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Does anyone know if there is a tuba part to Mendohlson's Symphony #5, and if not does the tubist usually play the contrabassoon part?

I don't believe there would have been any tubas to play a part in Mendelssohn's time. When we did it the contrabassoon played his part and the tuba went to the house.

the elephant wrote:I split the part with the contra player. I played all the stuff that went with the brass and strings. He played all the woodwind stuff and doubled the louder parts of the string stuff with me. I played this performance open and on a very small tuba.

What an intelligent solution, Wade! I wish we had thought of and been able to convince our Music Director to do it that way.

I don't have the part handy, but have it somewhere left over from a concert last year. I *think* the part says "Contrafaggoto e Serpente," meaning both contrabassoon and serpent. Thus, in theory, you could play it depending on the MD's tastes.

For the record, when I played it, I played all the notes at the written pitch and the contra played the same part down one octave per the usual transposition. I did my best to apply common sense to the composer's marking (i.e. the opening chorale vs. the D arpeggios vs. the running eights, et al) and this method seemed reasonably satisfactory. Plus, it was a student orchestra so I figured I may as well get all the "learnin'" I could from the opportunity.

It is thirty years since I played that symphony (as 1st trombone), so my memory isn’t all that clear about every aspect. And then I was a ringer having no saying but for within the trombones, who had asked me to join them.

However I wonder why tubists take that part an octave down. As bloke makes very clear, the raison d’être for the tuba in this symphony is the serpent marked as an alternative for the contrabassoon. But the serpent would play in the plain bass octave, not in the contrabass octave.

The contrabass serpent is a modern phenomenon promoted by Douglas Yeo and other musical neo-Darwinists. Of course I should have expected Pachy to be a member there. You know their motto: Survival of the fattest! But bloke joining that gang kind of surprises me.

Klaus

Disclaimer: Some will run amok on behalf of persons mentioned. Before they do so, they should make a reality check about a few intended contradictions. Mr. Yeo and Darwin? Bad match!

Bob1062 wrote:Has anyone done this on a euphonium? Or a G tuba?

The only widely known G tuba was owned by Mr. Bobo, who also owned an Alexander tenor tuba. If someone with the right connections would ask, then maybe we would know.

K

I played this in High School as part of a youth orchestra. I played the contra/serp part and also was asked to double the bass bone part down an octave in the finale where possible. The low Ds at the end of the finale really add a lot to the sonority.