TUBA
From DIMA
Autor: Liviu Deac
Tuba - tuba (Italian), Tuba (German), tuba (French), tuba (Spanish), tuba (Hungarian) (TMI 1978, 608).
The tuba is part of the aerophone instruments with mouthpiece. It is the largest but also the most recent of those and covers the low register. The generic term “tuba” designated in ancient times, at the Romans and later on, the trumpet, having the role of signaling battles, parades, feasts, etc.
At first it was an instrument with a typically medieval shape, made of wood and which was later redesigned several times. Keys were added, its wooden or metal body was divided in two sections, was given a vertical configuration of the pipe and a fourth key was added. The tuba is an instrument whose necessity was felt long time before it was built. Numerous instrument builders sought to make an instrument to cover the deep register and which would meet the expectations of composers and conductors.
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Origins. Evolution
One cannot mention the tuba without taking into account some instruments that preceded and influenced it, both from the point of view of its shape and also of its sonority. These are the serpent (1590), the bass horn (1800), ophicleide (1800-1821) and the Russian bassoon (1820). From the family of woodwind instruments with muthpiece which cover the lower register and which evolved during the same time period with the tuba we mention the helicone (1845), the bass saxhorn (1843), the Wagnerian tuba (1874-75) and the sousaphone (1893).
Features
The tuba was patented for the first time in 1835 by a German instrument manufacturer named Johann Gottfried Moritz, who made he instrument following the indications of a Prussian brass band conductor (DTM 1984, 504). The tuba is the instrument with the lowest register of all the mouthpiece wind instruments and is also the most recent intrument introduced in the modern symphonic orchestra. It first appeared around the middle of the 19th century and took the place of the ophicleide. The bass tuba prototype produced by Wieprecht and Moritz (Bevan, The New Grove 2001, 857) of which there is one instrument dated to 1838-40 at the Musikinstrumenten Museum in Berlin, was different on the exterior from the modern tuba but had some of the most important features of it: was pitched in F (the standard pitch of the orchestra tuba), had four valves aranged so that the pitch could be lowered. The instrument was made of brass with silver accessories, as with the majority of present day tubas.
Usage
The tuba is used in symphonic orchestras where it plays the bass role within the brass instruments. Gives its sonorous possibilities, it may be used as support for the strings or the woodwind instruments, or even as a solo instrument. Gustav Mahler was one of the first composers to give the tuba a melodious part, in the Symphony No. 1, part III (DTM 1984, 504). The Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz was the first major work that included the tuba. The original score was written for two ophicleides but Berlioz changed it after hearing the new invention, the tuba. Other composers, such as Richard Strauss (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Alpine Symphony), Shostakovich (Symphony No. 4), Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring) or Mussorgsky (Pictures at an Exhibition) included the tuba in their works. The tuba is used also in the brass bands. In these orchestras, both the tuba in E flat and the one in B flat were given the generic term “bass”. Together with the percussion, in these ensembles the tuba is an addition to the rhythmical section but at the same time has thematic or solo parts.
The tuba has an important role in chamber ensembles.
Types of tuba
There are several types of tuba. They are classified according to their pitch (prevalent being the ones in F, E-flat, C and B-flat) and according to the range they cover (tenor, bass or double bass tubas). The tenor tuba in B-flat (Fr. tuba basse, saxhorn basse; Germ. Baryton; It. flicorno basso, eufonio) is a bass instrument covering the same range as the cello; it is frequently called euphonium when used in brass bands and ‘tenor tuba” when used in an orchestra. The instrument has the same length of the tube as the baritone B flat (an instrument of saxhorn type) but the diameter of the tube is larger.
The bass tubas in F and E-flat (Fr. tuba contrabasse; Germ. Basstuba; It. flicorno basso-grave) are bass instruments performing a similar function to the one of the double bass. The original Wieprecht\Moritz instrument of 1835 was pitched in F and the instruments with such pitching were still used in orchestras almost everywhere in Europe at the end of the 20th century.
The contrabass tubas in C and B-flat are also called tubas in counter C (CC) and counter B Flat (BB-flat). The counterbass tuba became the standard orchestral type in 1940 in the US. At the end of the 20th century it began to be used on a large scale in Europe as an alternative to the F tuba. The tuba in B-flat (double B-flat or BB-flat), with three or four valves, is foremost an instrument for the brass bands (in the US it is usually used the sousaphone type). The CC tuba, although is a tone higher than the one pitched in BB-flat, has a tube that confers it a distinctive and pleasing sound, while the fact that it is pitched in C facilitates the fingering in the sharp keys frequently employed in orchestral works.
Structure
The tubas are made of brass but they are often plated with silver, nickel or copper, or sometimes the bell is made of plastic material or glass fiber. The bell can be either wide and funnel like shape, or relatively small in a bell shape. Although the tuba has a conical tube, its profile is not like the one of the bass saxhorn. The tubas are made with pistons or rotary valves. In general the tubas have from three to six valves. The three-valve tubas have the smallest range and are used by beginners or amateurs. The sousaphones are also made with three valves. For more advanced players, the usual choice are the four or five valve tubas. The six-valve tubas (pitched in F) are used in the professional orchestras in Europe.
Tuba players
Starting with 1945 on there was a period rediscovery of the tuba; jazz players (as Bill Barker, Don Butterfield and Howard Johnson), avant-garde players (Michel Godard, French tubist) but also valuable composers proved the unique character of this instrument. The tuba can be more active and refined than is traditionally known, and it may produce a variety of timbres. The dean of the tubists in the mid 20th century was undoubtedly William Bell (1902-71). Other remarkable players and teachers were: in the US - Rex Connor (1915-95), Harvey Phillips (b.1929), Arnold Jacobs (1915-98); in the UK - Start Roebuck (1935-94) and John Fletcher (1941-87). These two countries gave many tuba players who played in different orchestras: this way the UK and the US influenced the stylistic and technical concepts in continental Europe and other parts of the world.