[PW] 76 Trombones?

[Fuller, Thomas (US - Washington D.C.)]

Happy Monday.  This is for me, so no intemperate haste or burning-out of
neurons is required.  (Temperate haste, though, is fine.)

A bunch of us music nerds were talking about Meredith Willson's THE
MUSIC MAN (1957), and the question arose whether there has ever been a
band of the size described in the song "76 Trombones".  In addition to
the 'bones, the song mentions 110 cornets, "more than a thousand" reeds,
one Sousaphone, "fifty mounted cannon", and presumably other instruments
like euphoniums and percussion.  

That has always sounded to me like a complete fantasy, an illustration
of Harold Hill's snake-oil exaggeration.  But others in the group were
skeptical, and thought that such a gathering might have been held
somewhere.  Even the American premiere of Mahler's "Symphony of a
Thousand" used "only" 1,068 musicians, and that included a massive
string section, three choirs, and several vocal soloists.  (These days
the work is usually performed with about half that number.)  And it's
true that in the 19th century they tended to do these things in a big
way.  But -- that big?

There have been novelty events where, just for the fun of it, musicians
marshalled 76 trombones to play a version of the song, but none, to my
knowledge, that matched the other criteria (particularly the cannons!).

So -- the "76 Trombones Band" -- historical, or fictional?  Any and all
thoughts, speculations, etc. are appreciated.

-- Tom 

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