Brass Ensemble Music History

To give you some ideas of topics for your historical perspective paper, I've listed below some of the possible directions you might consider. Remember to keep within the realm of ensembles, not individual instrument history. 

 

I. Principal Composers and Places of Brass Ensemble History:

Links to Critical Places and Traditions:

The Venetian School (Wikipedia)

Venetian Polychoral Style (Wikipedia) 
Early Brass Music (Brass Quintet Forum, Annapolis Brass)
Band Music from the Civil War Era - Library of Congress
A Brief History of Brass Quintets (Chamberlain Brass)
Trombone Choirs (NPR)
Moravian Music Foundation
The Waits Website
Waits (Medieval Life and Times)
Stadtpfeifers - Groves Online

II. Course-related Reading Online:
 

The Venetian school and the Extensions of the Polychoral Style - Iakos Demetriou
They're With the Band, Speaking That Global Language: Brass
by Josh Kun, New York Times, 4/9/2006
A Short History of the Trombone by David Guion from the Online Trombone Journal
History and Heritage of the Trombone Choir by John Marcellus, Eastman School of Music
The American Brass Band Movement - Library of Congress 
Something About Trombones (Moravian) from the Bethlehem Digital History Project
Venitian Polychoral Style (Wikipedia entry)
Stadtpfeifers - Groves Online
Wait - Groves Online
Saxhorns (Wikipedia)
Brass Chamber Music in Lyceum and Chautauqua - Raymond David Burkhart 
A Celebration of 100 Years of the Trombone Class at Saratov State Conservatory - from Historic Brass Society Journal by Yury Gusev
The Disten Family from the Prince Regent's Band

III. Significant Composers Throughout Brass Ensemble History:

   A. Renaissance and Baroque Eras

Andrea Gabrieli (1533-1585) Ricercari
Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1557-1612) Sacrae Symphoniae; Canzoni
Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina (1525-1594)
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) L'Orfeo (five trombones)
Gioseffo Guami (c. 1540-1611) Canzoni
Anthony Holborne (1584-1602) Consort Music, Pavans...
Matthew Locke (1622-1677) Consort Music
William Brade (1560-1630) Dance Suites
Tielman Susato (c. 1500- c.1562)
Samuel Scheidt (1587-1653)
Johann Schein (1586-1630)
Johann Pezel (1639-1694)
George Friederich Handel (1685-1759) Water Music, Royal Fireworks

  B. Classic and Romantic Eras

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Drei Equali
Alexander Alyabiev [Aliabev] (1787-1851) Quintet in E-flat for Brass
Ludwig Maurer (1789-1878)
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) Messe Solenelle (1824), Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem) [orch. + 4 antiphonal brass choirs]
Viktor Ewald (1860-1935) Brass Quintets Nos. 1-4
Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961) Music for Brass Choir, op. 45