earliest 'serious' tuba solo repertoire

[LARSONTUBA]

Hi TubeNet--

According to what I've been able to dig up, Alexander Tcherepnin's Andante for Tuba or Bass Trombone and Piano is probably the earliest piece of serious solo tuba repertoire, having been written in 1939. Anyone out there know of anything earlier than that? Transcriptions don't count.

Thanks for your thoughts-

Andy Larson

[Tom]

It all depends what you mean by "serious." There are original works for tuba written prior to 1939.

Beelzebub is pre-1939 and one Tubenet poster mentioned some time ago that he ran across an edition dated to the 1880s, I believe. EDIT: another poster mentioned and posted this while I was writing mine.

There are probably other pieces, not terribly well known, written for solo tuba from the 1880s through the 1920s. 1939 seems awfully late for the first serious tuba solo, though some would even argue that nothing was "serious" until the VW Concerto in 1954, so I dunno...

[LARSONTUBA]

All good things, folks.

The Storm King is one I'm not familiar with. It seems, though, from the pieces you guys have come up with, the Tcherepnin and Gardonyi may in fact be the first serious, non-program musical pieces (art music?) for solo tuba.

Andy Larson

[greatk82]

Wait a minute...there's SERIOUS tuba literature? Time to find a new instrument.

[eupher61]

All good things, folks.

The Storm King is one I'm not familiar with. It seems, though, from the pieces you guys have come up with, the Tcherepnin and Gardonyi may in fact be the first serious, non-program musical pieces (art music?) for solo tuba.

Andy Larson

Huh? Beezliebub was almost 50 years before the Tcherepnin. What does programmatic or not have to do with "serious"? A tuba solo called "The Elephant's Dance", with band, was from about 1932. What would make that less "serious" than the Tcherepnin?

It certainly sounds like you're on a project for either a class or a book. You might check some authoritative sources. You'll be surprised, I think.

[swillafew]

My classmate observed 40 years ago that while others played concertos and sonatas, we played songs about elephants. Check out what William Bell and Roger Bobo put on solo albums for your answer.

[Wyvern]

It is very difficult to define what is serious music, but would the Vaughan Williams be the first tuba solo with orchestra, rather than band or piano?

[Uncle Buck]

I guess none of the art songs by Schumann and Schubert were serious either . . .

[Micah Everett]

It is very difficult to define what is serious music, but would the Vaughan Williams be the first tuba solo with orchestra, rather than band or piano?

What about Lebedev? Did the Concerto No. 1 (1947) have orchestral accompaniment originally, or was that a later addition?

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I guess none of the art songs by Schumann and Schubert were serious either . . .

Wow. Surely you're not trying to say they were written for tuba.

[Uncle Buck]

I guess none of the art songs by Schumann and Schubert were serious either . . .

Wow. Surely you're not trying to say they were written for tuba.

Course not. Just commenting on the OP's definition of "serious" music.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Course not. Just commenting on the OP's definition of "serious" music.

This one?

serious, non-program musical pieces (art music?)

I still have no idea what that means and why "program" music can't be "serious." Yeah, Schumann and Schubert are pretty good examples. Is "Symphonie Fantastique" not "serious" because it has program elements? Strauss tone poems?

I think we need a better definition here.

[Wyvern]

Here is a go at defining:-

Serious music generally requires more than one listen to fully understand and reveals more with repeated listens.

That is against light music which is written largely to entertain and be immediately appealing, but can get boring with repeated listen.

However what music comes into which category is blurred. There is much light music which is also quality music and repays repeated listen.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Here is a go at defining:-

Serious music generally requires more than one listen to fully understand and reveals more with repeated listens.

That is against light music which is written largely to entertain and be immediately appealing, but can get boring with repeated listen.

However what music comes into which category is blurred. There is much light music which is also quality music and repays repeated listen.

Your definitions presume that all listeners have the same level of understanding and the same likes/dislikes. Clearly that isn't the case.

Some highly trained musicians will "get" the intricacies of Mozart on the first listen. Others will never recognize the detailed counterpoint.

Some can listen to rap or hip-hop over and over without getting "bored." Others will reject it utterly.

[ScottM]

The Chaconne by Leo Sower by was published in 1938. You don't hear it but it is rather pretty piece. It is about a grade III.
ScottM

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Some people get their turtlenecks too tight. Good music is good music, be it "art" songs, concertos, or singing through your tuba to a potted plant. All serious music is not good and not all good music is serious.

I don't disagree with you at all, but I still have no idea what the OP means when he says "serious" music.

It's kind of important to understand that in order to answer his question.

[Mark]

The Storm King is one I'm not familiar with. It seems, though, from the pieces you guys have come up with, the Tcherepnin and Gardonyi may in fact be the first serious, non-program musical pieces (art music?) for solo tuba.

A serious grad student once told me that Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique was program music and therefore could not be serious music. Seriously.