TromboneChat

I just watched a concert video of "The New World" conducted by the late Mariss Jansons in which the tuba plays on the fourth movement. Does anyone know which edition has tuba play on the 3rd AND 4th movement?

I'm in rehearsals for this piece and I'm feeling bad for the tuba player who is quite good. Most editions I've seen only have the tuba play on the "Largo" but is tacet the other three. I'd sure like to find a part with something for tuba on the final movement. I know it's a longshot because it may have been a custom part but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks!

Matt Varho

There is an alternate tuba part by Robert Ryker (tba w/Montreal Sym & also a conductor) available as a free pdf download: https://www.wessex-tubas.com/blogs/news ... bert-ryker

If the tuba player can handle it, he can cover the triangle in the 3rd movement and the cymbal crash in the 4th. Then the only percussionist is the tympani. When we did Dvorak 9 I (trombone) played triangle and our tubist played the cymbal crash. We only had a tympanist and were short percussionists at the time.

nopos wrote: ↑Thu Mar 13, 2025 7:44 pm There is an alternate tuba part by Robert Ryker (tba w/Montreal Sym & also a conductor) available as a free pdf download: https://www.wessex-tubas.com/blogs/news ... bert-ryker

Now we're talkin'! I think my stand-mate is going to flip over this.

Thanks a heap!

Matt

OK, but don't tell Dvorak!

Cheers

Stewbones 43

stewbones43 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 5:11 am OK, but don't tell Dvorak!

Cheers

Stewbones 43

I think he must have hated his tuba players. Many amateur and small budget orchestras simply ignore the tuba part since it's only 18 notes and doubled on the bass trombone.

There is a (probably apocryphal) story that the orchestra was going on tour and Dvorak's wife was staying home, so Dvorak hastily wrote the tuba part to keep the tuba player on the tour and away from his wife.

Keep in mind also that in symphonic literature there is a tradition to re-score some symphonies when they are performed by very large modern orchestras compared to the original publications. I'm not sure if this has happened to Dvorak 9, but I know for sure that it did to Beethoven 9. I believe Mahler himself did a re-scoring. In these cases, the re-scoring is very likely to NOT be public domain and I have no idea what publishers would know if this happened to Dvorak.

brassmedic wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 8:55 am There is a (probably apocryphal) story that that the orchestra was going on tour and Dvorak's wife was staying home, so Dvorak hastily wrote the tuba part to keep the tuba player on the tour and away from his wife.

Possibly apocryphal but plausible.

AndrewMeronek wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 10:24 am Keep in mind also that in symphonic literature there is a tradition to re-score some symphonies when they are performed by very large modern orchestras compared to the original publications. I'm not sure if this has happened to Dvorak 9, but I know for sure that it did to Beethoven 9. I believe Mahler himself did a re-scoring. In these cases, the re-scoring is very likely to NOT be public domain and I have no idea what publishers would know if this happened to Dvorak.

Yes, Mahler did that a ton! There's a Mahler version of Schumann's Rhenish that gets fairly regularly performed

I watched the Chicago symphony's "Beyond the score" series some time ago and according to this, Dvorak originally wrote the symphony without tuba, but changed his mind after first rehearsal of second movement. He instantly added tuba that doubles bass trombone notes and the decision added deep sonority of the brass chorale.

Doldom wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 9:32 am I watched the Chicago symphony's "Beyond the score" series some time ago and according to this, Dvorak originally wrote the symphony without tuba, but changed his mind after first rehearsal of second movement. He instantly added tuba that doubles bass trombone notes and the decision added deep sonority of the brass chorale.

remembering that pro players get paid no matter how many notes, so it's not the composer's problem if they're bored.