Mendelssohn reformation

[Biggs]

This spring I will be playing Mendelssohn's Fifth Symphony (Reformation). I see there has been some discussion about what instrument to use, what octave to play in, etc. in the past. Has a consensus been reached?

Does anyone have a PDF of the part they could send to me?

Thanks!

Also gonna be playing Capriccio Italien..should be a fun concert.

[Chuck Jackson]

This has been a bone of contention throughout my playing and conducting career. Here is one suggestion. Remember, your mileage may vary: (All references are to the Kalmus score)

1. If your conductor is open minded, get together with him/her, the contrabassonist and the score and decide which instrument will provide the best color in the given situation. In th opening of the 4th movement it has always been my wish to have the contrabassoon play as the basic sonority is strings and winds with the bass trombone providing an excellent bass foundation for the orchestra. I feel the voice and sonority of the tuba is a little too over powering for the contrasting voices.

2. At the Allegro Maestoso the tuba should play as the resulting colors and music call for a more heroic sound. The tuba should play through 8 bars after letter F when the color and sonority changes back to winds and strings, returning at Letter H, play for 8, rest and come back in at letter I and playing until the end.

3. Most of the part doubles the bass part. The contrabassoon, sounding down an octave would lead one to believe that the tuba should interpret the part he same way. It is my contention that Mendelssohn wrote "serpente" because he needed the doubling perhaps for a small bass section. Thus, I would judiciously choose octaves depending on the musical fabric, HOWEVER, I would never EVER play this piece on anything bigger than an F tuba.

4. All that being said, you can perform the part at pitch on a small F tuba in absence of a Contra player, but remember that register it is written in is a very sonorous register for the tuba, thus the need to shade the dynamic. Also, there are some moving lines that need to be on top of the beat.

I would direct you to the LSO/Abaddo recording that was put out in the mid 90's and available on a complete set of the symphonies. Not only is this the most musically satisfying recording I own, but the tuba player plays the part with a great deal of restraint where needed and power in those sections that call for it. To my ears the contra is playing the part also.

Good luck, great music from an era largely bereft of tuba parts.

Chuck

[Chuck Jackson]

I am sure Bloke (Joe S.) will chime in with the option of playing the part on Euphonium. This is an excellent choice, but you got to have some barking low chops to get the sound out at times.

Chuck"anticipating Joe, perhaps"Jackson

[tubacdk]

I played this last fall and ended up playing the piece on F tuba, 8vb, and I only played when the trombones were playing. The conductor was very happy with the result.

-ck

[Chuck Jackson]

To be honest, I've never even noticed tuba playing in that recording, which is just fine with me.

It's there, very tasty playing. At first I didn't hear it, then I put on head phones and heard the distinct timbre. That's what I call knowing your role!!!!!!

Chuck

[KarlMarx]

Did this one as a ringer 30 years ago, but as 1st trombone on a large .547 Bb. No altos owned back then. The serpent part wasn't covered, and I didn't have access to the score.

So I am terribly curious, Elephant, and you surely have a public domain part. Let's have it like with the Brahms requiem.

Carolus Reformandus

[J.c. Sherman]

I did this part last year on ophicleide. The part is definitely scored as a bass to the woodwinds, and Contrabassoon is probably the best thing available next to serpent or ophicleide. Even ophicleide was heavy.

I would go no bigger than a euph, and probably leave it to contra. However, a muted or bucket muted euph would probably be great.

J.c.S.

[MileMarkerZero]

Played it years ago in the Oklahoma Youth Orchestra. We didn't have the serpent part, so the conductor allowed me to edit my own opart, which became a combination of contrabassoon, bass trombone 8vb, and bass. It worked out really well. Unfiortunately, my music bag was stolen when I was in college, and the part was one of the things in it.

I did play it on BBb though, and it seemed to work well. Of course, the OYO was a pretty big orchestra to be playing the piece in the first place...