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 Kennan Wheeler. The trumpet, trombone and tuba share 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, how many of them had a practical need to write for the Wagner tuba? Authors of orchestration textbooks nevertheless felt it necessary to at least mention the 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 havent yet gotten to the economy of the replicator foreseen in Star Trek: horn players who want to try out a Wagner tuba cant 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 enables any interested composer to get an electronic 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 first person ever to commission a Concerto over the Internet,

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 Bruckners music, has given me lots of valuable advice. I also needed advice on writing virtuosically for the horn, and Gunther Schullers book was of great help in that department. The Horn Concerto is for the most part complete now, but other composers will come along, wanting to write for 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 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. Todays 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 signature. Therefore, each written instance of B-flat and E-flat (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 a key signature in scoring music of a diatonic nature. Also, computer notation software by default gives horns the appropriately transposed key signature and it takes a little more effort to suppress it and then review the use of accidentals to add them in where necessary. But players still prefer the accidentals to the key signatures, though they should be understanding of composers who dont 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 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

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 Mozarts 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 Ive worked on. Haydns 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 2010: The Misplaced 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 its 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. 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 of horns interlock[ing] on paper and the consequent division of labor that caused the second and fourth horns to become more adept at the low notes. However, as the 20th Century progressed, 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 shouldnt 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 cant 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 axiom in scoring for brass is this: if the dynamic marking is mf or louder, two horns are needed to balance one trumpet or one 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 players hand in the bell, something that you just cant 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 written middle C are not recommended, though very skilled 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 its 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. Kennans 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 Wards 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 Kennans book, there isnt even an attempt to describe how the Wagner tuba sounds. This supplement is an attempt to fill that gap. I assume that Readers of this supplement are quite familiar with the concept of transposition. They may occasionally need to refer to the textbook for the transposition interval and direction of a specific instrument, but once they know it they can easily transpose a melody by hand, or they know how to set up their favorite computer notation software to do it automatically for them. In this book supplement, to distinguish between passages for horns and Wagner tubas written at actual pitch from those with various transpositions, the passages written at actual pitch will use tenor clef even 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 Kennans 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 Bruckners last three Symphonies. As far as the Wagner tubas are concerned, any edition of any version will do (Haas, Nowak, Orel, Redlich, Wss, even the inauthentic Schalk), since they will all present the various 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 thats 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 prevalent even among professional musicians. In this 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 one who also plays Wagner tuba.

Chapter: The Wagner Tubas Tenor in B-flat, sounding a major 2nd lower OR in B-flat, sounding a major 9th lower OR in B-flat, sounding a perfect 12th lower Bass in F, sounding a perfect 5th lower

These practical ranges may be too 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 dont imitate his quirks of notation. For example, your cellos should not become transposing instruments when written in the treble clef. And, whichever way you choose to transpose the Wagner tubas, stick to it throughout the entire piece. Dont start one way, then change to the other way and then back. In regards to terminology, there is no point in insisting that the Wagner tubas should be called something else. The name has stuck and its not going to change however much sense it would make to call them Wagner horns instead. The Wagner tubas do have it in common with the regular tubas that the player cant 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 tubas is not actually used, instead we see tenor tubas and bass tubas (or, in German, tenor Tuben and ba 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 Wagner 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 theyre 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 hes 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 Bruckners last three Symphonies. Ignoring Wagners 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 ninth from sounding pitch (also in treble clef), like the 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 better understand the various trade-offs of the different transposition methods, lets look at an actual musical excerpt transposed a few different ways. For this purpose, Ive chosen the first four bars of the Adagio of Bruckners Symphony No. 7 in E major, the first time Bruckner ever used Wagner tubas. Here is the excerpt 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 orchestration book then from the recapitulation in the introduction, that horns in the old days were expected to transpose in the opposite direction when written in the bass clef. So lets add an octave on top of the fifth for the bass tubas:

If you look in the Redlich or Wss 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 sempre dim. are used instead of the hairpins, but the notation is otherwise exactly the same. The transposition for the bass tuba is now up a perfect twelfth (perfect octave plus perfect fifth), eliminating the problem of potential misunderstanding with opposite direction 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 different arithmetic for musical intervals: a perfect fifth is 4 in the Interval field, and a perfect twelfth is 11.4 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 issue of transposition gets really confusing in the Eighth Symphony, with the abundance of 8va bassa, 8va bassa sempre and loco indications, as well as passages with no such indication. Furthermore, Bruckner uses both treble and bass clef for the bass tuba, and the choice doesnt 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. Under this doctrine, most parameter changes occur only 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 dont 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 kontraba Tuba), which makes sense for that particular work as the horn players who play the Wagner tubas dont also play regular horns.
4

Either 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 cant 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 enough time for the players to change over to regular horns 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 Bruckners Eighth. In its lower register, the tenor tuba is capable of a very brooding darkness. In the middle register, the tone is somewhat brighter but nowhere near as bright as the regular horn. Still, this register is good for noble, cautiously optimistic music, such as what we find in the finale of Bruckners Seventh 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 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 horns. If the four measures Bruckner gives at some spots in the Eighth Symphony seem insufficient to you, players agree with you. Had I already mentioned that the Wagner tuba uses a regular horn mouthpiece? Some players will remove the mouthpiece from their horn and put it on the Wagner tuba, and when theyre 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, youve 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 the rondo finale. When a restatement of the rondo B theme is expected, the horn soloist instead quotes a theme from Wagners Siegfried.5 The principal horn player responds by playing the actual B theme, as if trying to usurp the soloists 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 could easily escape a visual inspection of the score. Mediocre
5

The only Wagner quotation in the entire piece, by the way.

composers not only rely on 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 doesnt know how to use the program). A good composer who doesnt have Wagner tuba samples he can use with his notation program (I recommend the Vienna Symphonic 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, thats 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 should have already said; this was hinted at in the introduction 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:

(Its 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

I dont have the VSL 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, 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 its nice music. One thing that Im sure of is that Bruckner would have quoted his own sacred music. Since I havent written any church music myself, I quote church music written by others.

orchestra is playing a deliberate cacophony and the 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), heres 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 chorale harmonizations, one in a major key and the other in a minor key, and arrange both for Wagner tuba quartet. Be sure to indicate which transpositions youre using at the start and dont deviate from them. 2. Rewrite the horn and Wagner tuba parts in the first movement of Bruckners Eighth Symphony so that no octave indications (other than at the very beginning) are needed. 3. Rescore the scene 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 theme). Suggested Listening Bach, Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582, orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski. Bruckner, Symphony No. 8 in C minor, preferably the 1890 version, I. Allegro moderato and III. Feierlich langsam. Holst, The Planets, recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic. Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Primtemps.