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Kyle Baldwin MUS 700 Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Final Term Paper The Use of the Euphonium Replacing the Wagner Tuba in Das Rheingold In 1848, Wagner started composing Das Rheingold, the first of his four operas in Der Ring des Nibelungen. In composing these operas, Wagner was known to write using leitmotifs, giving each character, place and important event an individual motif. The grand motif that he scored for the castle of Valhalla caused him some grief. Wagner wanted a sound for this motif that he scored as trombones, dolce.1 Mathilde Wesendock recalled: At times it occurred that a thing did not please him, and sought another method of expression. Such was the case with the construction of the Valhalla motif. I told him Master, it is good!! He countered: No, no, it has to be better yet. He paced impatiently awhile, back and forth, in the salon, before finally running out altogether. On the next afternoon he did not appear, nor on the second nor third day afterwards. Finally he came in, quiet and unnoticed, sat down at the grand piano, and played the splendid motif exactly as before. Well? I asked. Yes, yes! You were right, I cannot make it better!2 With this realization, Wagner shifted his focus from the notes to the instrument playing the notes in order to realize his aural template for this instrument.

1 William Melton, The Wagner Tuba: A History (Aachen, Germany: Edition Ebenos, 2008), 8. 2 Richard Wagner and Wolfgang Golther, Richard Wagner an Mathilde Wesendonk;Tagebuchbltter und Briefe (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hrtel, 1922), viii

The process of creating this instrument began in 1853 3, although the actual production of them was not complete until 1874.4 To begin, Wagner made a trip to Paris in which he met with the creator of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax. After the first meeting, Wagner did not return to Saxs workshop and began consulting the hornist, Franz Strauss.5 After consulting Strauss, the instrument that was created was essentially a modified French horn. The physical characteristics of the Wagner Tuben were a conical bore, a small, deep, mouth piece, and rotary valves. The instruments are built in oval tuba shape, but with the nine-to ten-inch bell pointing to the right of the player, and the valves are so arranged that they can be operated [with the] left hand The tone of the tubas was intended to combine something of the mellowness of the horn with the heavier quality of tuba tone.6 It is possible that what Wagner heard in his head was not completely genuine, but possibly a sound of an instrument he heard in Europe. In 1843, Ferdinand Sommer of Weimar was creating an instrument of his own that he named the Sommerophone. This instrument wouldnt take the name of the creator and would be more commonly referred to as the baritone horn or euphonium. The euphonium had characteristics of both the French horn and the trombone

3 William Melton, The Wagner Tuba: A History, 7 4 William Melton, The Wagner Tuba: A History, 46 5 William Melton, The Wagner Tuba: A History, 21 6 Robin Gregory, The Horn: A Comprehensive Guide to the Modern Instrument & its Music (London: Faber & Faber, 1969), 177

and, like the Wagner tuba, set out to fill the gap in the conical instrument family. The euphonium was quickly adapted to the outdoor venue and used as military instruments where the hornists benefited from the increased volume. The press in Vienna commented that its wide range of more than four octaves, [has a] tone color like the horn in the upper register, and like a tenor trombone in the lower. 7 The range of the tenor Wagner tuba is from E-flat1 to F5 compared to the euphonium which attains a range of a B-flat1 to D5. When looking at the next examples, this will be the first characteristic we should look at. If the instrument can not physically play the notes written, there is no reason to have a discussion about the harmonic structure of the notes and how the loudness of the note will effect the tone. The next characteristic that should be examined is the timbre of the instruments. When discussing timbre, it would be unwise to discuss using psychoacoustic terms or other subjective labeling. The charts below (Figure 1-8) show the spectral analysis of both the euphonium and Wagner tuba playing the notes F2, F3, F4, and F5. These charts are obtained by taking a recording of the respective instrument and putting it through a program that will find the sine waves that make up the complex tone using the Fourier theorem. These charts are then normalized in order to make the loudest sine wave equals a constant which helps to compare spectrums against one another without worrying about 7 Hugo Schrder, Industrielles: Der Instrumentenmacher Schrder in Kln, Wiener algemeine Musik-Zeitung 7 (1847), 326

the volume of the recording. Figures 9-12 show a side by side comparison for the respective notes which take the actual values generated from the spectrographs and charts them in relative decibel volts (dBV). From these charts, we can see the both the Wagner tuba and the euphonium have some very similar tonal characteristics. Both instruments have a very rich mixture of overtones in their sound. The Wagner tuba seems to produce a more rounded sound where the euphonium achieves a purer pitch focusing on the fundamental and first overtone; this is most apparent in notes above F4. In addition to the discussion of the actual color of the sound, it is also prudent to mention some intonation problems of these two instruments. The euphonium, having a larger bore than the Wagner tuba, is more effected by intonation problems in its higher registers. The upper notes of both of these instruments are unreliable, however when Wagner wrote for his tubas, he rarely scored them above a sounding C4.8 This will also be considered when looking at the timbre of the instruments.

8 Robin Gregory, The Horn, 177

Figure 1 Spectral analysis of an euphonium playing F2

Figure 2 Spectral analysis of a Wagner tuba playing F2

Figure 3 Spectral analysis of an euphonium playing F3

Figure 4 Spectral analysis of a Wagner tuba playing F3

Figure 5 Spectral analysis of an euphonium playing F4

Figure 6 Spectral analysis of a Wagner Tuba playing F4

Figure 7 Spectral analysis of a Wagner Tuba playing F5

Figure 8 Spectral analysis of a Wagner Tuba playing F5

Euphonium 1,000

Wagner Tuben

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Figure 9 A comparison of the overtones produced when the note F2 is sounded

Euphonium 1,000 Wagner Tuben

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Figure 10 A comparison of the overtones produced when the note F3 is sounded

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Euphonium 1,000

Wagner Tuben

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Figure 11 A comparison of the overtones produced when the note F4 is sounded

Euph F5 Series 1,000 Euph F4 Series WT F5 Series WT F4 Series

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Figure 12 A comparison of the overtones produced when the note F5 is sounded

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The last characteristic I plan on looking at is how the instruments respond to playing at different dynamic registers. One of the advantages of using a Wagner tuba is that at loud dynamics, the Wagner tuba will be less likely to become brassy and suffer a distortion of the pitch. Distortion is due to the essential nonlinearity of the wave propagation in the pipe.9 Both the euphonium and the Wagner tuba benefit from the fact that they are conical instruments with wide bores. A conical bore implies a faster decay of the wave than a cylindrical bore, which reduces the nonlinear wave steepening.10 One difference between the two is the mouthpiece that is used and this also effects the distortion of the tone. [A] deep funnel-shaped (horn-like) mouthpiece [like that of the Wagner tuba] encourages a less steep waveform than does a shallow bowl-shaped (trumpet-like) mouthpiece [like that of a euphonium].11 In the examples below, I have put them in to categories by their usage in the score. The examples below are also shown in sounding pitch. When Wagner wrote for his tubas, he was very inconsistent about the notation he wanted to use. For Das Rheingold, they are written exactly as if for B-flat and F horns, using old 9 A Hirschberg, J Gilbert, R Msallam, and A Wijnands, "Shock Waves in Trombones," Acoustical Society of America, 99, no. 3 (1996), 1755 10 A Hirschberg, Shock Waves in Trombones, 1754 11 Robert Pyle, The Influence of Mouthpiece Cup Shape on Brassiness, Proceedings of the Second Vienna Talk, Sept. 19-21, 2010 (Austria: S. E. Shires, 2010) [brackets my own comments]

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notation for the bass clef.12 However, it seems to have been corrected in some editions of the score and left in old notation in the French horns, only adding to the confusion. The first group of examples, in which the Wagner tuba is used solely as a bass instrument, we can see it primarily used in octaves with the contrabass tuba to provide added support to the bass sound.

In Example 1, the Wagner tuba doubles the contrabass tuba at the octave working within a range of F2 to G3. The range of this excerpt is within the range of the both the euphonium and the Wagner tuba and in this range, they both produce very similar sounding tones. The range of this excerpt would also not lead to any serious intonation issues due to range. Since the excerpt is marked at fortissimo we should also look at the issue of distortion in this passage. The Wagner tuba would be able to produce a louder sound with less distortion. We can also see a usage like this in mm. 2304-12 where the Wagner tuba is playing in octaves with the contrabass tuba on the note F2. In this excerpt however, the dynamics go from a fortissimo to piano. In mm. 2767-74, we see the same usage yet again marked at piano using the notes F2 and E2 and a a brief instance of this usage in m. 12 Robin Gregory, The Horn, 178

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3153. In both of these instances, the range would be appropriate for both instruments; distortion and intonation would not be an issue. The octaves that these instruments are required to play in have very similar spectral profiles, and due to the fact that the Wagner tuba is written to double the contrabass tuba, it would seem that in this instance an instrument of the true tuba family, the euphonium, would be better suited for this use. Other examples of the Wagner tuba being used to double the contrabass tuba seem to hold different end conclusions. In mm. 2664-78 we can see an extensive passage where Wagner doubled the Wagner tuba with the contrabass tuba, this time within a range of E-flat2 to G4. This one of the few times where range becomes a serious issue. While both instruments can physically produce these notes, apparent from the spectral analyses, the euphonium has considerably less complexity to its tone around F3 and even less complexity as the notes get higher. Another damning attribute is at mm. 2671-2674 where the Wagner tuba is scored fortissimo and crescendos pushing the dynamic range of the instrument. In this instance, it is apparent that the Wagner tuba is the best instrument because it unequivocally provides a different color and distort less than the euphonium. The Wagner tuba is also used without any other bass instruments to provide a bass line. The first instance of this happens at mm. 1043-46. In this section, Wagner writes the Wagner tubas in octaves spanning a range of D2 to Dflat4. This same writing also appears in mm. 2942-65 where the B-flat and F tubas provide an extended accompaniment to Alberich while staying in the range of B-

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flat1 to G4. It is important to note that even though B-flat1 is playable on both instruments, this B-flat will be the pedal tone on the euphonium and not usually desirable. On the higher end of the range, the intonation of the euphonium may suffer more than the Wagner tuba due to the range of the note. Due to the consideration of the lower end of the range alone, it is beyond doubt that the Wagner tuba would be the better suited instrument to use in both of those cases.

Shortly after the first two instances, Wagner writes another instance that is illustrated in Example 2. Again with the same range but with an extremely different articulation. In this instance as well, it would be an apt decision to lean towards the usage of the Wagner tuba, especially when you consider the articulation: Mouthpieces with large bores are harder to control.13 The next time Wagner calls for the Wagner tube to play a bass line, it is a solo instrument. In mm. 3339-45 and 3604-8, they are scored within a range of C2 to F3. Again, both the Wagner tuba and euphonium have very similar color spectrums in this range 13 Mark Ely and Amy Van Deuren, Wind Talk for Brass: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching Brass Instruments, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009, 23

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and this excerpt would not be in an awkward range for either instrument. The dynamics for both of these examples sit between piano and forte which pose not problem to either instrument. Both of these instruments would be equally successful playing these solo excerpts. The second set of examples are places where Wagner orchestrated his Wagner tubas as harmonic support for a mass collection of instruments. In m. 702 we can see the Wagner tubas assisting in the core of this chord, which includes tutti winds sans the flutes. Shortly after this we can see the Wagner tuba used to support the oboe, English horn, and clarinets in mm. 720-724. In mm. 728-740 the passage is repeated and expanded this time adding flute, French horn, contrabass tuba, and timpani to the texture. The range for these excerpts is from G2 to G3 which is comfortably in the range of both instruments. In regards to the spectral picture that would be painted in this register for both instruments, it would be almost identical to one another. The dynamics of this excerpt are also in very ordinary dynamics which poses no issues for distortion or intonation issues. In mm. 2799-811, the Wagner tuba is being used in a similar orchestration where it is acting as a bass instrument supporting the woodwinds and French horns. The range of this instance spans a little over an octave going from D2 to E3. Again, this range would be very easily played by both instruments and would be very similar in sound. The dynamics are also quite conservative, going from a piano to forte which would pose no farther issues. The actual scoring of this instance is one where the Wagner tuba is truly acting like a middle conical brass

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instrument: it is supporting the contrabass tuba and the French horn by playing C2 which is between the sounding C1 and C3. Because of this, it would be logical to also include another conical instrument to bridge the gap. Since both the Wagner tuba and euphonium are both conical, in combination with the other analysis, either instrument would sound appropriate playing this excerpt as well. In the section of mm. 2955-75, we can see Wagner use his tubas in a variety of different supportive roles. From mm. 2955-2960, the quartet of Wagner tubas give support to the clarinets, bassoons, and English horn as they answer to the calls of the trumpet, bass trumpet, trombones and contrabass tuba. This is a very distinct use of cylindrical brass v. woodwinds with the Wagner tubas assuming the role of the second quartet of french horns, as the first set is sustaining chords throughout this passage. As the passage continues, the Wagner tuba quartet shifts its function as support for the winds to supporting the bass trumpet in mm. 2962-65. This is notable because he is using the conical bass instrument to support the cylindrical tenor instrument as opposed to using the trombone to support the bass trumpet. (The opposite can be seen in mm. 2004-8 where the Wagner tuba is supporting the trombone, again mixing conical and cylindrical brass.) Continuing the phrase (from mm. 2961-69 and 2972-75) we can see the Wagner tuba again being called for to provide the core sound for the fortissimo chords in the woodwinds and French horns. Throughout all of this, the Wagner tuba is scored in the range of B-flat1 to B-flat4. When looking at range considerations, we run into the same problem with the lower part of the range.

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The sounding B-flat1 is going to be the pedal tone for the euphonium and not an optimal note for it to play, however it is possible. Looking at the timbre aspect, we can see that color is very different near the top end of the spectrum with the euphonium having a very focused sound, where the Wagner tuba still retains a lot of its fullness. In addition to this, the Wagner tuba is also asked to play fortissimo in this register which only exaggerates the lack of roundness of tone the euphonium will produce. At the end of this excerpt, in mm. 2971-2, the Wagner tuba is used in a rare way to double the suspended cymbal (Becken mit Paukenschl.) continuing the rhythmic motif the strings set up in the previous measures. In this instance, it is undeniable that this section could not be played with the euphonium and still preserve its character. There is also usage of the Wagner tubas as a supportive instrument for the brass choir such as m. 1163. We can again see this at mm. 1506-1509 where the Wagner tuba and brass section are recycling a chord progression from earlier in the piece. In mm. 2293 we can see the Wagner tubas added to a chord that includes trumpet, bass trumpet, trombone, contrabass trombone, and contrabass tuba. Later in the piece at mm. 2783-2791 we see Wagner using his tubas with the contrabass tuba and timpani supporting the French horns triumphant melody starting at a fortissimo and making their way down to a piano. The range of all of these excerpts only spans two octaves going from E2 to F4, but since it is in the middle to upper register, the euphonium will suffer the same lack of richness in the high registers. When we look at the specific examples, we can see that

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Wagner scores his tubas, again, to support both conical and cylindrical brass instruments. In mm. 2783-2791, we can see that he almost uses the tuba quartet as the actual glue between the horn quartet and tuba; serving their purpose of filling in the gap between the French horns and contrabass tuba. While both instruments were created to fill this hole, due to the other evidence, it would seem that the this writing is idiomatic and would be unjust to play on another instrument such as the euphonium. In a brief excerpt spanning from mm. 3448-55, we see the Wagner tuba quartet playing a chord and crescendoing and being joined by the flutes, oboes, clarinets, and English horn all in a high tessitura. In this excerpt, we can see a very vanilla use of the quartet and the power it posses to lead to a chord of this stature. Just like the last excerpt, it would also be unjust for this excerpt to be played on the euphonium and fits very idiomatically for the Wagner tubas. The next set of examples are ones where the Wagner tuba is being used as a doubling to the melody in other instruments. One such example is in mm. 1811-7, where the Wagner tubas play a very chromatic sequence with the tutti winds to drive to a moment marked fortissimo leading to the next section. With a range of E2 to B-flat3, this usage is unique in that it presents the Wagner tuba playing more than just chordal harmonies and melodies. In this instance, the orchestration is very fluid and continuous using the quaver as the main pulse of time. Within the range presented in this example, it is clear that both the euphonium and Wagner

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tuba would be able to play this and have very similar results in the harmonic distribution within their sounding notes. In mm. 2923-6, the Wagner tuba is used again to double the melodic lines in the brass section. We can see in this example that the trombones and Wagner tubas play together with the support of trumpets and contrabass tuba. This is another time that Wagner mixes the conical and cylindrical brass instruments. The writing for this part extends the range from E2 to F4 and is presented with a piano dynamic level. This is yet another instance where, even though both instruments are very capable of playing this excerpt, it would be mindless to suggest that an euphonium would be able to execute this excerpt and preserve the integrity of the Wagner tuba color. Near the end of the piece, we can see the Wagner tuba being used to support and compliment large groups of instruments. In mm. 3880-3892, we can see that they, without interruption, support the bass clarinets, bassoons, contrabass trombone, and bass trumpet until the end of the piece providing a sustained tutti fortissimo. The range of this is from F3 to D5. The color in this range for the Wagner tuba still contains a lot of colors, but, as we can see from the spectrographs, the euphonium would provide a very substandard substitute here in almost every way. There are a couple of times where Wagner uses the tuba quartet almost completely by themselves but will add one instrument in order to fill up the

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sonority. The first time we see this is at mm. 618-621 where the Wagner tubas are accompanied by only the contrabass tuba. (Example 3)

Shortly after example 3, we again see this same scoring in mm. 744-747 where the Wagner tubas have a soli passage and contrabass tuba is completing the chords a fifth below the lowest bass tuba. (Example 4)

Wagner then used the same scoring in mm. 2448-2460 and mm. 3543-6 where the tuba quartet is playing first fiddle to its accompaniment of contrabass trombone and contrabass tuba. In all of these excerpts, the Wagner tuba quartet is used as one four-voiced instrument. The range of all of these similar excerpts is from G-flat2 to E-flat4. All of these excerpts are also from a pianissimo to forte dynamic range and should pose no problems with regard to distortion at louder dynamic levels. The tipping point is the inability for the euphonium to produce

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the same color at the higher registers of the instrument. Example 4 is the only excerpt of the four mentioned where the euphonium would possibly be a better choice. While most of these examples include the contrabass tuba, there is an instance at m. 3620 where the Wagner tuba quartet is accompanied by the trombone trio and no contrabass tuba. Even in this instance, however, the same verdict is reached for the same reasons as the last excerpt.

Another usage of the Wagner tuba quartet is at m. 1033 and 1043. In this example, we can see the Wagner tubas still taking a harmonic role but by playing eighth notes as opposed to holding sustained chords. The range of this excerpt ranges from G2 to E4. While there is the usual problems facing the euphonium in the excerpt with the timbre, the euphonium is also going to suffer from the fact of its bore size in relationship to articulation as described earlier. There is also one place where the Wagner tuba is only used to play a melodic figure and not in harmony. In mm. 3698-99 the quartet plays a motif that the horns had just played and is quickly followed by a statement of the motif in the trumpet and trombones. In this example the Wagner tubas are playing in octaves in the range of E-flat3 to B-flat4. The written dynamic is forte and presents

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not problem for the instruments here. The texture of this is extremely thick here and it may have been beneficial here for an euphonium to be used due to the fact that the tone would be more centered and therefore more piercing in the texture.

Lastly, we come to the Valhalla motive. (Example 6) We can see this motive, or pieces thereof, played by the Wagner tubas later in the piece at 795-798, 804-14, 816-22, 890-895, 1001-5, 3730-45, 3874-78. This is the motive that Wagner created his tubas for and the way that he wrote for them in this instance is almost perfect. We can see the range they are asked to play in is from D-flat3 to B-flat4. Where the bass line is written, we can see the Wagner tuba has a very full and colorful tone contrasted with where the melody is which is a little more centered but still full and warm. We see this quartet supported by the contrabass tuba and contrabass trombone which only increases the warmness of the conical brass family usage here. Compared to the euphonium, above F3 would preserve the sharpness of the tone, but lose the warmth that is achieved here. The dynamics are at a constant

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piano when first addressed which really give the quartet to focus on playing only the most beautiful tone they can produce. One last interesting tidbit is that the last time the Valhalla motive is played, it is scored for the French horns with Wagner tuba accompaniment. (mm. 3790-3796) before the clarinets and oboes join in and we move to the next phrase. To me, this shows that Wagner still valued the French horns for their unmitigated power in the brass family. When all of the facts are weighed, it is very evident that while the euphonium can play almost all of the excerpts written for Wagner tuba, it is not advisable in any way. While both instruments were created to fill in the gap between the tuba and horns, when Wagner wrote for his tubas, he wrote for them very idiomatically and using the best care to make sure they sounded stellar. He knew exactly what he was doing when he created these instruments and judging by the amount of time it took for them to finally become tangible, he crossed every t and dotted every i in the process. When this paper was started, I was quite skeptical about the fact that Wagner had to create a new instrument in order to express the sounds in his head. If there is another instrument that he could have used, it is not the euphonium. The other amazing thing about his tubas is that the number of different ways he uses them in this opera alone. There are thirty examples mentioned in this paper and almost fifteen different usages. There are a couple of time where Wagner scores the tubas as extensions of the the trombone family which truly fits

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with the sound he heard in his head that he marked trombones, dolce. Beyond that, we can see him scoring these instruments as extensions of the horns, which is logical because they are essentially just a modified horn, and as an upper extension to the contrabass tuba, which also makes sense due to the fact that these instruments were created to fill in this gap. The most fascinating aspect of this is how Wagner used this instrument to not only compliment the conical brass family, but also to compliment the cylindrical brass family as well. He actually uses this quartet to compliment all of the other instruments in the orchestra including the cymbals and strings at one point of time. This truly is a wonderful instrument and a versatile addition to the orchestra.

While researching this subject I realized how many possibilities there are that could have led to the development of the Wagner tuba. At the same time the euphonium, the modern tuba, and Wagner tuba were being developed, there were a lot of new instruments created in order to replace the ophicleide. If not the euphonium, is there another instrument that could have worked, or was Wagner right in assuming no other instrument could be right for this task.

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Ely, Mark, and Amy Van Deuren. Wind Talk for Brass: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching Brass Instruments. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Gregory, Robin. The Horn: A Comprehensive Guide to the Modern Instrument & its Music. London: Faber & Faber, 1969. Hirschberg, A, J Gilbert, R Msallam, and A Wijnands. "Shock Waves in Trombones." Acoustical Society of America. 99. no. 3 (1996): 1754-1758. Melton, William. The Wagner Tuba: A History. Aachen, Germany: edition ebenos, 2008. Pyle, Robert. The Influence of Mouthpiece Cup Shape on Brassiness. Proceedings of the Second Vienna Talk, Sept. 19-21, 2010. Austria: S. E. Shires, 2010 Schrder, Hugo. Industrielles: Der Instrumentenmacher Schrder in Kln. Wiener algemeine Musik-Zeitung 7 (1847): 321-334. Vilsbk, Poul-Erik. "The Wagner Tuba." Royal Danish Theatre. http:// www.old.kglteater.dk/ringen/uk/ om_ringen_musikken_artikel_Wagnertubaen.html. Accessed October 20, 2011. Wagner, Richard, and Wolfgang Golther. Richard Wagner an Mathilde Wesendonk;Tagebuchbltter und Briefe. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hrtel, 1922. Webb, John. "Mahillon's Wagner Tubas." The Galpin Society Journal 49. (Mar. 1996): 207-12.