Verdi

[MartyNeilan]

[quote="cc_tuba_guy"] I LOVE that raspy, tongue-hangin-out-of-the-bell sound, such as the bass bone part in Sym Fantastique

Not to start an online war, but I think most serious doublers and bass trombone players would take great exception to playing the instrument with such an approach, especially in a classical setting.

[Jay Bertolet]

It's an interesting point you make Joe because I'm pretty sure that Verdi had no opportunity at all to hear a player of the caliber of a Bobo. Neither the player nor that level of equipment existed at the time.

That said, I think Verdi might have still chosen a cimbasso for two important reasons.

1) He invented the cimbasso. This instrument was specifically designed by Verdi to be the bass brass voice. For Verdi, this was the sound that completed his brass and trombone chorales.

2) Remember the large competitive war that existed between Verdi and Wagner. Both were striving to be the premiere opera composers of their time. Wagner revolutionized the opera orchestra with his inclusion of Saxhorns. The nearly total conical approach to Wagner's brass section is the exact opposite of Verdi's more cylindrical brass section. I've read scholarly research that suggests that Verdi may have chosen this approach, in part, to differentiate himself from Wagner. Such a decision certainly fits the profile of competing ideologies.

I agree that using an instrument like a 184 is probably a good choice if the cimbasso is unavailable. At least it is a good compromise. We disagree in the reception the cimbasso usually gets. Most every conductor I've used mine with has commented favorably. Of course, what do they know???

Forceful? Me? Hard to imagine

My opinion for what it's worth...

[MartyNeilan]

No problem. It is just a pet peeve of mine, people who pick up a bass trombone and blat as obnoxiously as they can, thinking that is how it is always suppossed to be played.