Nirschl is made by Walter Nirschl, who bought the Boehm and Meinl factory in 1991. Nirschl had a fling with Boosey and Hawkes, and has supplied parts to other manufacturers as well.TubaTuck wrote:Hey Rick:
Great info. I'd love an opportunity to play that behemoth..OH! I forgot...I don't know how to play a CC! I'm gonna learn though.
So, what's the story on these "Nirschl" Yorks? Who actually makes them? Who sells them. Its my understanding that this was an attept to copy the York that Jacobs played with the CSO? Is this true. Were they successful. You ever play one?
Tuck
The big Nirschl is a copy of York #2, which Floyd Cooley measured for Nirschl to use during the period when he subbed in the Chicago Symphony (Arnold Jacobs sold both of the instruments to the CSO between his retirement and passing).
There are other copies of the Yorks, too. Holton was perhaps the first copy with the Model 345. It's different enough from the York to have it's own personality. The York-model (HB-50) Hirsbrunner was the first high-end copy of the York, and has been in production with a few changes since the early 80's when it first came out. Yamaha has just come out with a York copy, the 826-CC.
The Meinl-Weston 2165 was originally inspired by a Holton copy of a York, and has undergone a long evolution since the middle 80's when it came out. The 2265 is the current version, and now M-W has introduced even newer models.
All of these have their roots in the Monster BBb Bass offered by most of the big-name American makers in the first half of the 20th Century. Conn had the 36J Orchestra Grand Bass back in the 30's, for example. I think it was that instrument that led to the use of "grand orchestral tuba" as a general term for relatively short but extremely fat tubas with front-action pistons.
I have played most of the grand orchestral tubas at one time or another. I believe my battered old BBb Holton stands up to most of them. The one Nirschl I tried did not move me, but you can't judge by two minutes in the Elephant Room of a conference, and also these beasts are often as different within a brand as they are across brands. I have been really impressed by some of the conversions of old BBb Yorks into modern front-action tubas. The one big Conn that I owned had intonation challenges that were beyond me.
The Grand Orchestral tuba has been quite popular with some orchestral tuba players, even going back to the 20's and 30's. The York, for example, was made for Philip Donatelli of the Philadelphia Orchestra. This influence countered the 4/4 rotary tuba made popular even earlier by August Helleberg and then reinforced by Bill Bell. The rotary-tuba influence was stronger even then, and grew in strength up to perhaps the 70's, when the Yorkbrunner came out. At that time, the trend has gone the other way, to grand orchestral tubas instead of smaller rotary tubas. And the two influences have mixed producing such hybrid instruments as the VMI Neptune.
The general trend in all orchestras has been to larger and louder equipment. This is true with all instruments.
The Germans have always used big BBb rotary tubas in their orchestras as a specialty instrument. Their main instrument is an F tuba. The biggest Rudolf Meinl BBb tubas grew out of that tradition. They share the same roots as the rotary tubas popular in America. Their response to the trend for bigger stuff has been to upsize the standard rotary tuba rather than adopt the American-style grand orchestral tuba.
All this is a generalization, of course. There are some American orchestras whose player do not use really big equipment, and many who still use the traditional 4/4-5/4 rotary tuba. And there are some European orchestras going to the American design.
Rick "doing his part to feed Tuck's tuba fever" Denney
