Country: Netherlands Released: 1975 Genre: Non-Music, Pop Style: Comedy
  12. Jones, Kent - Review: Bernie. Filmcomment, April 26, 2012
  13. Coyle, Jake - Movie Review:Bernie Delco Times, April 26, 2012
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