Request for Comment:
The Wagner Tubas: A Supplement for Orchestration Textbooks Introduction
This book supplement is intended for composers and arrangers. However, at this point, I need horn players who have played Wagner tuba to give me their advice so that this supplement can guide composers in writing idiomatic and enjoyable parts for these noble instruments. The horn gets an entire chapter in The Technique of Orchestration by Kent Kent Kenn Kennan an Whee Wheele lerr. The The trum trumpet pet,, trom trombo bone ne and tuba tuba shar sharee the the following chapter. The Wagner tubas get a medium-sized paragraph in the chapter on “infrequently used instruments.” Under the economy of the assembly line, this made sense. Of all the composers and arrangers who wrote for orchestra in the 20th Century, ical need to need to write for the Wagner tuba? how many of them had a pract a practical Authors of orchestration textbooks nevertheless felt it necessary to at least mention the Wagner Wagner tubas, because their students would likely see them in the scores of at least two major composers (Wagner himself, of course, and Bruckner). We haven’t yet gotten to the economy of the replicator foreseen in Star Trek : horn players who want to try out a Wagner tuba can’t just walk up to a replicator, ask for a Wagner tuba and watch it materialize in front of them. It must be ordered, and the builder needs a few months to make the thing (though one or two make it a point to keep a few extra ones lying around in stock, and might even make appointments for people to try them out). But when it comes to things like books, the Internet enab enablles any any inter nteres este ted d comp compos oser er to get get an elec electr tron onic ic book book on orchestration delivered to their hands anywhere in the world there is wireless reception. And if they want the book to say something about the Wagner tubas, the only prerequisite is that the book has been written in the first place. This is where I come in. In 2011, when Ray Barnes, a Canadian accountant and a big fan of the music of Anton Bruckner, became the firs firstt pers person on ever ever to comm commis issi sion on a Conc Concer erto to over over the the Inte Intern rnet et,,
commissioning me to write a Horn Concerto in B-flat major, I saw an opportunity to write for Wagner tubas. The concerto soloist of course only plays horn, but the four horn players double on Wagner tubas. I needed advice on how to write for Wagner tubas. John Orzel, a horn player who has also played Wagner tuba in Bruckner’s music, has given me lots of valuable valuable advice. I also needed advice on writing writing virtuosically virtuosically for the horn, and Gunther Schuller’s book was of great help in that department. The Horn Concerto is for the most part complete now, but other composers composers will come along, wanting to write write for Wagner Wagner tuba yet finding little by way of guidance. Hence this book supplement. There is much to say about the horn, and in fact it is appropriate appropriate here to very quickly recapitulate what the orchestration textbooks say about the horn, in order to see what we can extrapolate about the Wagner tuba. The modern horn with valves did not gain acceptance until about the 1850s, and some traditions from the days of horns with crooks inform the use of the modern horn. Today’s players take their ability to transpose from any key as a point of pride; only the greenest novice needs the various old parts for horns in D, E, G,1 etc., re-notated in F, though F is considered the ‘home key’ of the instrument. Some players use horns with B-flat triggers that help with certain notes, but the composer should just the same write the part in F. Another holdover from the old days is that horns are generally written without key signatures. For example, in a piece in E-flat major, horn in F would be written in the key of B-flat major but without the 2-flat key sign signat atur ure. e. Ther Theref efor ore, e, each each writ writte ten n inst instan ance ce of B-fl B-flat at and and E-fl E-flat at (corresponding to the sounding E-flat and A-flat, respectively), would need an accidental, and there is the possibility that you might not need accidentals for some B-naturals and E-naturals (whereas you would need them for the E-naturals and A-naturals occurring in the parts of nontransposing instrument, and instruments that transpose by octaves). Kent Kennan suggests that it would be a good idea for modern composers to use use a key key signa signatu ture re “in “in scor scorin ing g musi musicc of a diat diaton onic ic natu nature re.” .” Also, Also, comput computer er notati notation on softwa software re by defaul defaultt gives gives horns horns the approp appropria riatel tely y transposed key signature and it takes a little more effort to suppress it and then review the use of accidentals acc identals to add them in where necessary. necessary. But players still prefer the accidentals to the key signatures, though they should be understanding of composers who don’t know how to set that up in the notation software.2 In writing music with both horns and Wagner tubas there is another good reason not to use key signatures for the horns: to differentiate them from the Wagner Wagner tubas. Kennan dismisses the old custom of transposing horn parts in the bass clef in the opposite direction as a “pointless” custom dying a natural 1
2
As someone who has transcribed horn parts from the Baroque and Classical periods, I have to say that horn in G is the most confusing and error-prone to deal with. Such parts occur not only in Symphonies in G major and E minor, but even a few C major works: for his landmark Symphony in C major of 1788 (the one that inspired Mozart’s “Jupiter”), Michael Haydn used not only horns in C but also horns in G as well as one horn in E and another in D. I did not mind the horn in D, having gotten used to it from various Symphonies in D major that I’ve worked on. Haydn’s Haydn’s clever use of various horn crooks demonstrates that the time was ripe for the invention of the valve horn. If you are using Finale 2010, look up my book Finale Finale 2010: The Misplaced Handbook . Handbook . The advice given therein pertaining to the horns applies to some earlier and later versions of the program.
death. (For example, horn in D in the treble clef is written a minor seventh up from the desired pitch, but in the bass clef it’s written a major second down). Gunther Schuller, a renowned composer and horn player, defends this tradition, and thus I consider Kennan overruled on this particular matter. matter. The tone of the horn blends very well with woodwinds, and indeed we find the horn in chamber music far more often than the other brass instruments: the wind quintet consisting of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn is almost as standard as the string quartet consisting of two violins, viola and cello. The low register of the horn is much more effective for sustained tones and ‘punctuation’ than for melodies; almost the whole top octave is too strained and shrill for most purposes, and in any case those notes are better given to the trumpet or clarinet. It is in the upper middle register that the horn really shines, with a warm, bright, noble tone. Although the best horn players today claim it is no problem to come in on a high note, it is probably still a good idea to heed the old advice of not writing initial notes for the horn above a certain threshold, especially if the horn is expected to play softly and only sparsely accompanied. The threshold is just a little higher than concert middle C. Older authors of orchestration textbooks teach the tradition of the two pairs pairs of horns “interlock[ing] “interlock[ing] on paper” and the consequent consequent “division “division of labor” that caused the second and fourth horns to become more adept at the the low low note notes. s. Howe However ver,, as the the 20th Century Century progressed, progressed, composers composers expected all horns to play higher and higher. Already in the 19th Century we saw Robert Schumann taking the horns rather high, and Bruckner, when using 4 or 8 horns, wrote them high to low, not interlocking. Kennan did acknowledge unison passages that take the second and fourth horns rather high, and the rare odd passage that takes first and third very low. One shouldn’t write 32nd notes (demisemiquavers) for the horn, at least not at a fast tempo, even if those notes are in the same harmonic series. That was the only objection one horn player had with the first draft of my Horn Concerto in B-flat major. “Flight of the Bumblebee” is definitely not a solo horn piece. As the horn is a wind instrument, it should go without saying that horn parts should have plenty of rests. Horns are often used on harmony parts, particularly alto and tenor harmony parts. (It should be kept in mind that the horn can’t articulate repeated notes as clearly as the trumpet). But this is not their only use. Horn solos can be heroic or poignant as called for, and a pair (or all 4 or all 8) can be put in unison on a single melodic line (these often involve some kind of arpeggio). Brass instruments in general are quite loud, though still not as capable of the broad range of dynamics of the percussion. However, the horn is not quite as loud as the rest of the brass. Kennan writes: “An accepted mf or louder, axiom in scoring for brass is this: if the dynamic marking is mf or two horns are needed to balance one trumpet trumpet or one trombone.” trombone.” Kennan also recommends spacing horns and trumpets close, and the trombones open (e.g., in fifths and octaves) unless they are used higher in their
range. In addition to embouchure (how the mouth is put on the mouthpiece) and fingering of the valves, pitch and tone on the horn are also controlled by the player’s hand in the bell, something that you just can’t do on the trumpet or tuba, much less the trombone. Muting of the horn is more often done by sticking the hand further in than by using a mute (though the player may very well choose to use an actual mute). Muted notes below below writte written n middle middle C are not recomm recommend ended, ed, though though very very skille skilled d players can pull them off. Stopped, ‘brassy’ and stopped ‘brassy’ notes are some other special effects unique to the horn, as well as lontano effects (the horn sounds like it’s far, far away). Asking the players to put the bells in the air puts the horn on some more common ground with the Wagner tuba. Kennan’s words on this matter are quite telling: “Inasmuch as the hand cannot be used in the bell here, the tone is completely open and lacking in any subtlety of coloring.” The horn is capable of some glissandos, but besides The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky, the only other example I can think of is in the finale of Robert Ward’s Symphony No. 2. And so we have barely scratched the surface of all there is to say about the horn, even after trying to limit ourselves to what is relevant for composers. There is also a lot to say about the Wagner tuba. In the paragraph in Kennan’s book, there isn’t even an attempt to describe how the Wagner Wagner tuba sounds. This supplement is an attempt to fill that gap. ga p. I assume that Readers of this supplement are quite familiar with the concept of transposition. They may occasionally need to refer to the text textbo book ok for for the the trans transpos posit itio ion n inte interv rval al and and dire direct ctio ion n of a spec specif ific ic instrument, but once they know it they can easily transpose a melody by hand, hand, or they they know know how how to set set up thei theirr favo favori rite te comp comput uter er nota notati tion on software to do it automatically for them. In this book supplement, to distinguish between passages for horns and and Wagner agner tubas tubas writ writte ten n at actual actual pitc pitch h from from thos thosee with with vari variou ouss transpositions, the passages written at actual pitch will use tenor clef ev en if this requires many ledger lines above or below. Also, actual pitch passages will show the screen-only color coding of the Finale notation software.3 In Kennan’s book, the possible ranges of instruments are given in ‘open’ notes, while practical ranges are given in ‘closed’ notes. However, for the Wagner tubas, Kennan does not give any practical ranges at all! The practical ranges of the Wagner tubas given in this supplement are for the most part my own conjecture, and I need the advice of players to correct them. Most of the musical excerpts in this book come from Bruckner’s last three Symphonies. As far as the Wagner tubas are concerned, any edition of any version will do (Haas, Nowak, Orel, Redlich, Wöss, even the inauth inauthent entic ic Schalk Schalk), ), since since they they will will all presen presentt the variou variouss issues issues of confusing transposition changes. From modern composers, I only have 3
Finale can of course be set up to print at concert pitch, but that’s beyond the scope of this book and it is in any case unnecessary.
permission for the Horn Concerto that I wrote. The term “French horn” is mentioned here only because it has become so prev preval alen entt even even amon among g prof profes essi sion onal al musi musici cian ans. s. In this this book book supplement, the horn will mostly be referred to as such, and occasionally as “regular horn” to distinguish it from the Wagner tuba, which is a “modified horn.” Lastly, the male third person pronouns when not referring to a specific man are used generically: the composer, conductor or player could just as easily be a woman. I personally know quite a few women who play horn, though I have yet to meet mee t one who also plays Wagner tuba.
Chapter: The Wagner Tubas Tubas
Tenor
Bass in B-flat, sounding a major 2nd lower
OR
in F, sounding a perfect 5th lower
OR
in B-flat, sounding a major 9th lower
in B-flat, sounding a perfect 12th lower
These practical ranges may be too narrow narrow.. The possible ranges are exactly as given in Kennan's book. Bruckner is one of the greatest composers of all time, very much worthy of emulation. Harmonies, melodies, structures, etc. But don’t imitate his quir quirks ks of notati notation. on. For For exam exampl ple, e, your your cellos cellos should should not becom becomee transposin transposing g instrument instrumentss when written in the treble clef. And, whichever whichever way you choose to transpose the Wagner tubas, stick to it throughout the entire entire piece. Don’t Don’t start one way, way, then change to the other way and then back. In regards to terminology, terminology, there is no point in insisting that the Wagner tubas should be called something else. The name has stuck and it’s not goin going g to change change howev however er much much sens sensee it woul would d make make to call call them them “Wagner horns” instead. The Wagner tubas do have it in common with the regular tubas that the player can’t insert his hand in the bell; this is a crucial difference from the regular horn. But horn players are generally the ones who play Wagner tuba when the score calls for them, and not tubists. In the score, the term “Wagner “Wagner tubas” is not actually used, instead we see “tenor tubas” and “bass tubas” (or, in German, “tenor Tuben” and “baß Tuben”). These are the terms that will be used in this book when there is a need to distinguish between them, otherwise, they will be referred to as “W “Wagner agner tubas.” Just as there is the ‘double’ horn, there is the ‘double’ Wagner tuba, which can switch from tenor in B-flat to bass in F by means of a “change valve just like a double horn,” according to HornGuys.com. A further distinction among double Wagner tubas is that some such instruments are “full double” and some are “compensating double,” the latter apparently being more trouble than they’re worth. If you can afford to buy your orchestra a quartet of instruments, it might be better to order all four singles, two just tenor and two just bass. Your orchestration textbook might have mentioned that although the horn with valves was pretty much standard by the time Wagner wrote most of the music he’s known for today, he kept writing the horns in different transpositions as if he expected the players to change crooks. And he carried this over to the Wagner tubas, even though they were horns with valves from the get-go. Thus we find tubas in E-flat in the
Ring . Bruckner limited himself to F and B-flat, but even in his oeuvre there are quite a few discrepancies of notation, consistent even across all the different versions and editions of Bruckner’s last three Symphonies. Ignoring Wagner’s own notation, there are essentially two ways to transpose the tenor tuba and two ways to transpose the bass tuba, though the former seems to inspire more dilemmas of reading than the latter. The tenor tuba can be written in the treble clef, up a major second from the sounding pitch, just like the trumpet in B-flat. Or it can be written up a major major ninth ninth from from soundi sounding ng pitch pitch (also (also in treble treble clef), clef), like the tenor tenor saxophone in B-flat. It makes sense to write the bass tuba in the bass clef, but the problem is that given its F transposition, a lot of the notes require some ledger lines over the bass clef. Writing them in the treble clef still presents the issue of ledger lines, especially if you want to take advantage of the lower notes of the bass tuba. What you can do then is write them in treble clef up a perfect twelfth (that is a perfect octave plus a perfect fifth) from the desired pitches. To bett better er unde unders rsta tand nd the the vari variou ouss trad tradee-of offs fs of the the dif differe ferent nt transposition methods, let’s look at an actual musical excerpt transposed a few different ways. For this purpose, I’ve chosen the first four bars of the Adagio of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E major, the first time Bruckner ever used Wagner Wagner tubas. Here is the excerpt exc erpt at concert pitch:
Taking tenors up a major second and basses up a perfect fifth is exactly what Kennan prescribes, though he says nothing of whether or not to use bass clef for the bass tubas.
But if you want to write your tenor tubas low like Bruckner does here, this transposition requires not too many ledger lines but almost every note is on ledger lines! The lines on the staff are essentially being wasted. So we can try applying tenor saxophone transposition to the tenor tubas (the interval of transposition is then a major ninth):
This is much better for the tenor tubas but with the bass tubas there is the potential problem that those playing bass tuba may think they are expected to transpose a fourth up instead of a fifth down. Remember, if not from the orches orchestra tratio tion n book book then then from from the recapitul recapitulati ation on in the introduction, that horns in the old days were expected to transpose in the opposite direction when written in the bass clef. So let’s add an octave on top of the fifth for the bass tubas:
If you look in the Redlich or Wöss edition, this is pretty much what you will see. The slurs have been carefully finessed there, of course, whereas they have not been here, and the abbreviations “cresc.” and “sem “sempr pree dim. dim.”” are are used used inst instead ead of the the hair hairpi pins ns,, but but the the nota notati tion on is otherwise exactly the same. The transposition for the bass tuba is now up a perfec perfectt twelft twelfth h (perfe (perfect ct octave octave plus plus perfec perfectt fifth) fifth),, elimin eliminati ating ng the pro probl blem em of pote potent ntia iall misu misund nder erst stan andi ding ng with with oppo opposi site te dire direct ctio ion n transposition.
Transpositions of a major second, major ninth and perfect fifth are all readily available as ‘presets’ in Finale. For the perfect twelfth, however, you will be exposed to the fact that Finale internally uses a slightly differ different ent arithm arithmeti eticc for musical musical interv intervals als:: a perfec perfectt fifth fifth is 4 in the 4 Interval field, and a perfect twelfth is 11. This still holds true for Finale 2010, though they might have come up with something more musically intuitive in Finale 2011 or later. The potential for misunderstanding the transposition as being just a perfect fifth down, rather than fifth and octave, is rather slim, and it should be quickly dispelled at a sectional rehearsal when the players realize this puts the basses over the tenors right off the bat. The The issu issuee of tran transp spos osit itio ion n gets gets real really ly conf confus usin ing g in the the Eigh Eighth th Symphony, with the abundance of 8va bassa, 8va bassa sempre and loco indications, as well as passages with no such indication. Furthermore, Bruckner Bruckner uses both treble and bass clef for the bass tuba, and the choice doesn’t seem to be governed by the avoidance of ledger lines at all. The net result is that at any given point where Wagner tubas are used in the Eighth Symphony you really have to do a kind of logic puzzle and quite a bit of backtracking to determine how the tubas should transpose. Switching methods in the middle of your compositions will cause confusion even if the doctrine of “computer notation approval” applies to you. you. Under Under this this doctrin doctrine, e, most most parame parameter ter changes changes occur only only when when explicitly notated. For example, you write a pianissimo note for the trumpets, then they are silent for some twenty-odd measures. When they come back in with no dynamics marking, they should still be pianissimo. The reasoning behind this assumption is that you listened to the computer playback, and, while keeping in mind the various caveats on the many limitations of computer playback, you had no problem with the trumpets sounding pianissimo after their long rest. If you had wanted them to come in at a louder dynamic, the playback would have sounded wrong to you and you would have added the dynamic marking you wanted. Likewise with writing the Wagner tubas ‘alto’ or ‘basso.’ If you don’t cancel an 8va bassa marking, the player will assume that you heard the lower pitch in the computer playback for the unmarked passage and you had no problem with it. The doctrine of computer notation approval of course does not apply to Wagner, Bruckner, or for that matter Elisabeth Lutyens. But these composers are no longer here to tell us what the correct octaves are for whatever passages we may be confused about, and indeed there have been disagreements between players and conductors on issues of this sort. Indeed it is possible that in this book I have incorrectly transposed quoted passages from these composers. In the score, the Wagner tubas should be placed below the horns but above the trumpets. This is what Bruckner does in the Eighth and Ninth Symphonies, because he has them double on fifth to eighth horns. In the Seventh Symphony, he places them above the regular tuba (which is then called “kontrabaß Tuba”), which makes sense for that particular work as the horn players who play the Wagner Wagner tubas don’t also play regular horns. 4
Either way, way, enter 1 in the Key Alter field, telling Finale to add one sharp to the key signature (which works out to subtracting a flat in keys with flats.
The Wagner tubas have a very dark sound compared to the horns, especially as a quartet accompanied by the lower strings in minor key music. This is not to say that the horn can’t be made to sound dark, but that dark sound comes from the Wagner tubas by design. Generally speaking, the only good place to have both horns and Wagner tubas playing at the same time is in an orchestral tutti, or when there is not enoug enough h time time for for the the play player erss to chang changee over over to regu regula larr horns horns What What happens is that the brightness of horns mostly nullifies the darkness of the Wagner tubas. But it can still be effective to have the quartet of Wagner tubas accompanying the first horn, as happens a few times in Bruckner’s Eighth. In its lower register, the tenor tuba is capable of a very brooding darknes darkness. s. In the middle middle regist register er,, the tone tone is somewh somewhat at bright brighter er but nowhere near as bright as the regular horn. Still, this register is good for noble, cautiously cautiously optimistic optimistic music, such as what we find in the finale finale of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony. Symphony. I admit it is harder for me to differentiate the registers of the bass tuba, and for the most part my basis for recommending against the use of its high register is based on the idea that such notes ought to be b e reassigned to the tenor tubas, if the tenor tubas are not otherwise occupied. In general, the tone of the bass tuba is dark and powerful but without any of the heaviness of the trombones or the “contrabass” tuba. Plenty of rests should be allowed between changes of horn, much more than for a trumpeter to take out or put in a mute. This is akin to the time Haydn and his contemporaries allowed players to change crooks on their valveless valveless horns. If the four measures measures Bruckner gives at some spots in the Eighth Symphony seem insufficient to you, players agree with you. Had Had I alre already ady ment mentio ioned ned that that the the Wagner agner tuba tuba uses uses a regu regula larr horn horn mouthpiece? Some players will remove the mouthpiece from their horn and put it on the Wagner tuba, and when they’re ready to go back to the regular horn, put the mouthpiece back on it. Other players will keep separate mouthpieces ready on both instruments. Whichever way they accomplish the switch, you’ve got to give players enough time, more than four measures at Allegro moderato. Given the option, players will execute fewer changes of horn than indicated by the composer. For example, in my Horn Concerto in B-flat major, after the minuet, the orchestral horn players switch back to tubas for for the the rondo rondo finale finale.. When When a rest restat atem ement ent of the the rond rondo o B them themee is expec expecte ted, d, the the horn horn solo solois istt inst instead ead quote quotess a them themee from from Wagner’ agner’ss 5 Siegfried . The principal horn player responds by playing the actual B theme, as if trying to usurp the soloist’s position. But which horn gets that point across better: the regular horn or the tenor tuba? I leave the option to the player, the part is notated in B-flat alto but transposition should be no problem for the player whatever his choice. Good composers today are generally hesitant to admit how useful computer playback is, despite its many drawbacks. Many wrong notes can be detected just by listening to the computer playback, wrong notes that that could could easily easily escape a visual visual inspectio inspection n of the score. score. Mediocre Mediocre 5
The only Wagner quotation in the entire piece, by the way.
composers composers not only rely on computer computer playback for this purpose but also allow it to dictate matters of articulation and dynamics, and in some cases even durations of notes in arpeggios. The tell-tale sign of a mediocre composer in computer-notated music for woodwinds or strings is an abundance of staccato dots and a complete absence of slurs: this is because computer playback tends to be legato when there are no marks to indicate staccato playing. (Though a complete absence of slurs and dots could indicate an otherwise competent composer who just doesn’t know how to use the program). A good composer who doesn’t have Wagner tuba samples he can use with his notation program (I recommend the Vienna Symphonic Library, Library,6 by the way) can cope with the assignment of another instrument for playback, such as piano in a case of extreme necessity. But if he has horn samples, that’s what should be used for this purpose, in my opinion (the Garritan Personal Orchestra for Finale 2010 comes with horn samples). The range of the horn encompasses the range of both the tenor and bass tubas. One of the caveats on computer playback that any good composer should be aware of is that the computer can execute passages that are difficult if not impossible on the actual instrument. This includes things like double stops involving pitches available only on the lowest string of the violin, and trombones trilling low notes in seventh position. In both of these examples, for the computer it is a simple matter of retrieving the appropriate sound sample file and playing it. The horn is by nature not an agile instrument, as the orchestration textbook textbook should have already already said; this was hinted at in the introductio introduction n to this supplement. Intonation on the horn is not easy, and it can be positively difficult on the Wagner tuba. As a rule of thumb, regard the tenor tuba as being slightly less agile than the regular horn, and the bass tuba as much less so. This passage from my Horn Concerto in B-flat for bass tuba is playable but somewhat difficult:
(It’s actually a quotation of the Te Deum by Antonio Caldara, but recast to 6/8 time).7 I decided to keep it as it is. However, later on in the piece (at rehearsal mark DC) I greatly simplified the bass tuba parts because the whole 6
7
I don’t have the VSL Wagner Wagner tubas, but I did use their Chamber Strings package for a 2006 research project that tested whether listeners could differentiate human performances from computer performances of music. The result was that yes, they can, about 75% of the time. However, I suspect that if I had used wind instruments instead, instead, the result would have been closer to 100%. Even the best wind samples have various ‘tells’ that give them away as computer-controlled performance. Still, given the choice between a complete VSL orchestral package and a Garritan package, the VSL is the better choice. Part of the concept for the Horn Concerto is that it would attempt to answer the question of how Bruckner would have written a Concerto. Not everyone will agree that it does, but I hope at least they think it’s nice music. One thing that I’m sure of is that Bruckner would have quoted his own sacred music. Since I haven’t written any church music myself, I quote church music written by others.
orchestra orchestra is playing playing a deliberate deliberate cacophony and the Audience Audience would not be able to appreciate the difficulty of the bass tuba part. I am confident that the bassoons will adequately provide the murky bass effect that I was going for. If I had decided to change the passage at rehearsal mark C1 (and an analogous passage at C3), here’s what I could have done: transpose the Caldara quotation up an octave and reassign it to the tenor tubas, trading for the bass tubas the sustained concert E-flats (written F). Then it would have been necessary to write the tenor tubas in B-flat basso, and not Bflat alto like I had written them in the slow movement.
Suggested Assignments 1. Choose two Bach Bach chorale chorale harmonizat harmonizations, ions, one one in a major key and the other other in a minor key, key, and arrange both for Wagner tuba quartet. Be sure to indicate which transpositions you’re using at the start and don’t deviate from them. 2. Rewrite Rewrite the horn horn and Wagner Wagner tuba tuba parts parts in the first first movement movement of Bruckner’ Bruckner’ss Eighth Eighth Symphony Symphony so that no octave indications (other than at the very beginning) are needed. 3. Rescore th the sc scene in in Star Wars aboard the Death Star in which Darth Vader fights Obi-Wan Kenobi so that a) the Imperial March theme is heard, and b) so that the orchestra includes a quartet of Wagner tubas (which could perhaps be used for the Obi-Wan's Obi-Wan's theme). Suggested Listening Bach, Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582, orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski. Bruckner, Symphony Symphony No. 8 in C minor, minor, preferably the 1890 version, I. Allegro moderato and III. Feierlich langsam. Planets, recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic. Holst, The Planets, Stravinsky, Le Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Primtemps. • •
• •
