Sackbutt
Derived from the words for ‘pull’ (sacquer) and push (bouter) in Old French, the sacqueboute, an ancestor of the modern trombone, is first mentioned at the time of the marriage of Charles the Bold, a former Duke of Normandy, in 1468. From the Renaissance to the baroque period, it features at all festivals and ceremonies.
Guided by its professor, Stefan Legée, a renowned soloist and chamber musician, the sackbutt class at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM) supports its students as they learn the main repertoires (medieval, Renaissance, baroque and romantic) and understand how they evolved over the centuries. The class prepares its students for a multifaceted career in music, ranging from the interpretation of the soloist repertoire to that of polyphonic and orchestral works, but also to the teaching and passing on of knowledge.
The class puts a particularly extensive collection of instruments at its students’ disposal, including entire consorts of Renaissance sackbutts (including an incredibly rare contrabass sackbutt), classical trombones, and German and French instruments from the Romantic period.
Our students are encouraged to take part in numerous activities arranged by the HEM’s department of early music, which regularly invites eminent performers and researchers from all over the world to give Masterclasses and seminars. The goal is to encourage the development of a thoughtful approach, with a view to achieving a deeper contextualization of the practice and repertoire of their instrument.
The sackbut class regularly collaborates with the HEM’s other departments, and with internationally acclaimed Swiss ensembles, on ‘side-by-side’ artistic projects, which constitute real gateways to the professional world.
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