Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoir

[Wyvern]

I have just got gig to play the cimbasso part in Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoir. Can anyone tell me what it is like, or better still have a copy of the part?

Thanks

Jonathan "who is thinking he will try out using his new Melton travel tuba as substitute cimbasso"

[Chuck Jackson]

Played it twice. Your part is almost an EXACT double of the 3rd trombone part. If I remember it has a fairly high tessitura and moves around a bit. To be honest, the part is really not needed unless you have large forces. YMMV.

Chuck"bring a book"Jackson

[mbeastep]

We just finished playing it with the Calgary Opera. I was dismayed to find that there was a part because I am sure that it has come around before and I did not play it. I asked the conductor whether he wanted the part, which is mostly doubled in the same octave as the bass trombone. He said yes, that he thought it added something important to the sound of the section. (For what it's worth, my wife agreed when she heard a performance.) The part has a lot more notes than many operas, mostly in the form of shots and exclamations, and a lot of important vocal cues that can be difficult to hear. It required a lot of concentration, for making correct entries, for keeping the volume down in a high tessitura, and for trying to play well in tune with the bass trombone in the same range. Octaves are a lot easier. We also had a lot of cuts to contend with, and some fast page turns. I got no reading done, except in the two intermissions. There are a couple of licks, including one arpeggiated figure first in E, then in C, in which the ophecleide part is independent of the rest of the brass section. I used my Besson 983 for the lightness of its sound. I found the three performances we did rather tiring because of their duration, the concentration required and the range. It is a rather tuneful opera, though, so the work conditions were not too bad.

Michael Eastep

[Chuck Jackson]

I got no reading done, except in the two intermissions.

I went back and looked at the part which I copied many years ago. I was right except on the reading part, it was rather notey and we did NO cuts. It was right next to my Madame Butterfly part which had markings (as only a 28 yo would do trying to be "cheeky") that said "Open book now, you have time", or later in the opera "You have time for a crossword". I may catch some heat for this, but except for two places, the part could be omitted quite easily.

Chuck"not a fan of italian opera who wishes Weber had written a part for "Freischutz", but is thankful for an odd edition of "Faust" that had a real corker of a tuba part"Jackson

[Wyvern]

I played Lucia di Lammermoir today using my travel tuba as planned and am absolutely exhausted! As it turned out there was no bass trombone, so no part doubling and I was very much required - in fact seemed to be playing solo in a couple of places. Certainly not an opera to take a book to read, I don't think there was more than a couple minutes break anywhere in 3 hour opera. 54 pages of music - 3 times more than Gotterdammergung, but admittedly not as exciting - lots of interjections and repeat notes. Some hairy high passages up to F above staff and a separate sheet of music for stage tuba (marked 'Tuba bassa' I think) which I provided as well.

The travel tuba worked really well. Seemed to provide just the right sort of sound to substitute for ophicleide to my ears and received a number of good comments from other members of the orchestra.

I appreciate that the MW14 is too expensive for most players to justify, but if the Chinese version proves to play anything like as well and provide similar sound, then would make a good addition to a tubist arsenal when wanting a light tuba tone, to play ophicleide and cimbasso, or cover trombone parts . Not long to find out - I am collecting two from the Beijing factory in two weeks and once home will do a side by side comparison review - look for post early June.