Playing a sounding C and F in exactly the same position on a modern orchestra sounds out of tune, but it tunes perfectly well on in a sackbut choir if everyone plays natural harmonics. Plenty of musical understanding can be gathered from reading the original music print. Publishers such as SPES and Arnaldo Forni Edition provide facsimile copies of plenty of music for trombone from this era. To read these it one needs to become familiar with the old clefs, time signatures, ligatures and notational conventions of the era. Symbolism The sound of sackbuts (and trombones) has long been thought especially solemn and noble, had an association with death and the afterlife. The instrument was a symbol of divine presence, the voice of the angels and instrument of judgment. This symbolism can be seen, for instance, in L'Orfeo, Alceste, The Magic Flute, the Death March from Saul, and funeral aequales. This association was probably encouraged by the lack of distinction made between natural horns, slide trumpets, and trombones in this Renaissance; they were used and often named interchangeably. Martin Luther's 1534 translation of the Bible into German renders the Greek shophar and salpigx to Posaune. Posaune at the time could refer to a natural horn or other brass instrument, but it later came to mean exclusively "trombone" (similarly, English translations generally have "trumpet", and only occasionally "horn" or "shofar"). This gives the later reader of the Luther Bible texts such as: “…we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trombone; for the trombone shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible" (1 Corinthians 15:52). Repertoire Before 1600 The sackbut replaced the slide trumpet in the 15th century alta capella wind bands that were common in towns throughout Europe playing courtly dance music. See Waits. Another key use of the trombone was in ceremonies, in conjunction with the trumpet. In many towns in Germany and Northern Italy, 'piffari' bands were employed by local governments throughout the 16th century to give regular concerts in public squares and would lead processions for festivals. Piffari usually contained a mix of wind, brass and percussion instruments and sometimes viols. Venice's doge had his own piffari company and they gave an hour-long concert in the Piazza each day, as well as sometimes performing for services in St. Mark's. Each of the six confraternities in Venice also