Giant Boosey Tuba
Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:38 am
from icSouthLondon.co.uk:
There have been many TubeNet discussions about the Harvard, Fischer, Hoffnung, Kralice, and other giant tubas. Has this exact tuba ever been discussed on TubeNet?
Unfortunately, the online article does not contain a photo of this tuba, nor does the Horniman Museum website. Does anyone know anything about this tuba? Is it playable (especially after sitting on a roof for 50 years)? In what key is it built? How many valves? Is there a photo that someone could post to TubeNet?Welcome windfall arrives at museum
Nov 17 2006
By Sam Eversden
HOLLYWOOD actress Lauren Bacall famously said all you have to do to whistle is "put your lips together, and blow".
But it might take a little more puff than the line used in the classic 1944 film To Have And Have Not to get a tune out of this huge wind instrument.
This giant tuba, measuring in at an impressive 6ft 6in tall, is the centrepiece of the latest exhibition at the Horniman Museum.
Museum spokeswoman Vicky Bailey said: "My first thought was that I can't believe they've been able to make a tuba that big.
"We think it's the biggest one in the UK. It's very regal and people are fascinated by it."
Paying tribute to instrument makers Boosey & Hawkes, which at the height of its power made 1,000 instruments a week, the exhibition charts the history of the company which played a huge part in the development of the brass band tradition and the sound of British orchestras.
For the past 50 years, the giant tuba has sat on the roof of the former Boosey factory in north London, a key landmark of London's skyline.
But in 2001 the factory was closed and the business bought out by a French company.This signalled the end of a 150-year legacy and put dozens of instrument makers out of work.
Thanks to grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and The Art Fund, the Horniman, in London Road, Forest Hill, has acquired the company's archive of more than 100 instruments.
Dr Bradley Strauchen, deputy keeper of musical instruments, said: "As my research developed the exhibition has become a tribute to the many hundreds of people who contributed so many years to this British company.
"The help the instrument makers have given me has been invaluable.
"The exhibition does not make up for the fact they have lost their livelihoods, but it does help to illustrate the important contribution they have made to such a significant element of British culture."
There have been many TubeNet discussions about the Harvard, Fischer, Hoffnung, Kralice, and other giant tubas. Has this exact tuba ever been discussed on TubeNet?
