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Buccin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The buccin is a visually distinctive trombone popularized in military bands in France between 1810–1845 which subsequently faded into obscurity.
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians devotes but two sentences to the buccin: “A form of trombone with a bell terminating in a stylized serpent’s or dragon’s head, often with a metal tongue, free to flap, protruding. Berlioz scored for buccin in the Kyrie and Resurrexit of his Messe solennelle of 1824.”
Anyone who has been to a parade knows how impressive the sight of a rank of trombones can be. And it is perhaps this visual appeal that led to the development, in France, of a unique kind of trombone that would prove to be the most visually impressive instrument ever to sport a slide and a bell. The exact date of the invention of the buccin (which should not be confused by another instrument of the same name, invented in France in 1791, which was modeled after ancient Roman instruments which could deliver only three distinct notes) has not been documented and apart from Berlioz’s Messe, there is little in the way of surviving music for it. Yet we do know that the buccin was popularized in military bands in France between 1810–1845. Parades, outdoor festivals and civic celebrations were an important part of French cultural life from the time of the Revolution (1789) through most of the 19th century. The visual appeal of band members in uniform playing instruments with zoomorphic heads (in addition to the buccin, serpents, bass horns, bassoons and Russian bassoons—a form of upright serpent—all were made with such fanciful bells) was indisputable and manufacturers were quick to supply more and more exotic designs. The buccin bell was often vividly painted red, green and gold and the protruding metal tongue included by many makers would flap while marching and playing.
The sound of the buccin is something of a cross between a trombone and a French horn. At soft volumes it has a very warm, delicate sound because the bell is made of hammered tin or very thin brass. But when played loudly, it makes a sound that could wake the dead. While the sound is a rare one, the name is even more perplexing, with little agreement on how to pronounce it. Variants include “boo-san”, “bue-san”, “boo-seen” and “buck-sin.”
When the International Trombone Association was founded in 1972, it chose the buccin for its logo, after an instrument owned by New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Lyon (France) seems to have been a center of buccin manufacturing with buccins made there currently on display in Paris (Dubois & Couturier) and Boston (Tabard). The photo above shows Douglas Yeo with a buccin made by another Lyon maker, François Sautermeister (c. 1830) that was restored in 2004 (and a new slide made after historical models) by James Becker of Osmun Music. Beautiful buccins by Guichard (Paris) are on display in Edinburgh and Brussels and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has an extensive collection of buccins made in France, Italy and Belgium. John Webb, an English maker, has made modern reproduction buccins, one of which may be heard played by Ben Peck of Berlioz Historical Brass on Clifford Bevan's "Les Mots de Berlioz" on the CD Le Monde du Serpent. Stephen Wick played buccin on the premier recording of Berlioz’s Messe under John Eliot Gardiner.
The buccin should not be confused with the buccina a brass instrument of different construction used in the ancient Roman army, which became an ancestor for both the trumpet and the trombone.
- Douglas Yeo performs period instruments for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and early music groups
- Berlioz Historical Brass (small photograph only)