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I was surprised to find a Serpent part in so recent a piece. It appears the part is totally covered in other parts. Has anyone actually used the part in performance? If so did you play it on Serpent?

Not so late a composition, it seems to me. Written between 1838-1840, it falls near the end of the era when serpents were still actively in use (according to historical documents). The first tubas were not made until 1835, and Mendlessohn's 5th Symphony (composed in 1830) also has a serpent part. That piece was not actually performed until 1832 and then was abandoned by the composer in 1838. It wasn't performed again until the 1860s. The manufacturer Thomas Key of London was reportedly still making serpents with added keys to them around 1830.

I've never performed the entire opera Rienzi but I have done the overture many times. I have done performances where a contrabassoon performed the serpent part, since the "tuba" part is actually written for ophicleide. I've talked to bassoon players who told me that the serpent part was conceived as a substitute for the contrabassoon. I imagine that Wagner wrote this opera just prior to the start of the tuba becoming a major player on the scene but the choice of serpent seems more to do with deciding between serpent and contrabassoon than having anything to do with tuba.

The part does seem superfluous as every lick is covered somewhere else. However a contra bassoon seemed the logical choice for color as I looked at the parts. It is interesting that the Serpent part is supplied both in the bassoon and brass sections. I must admit I didn't research the dates and was a bit surprised that it was this early. Whatever happens it is not going to affect me. The brass section will be absent from this discussion I am sure.

tbn.al wrote:The part does seem superfluous as every lick is covered somewhere else.

You could say this about virtually every orchestral string part too.

Curmudgeon wrote:If it wasn't going to covered by one instrument in a given city, hopefully it would be covered by another...

I believe you are correct sir. It still happens today. I have to rewrite church orchestra music constantly to get all the parts covered. There is now a fairly standard instrumentation out of Nashville but in reality the instrumentation is still all over the place. We just adjust to make it work because we don't have the same instrumentation available that the piece was written for. So what if I don't have is called for, a substitute is available or I can write one.