Bob, Wagner did not use different methods while writing his four operas wagner
tuba parts. This is not correct. He wrote them the upper pair (Bb) in Eb and
the lower pair in Bb-basso - in the score ONLY, but he wished that the single
parts were written out in Bb (tuba 1 & 2) and in F (tuba 3 & 4), occasionally
using bass clef old notatin. There is a remark in the Rheingold score (1st
page) that the pars must be written out in this way and this should be the rule
for all his future operas. Further, mostly not observed: 2 tenor tubas in
B-flat, which corresponds in register to the horns in F and thus be played by
he first (rem.: high) players of the third & fourth pair of horns, and 2 bass
tubas in F, which correspond in register to the low horns in B-flat and thus
would be most effectively played by the second players of the horn pairs
mentioned.
So it might be wise, to assign the Bb tubas to horn 5/7 and the F tuba parts to
horns 6/8, the horn parts 5 to 8 be arranged & be seated accordingly. It does
not matter much in Rheingold, as there are just a few more notes left for the
horns after the introduction & the rest be just tuba. In Walkuere the horns 5 -
8 play tuba for the acts 1/2 and horn in act 3. Siegfried does not bring
conflicts either, as horns 5-8 resp. tubas 1 - 4 have not much to do in the
first two acts, but play horn exclusively in act 3. Conflicts occur in
Goetterdaemmerung, so the parts must be arranged as said above, so horn 6 is a
high player playing tuba 2 in Bb and horn 6, which is a bit lower than usual
for this position. Player of horn seven has to play tuba 3 in F, which should
be the appropriate range but also playing horn 7 which is a bit higher than the
usual range for this position. This should be logical & tradition in Munich &
Vienna & elsewhere in Germany. High horns play the Bb tubas &
low horns play the F tubas and the players have to arrange themselves, a no
problem in the modern horn world.
As we used the first (means the parts of the premieres & their copies later)
tuba parts evere here in Munich, there were some very practical tricks
implemented. The rather low pars were written out in F-basso so to avoid the
many ledger lines & remain in trebble clef.
Richard Strauss hads his very special methode to avoid too many accidentals in
his horn parts: he used transposition. So the horn parts are quite clean & only
those notes have accidentals, where must keep "attention".
Greetings from unusual cold Munich (5 centigrades mid afternoon)
Hans
___
post: [email protected]
unsubscribe or set options at
http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
