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Earlier this afternoon I was preparing the music for an upcoming Lawrence City Band Concert and as I was sorting through some really old William Tell Overature parts (arr. Sommer) I noticed that it was typically old with ony Eb Horn parts, Db Picc parts etc. What I wasn't prepared for was the part following the treble clef Baritone to be called "Bombardon". The next part in the set was String Bass, and based on range and common sense I deduced that Bombardon = Tuba, but I was nonetheless shocked and wondered what light could be shed here.

Thanks,

Julie

Indeed, in fact there is a tuba solo/feature called Bombastic Bombardons by Edrich Siebert.

The old Hawkes & Son military band editions are full of these parts. Quite often two spellings of Euphonium was used as well, Euphonium for TC parts and Euphonion for BC!

CB

Shortly after 1960, when we still played old style brass band arrangements, bombardon parts were very frequent.

When I was in our "gymnasium" (a superior variant of the US high-school), we had a visit from a UK boarding school. The guy having his meals in my home happened to play bombardon in their school band. Sadly they had not taken the band along on the tour.

A bombardon is an Eb tuba.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

Two unrelated facts that have to do with this subject:

1. The Holst First Suite, in the manuscript, calls for bombardon. Though this might be a trivial point, I think for me knowing that Holst conceptualized the piece's central theme with a smaller tuba in mind really changes my approach to the piece as a whole and the individual excerpts.

2. Right now, I'm in the middle of a two week teaching residency in Brazil. Here, the "Bombardino" is a euphonium.

Kyle