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Sibelius actually studied in Central Europe, in Vienna. What he would have had in his ear is an F tuba type sound, although larger instruments were already in use. The piece itself is very contradictory in many of its elements. (I'm playing it this week for a conducting class, all the movements many times over). For the moment I'm stuck with a medium sized F and it definitely feels too small in many places, especially the solo moments in the second movement as well as the big ostinato sections in the fourth movement. Maybe this would be a good place to use the infamous "F that's so big it sounds like a CC" (sarcasm intended) I remember having an easier time with a Hirsbrunner CC a few years ago. The piece is so emotional that virtually every section of the orchestra will ratchet up the dynamics. It would take a really cold-blooded conductor to demand and get a mezzo forte from the brass at the beginning of the fourth movement. Your question is great, but the historical bearing of what tuba was played in Finnland is probably one of the least relevant. Maybe there's a Finnish colleague out there who could help us. John

From what I've read, Sibelius didn't like tuba, he thought it was too heavy sounding. You won't find tuba used in too many Sibelius compositions.

The historically correct tuba is probably an F of some sort. If the trumpets are using rotary Bb's and the trombonists are using early 1900's peashooter trombones then you should use an historically correct tuba. Also, for an historically correct performance, the string section should not be too large and the performance hall should be cold, to better simulate Scandinavian conditions of the early 1900's.

If it's not all historically correct, you could play any tuba you think will represent perform your part the best.

sbring wrote:Sibelius had performed his second symphony with a tuba player who wasn't quite sober

Was that

Sibelius (had performed his second symphony with a tuba player) who wasn't quite sober

or

Sibelius had performed his second symphony (with a tuba player who wasn't quite sober) ?

Sven, thanks for that post! I'm accepting it as a better or improved version of why Sebelius didn't write for tuba much.

It's OK that Sebelius didn't write for tuba very often... I don't listen to Sebelius very often.