Continuing our look at some of the standard works horn players perform often from the nineteenth century our next topic is the Wagner tuba. Amazingly, just over a week after this article was originally posted in 2013, the Wagner tuba was the topic of a feature article in of all things The Wall Street Journal!
For your trip to Valhalla…
So this week the readings will start for a change of pace with a quote from “It Takes Brass to Play the Wagner Tuba,” where we read that,
The Wagner tubas are most closely identified with the regal music for Valhalla, dwelling place of the gods. Highly versatile, their sound has been variously described as “smoky,” “metallic,” “unearthly” and “majestic.” “There’s more clarity than in a horn,” said Jeff Fair, principal horn for the Seattle Opera, whose Stephen Wadsworth “Ring” returns in August, “but more resonance and darker sounds than in the trumpet.” Anne Scharer, fourth horn in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, called the composer’s eponymous instrument “louder and more rustic than orchestral horns, even strident” at times—qualities in evidence, she added, in passages for the crude, menacing Hunding. By contrast, they lend a solemn presence to the funeral music for Siegfried. And their “husky, rumbling tone,” writes William Melton in his comprehensive history, “The Wagner Tuba,” aptly depicts “the inextinguishable hatred and envy of the Nibelung Alberich.”
The whole article is very nicely written and researched but [UPDATE: 2017] it is now behind a paywall.
Introducing the Wagner tuba
Quite a number of major orchestral and operatic works call for a section of four Wagner tubas, an instrument which looks at a distance like a German Euphonium but is built to take a horn mouthpiece and is performed by horn players. Constructed in two pitch levels (tenor in B-flat and bass in F, the same as horn–double Wagner tubas are also available) I first encountered the instrument as a graduate student at The Eastman School of Music, when I first performed the fourth Wagner tuba part on Bruckner 7 with the Rochester Philharmonic, and the next year again the same part on Bruckner 8. To this day that Bruckner 8 series, conducted by Jerzy Semkow, remains to my memory as one of the highlights of my early career.
So while I started out with great experiences on the Wagner tuba, this is too often not the case. The parts may be oddly notated (most tenor parts are in B-flat with terrible key signatures), intonation can be very rough, etc. In relation to this, traditionally the instrument is given to a talented player whom it is hoped will “figure it out.” This was very much the case for me. I was at the top of the Rochester Philharmonic low horn sub list and was given the fourth part specifically because you need a strong player to lay down good intonation on the bottom. Also I was interested enough in instruments to figure out how to take advantage of the fourth valve. Since that time I have performed on Wagner tuba many times in groups including the Indianapolis Symphony and the Phoenix Symphony and have always enjoyed the experience. Great parts on great works are a joy to perform with a great orchestra.
A book and a video
And of course I have my book (and E-book) out as well (with transposed parts for Bruckner 7!), which I describe in a short video here:
This week** we will play on the Wagner tuba in class and also focus briefly on major works of Wagner, Bruckner, and Strauss that make use of these instruments.
**Sometimes I slot this class in a different week, depending on student schedules.
Also, if you are following the course entirely online, the link below will offer some useful content:
Help! I need a Mouthpiece! I need a mute!
While the Wagner tuba is made to use a standard horn mouthpiece, specialty mouthpieces have been made — for an example see this article:
When you need a mute for a Wagner tuba, you really need a mute. Balu has one:
Introducing the Chinese Wagner tuba
Finally, if you are on a budget and want a Wagner tuba just for fun, the Chinese ones really are not bad:
Continue in Horn Repertoire Course
This is week 12 of a fourteen week course in horn repertoire, the second semester of a broad overview of horn repertoire, performance, and pedagogy. The introductory article is here, and the series is presented for the educational purposes of our readers.
