the wagner tubas: a supplement to orchestration textbooks
TRANSCRIPT
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Request for Comment:
The Wagner Tubas:A Supplement for Orchestration Textbooks
Introduction
This book supplement is intended for composers and arrangers. However,at this point, I need horn players who have played Wagner tuba to give
me their advice so that this supplement can guide composers in writing
idiomatic and enjoyable parts for these noble instruments.The horn gets an entire chapter in The Technique of Orchestration by
Kent Kennan Wheeler. The trumpet, trombone and tuba share the
following chapter. The Wagner tubas get a medium-sized paragraph inthe chapter on “infrequently used instruments.”
Under the economy of the assembly line, this made sense. Of all the
composers and arrangers who wrote for orchestra in the 20
th
Century,how many of them had a practical need to write for the Wagner tuba?Authors of orchestration textbooks nevertheless felt it necessary to at
least mention the Wagner tubas, because their students would likely see
them in the scores of at least two major composers (Wagner himself, of course, and Bruckner).
We haven’t yet gotten to the economy of the replicator foreseen inStar Trek : horn players who want to try out a Wagner tuba can’t just walk up to a replicator, ask for a Wagner tuba and watch it materialize in front
of them. It must be ordered, and the builder needs a few months to make
the thing (though one or two make it a point to keep a few extra ones
lying around in stock, and might even make appointments for people totry them out). But when it comes to things like books, the Internet
enables any interested composer to get an electronic book on
orchestration delivered to their hands anywhere in the world there iswireless reception. And if they want the book to say something about the
Wagner tubas, the only prerequisite is that the book has been written in
the first place.This is where I come in. In 2011, when Ray Barnes, a Canadian
accountant and a big fan of the music of Anton Bruckner, became the
first person ever to commission a Concerto over the Internet,
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commissioning me to write a Horn Concerto in B-flat major, I saw an
opportunity to write for Wagner tubas. The concerto soloist of course
only plays horn, but the four horn players double on Wagner tubas. I
needed advice on how to write for Wagner tubas. John Orzel, a horn player who has also played Wagner tuba in Bruckner’s music, has given
me lots of valuable advice. I also needed advice on writing virtuosically
for the horn, and Gunther Schuller’s book was of great help in thatdepartment. The Horn Concerto is for the most part complete now, but
other composers will come along, wanting to write for Wagner tuba yet
finding little by way of guidance. Hence this book supplement.There is much to say about the horn, and in fact it is appropriate here
to very quickly recapitulate what the orchestration textbooks say about
the horn, in order to see what we can extrapolate about the Wagner tuba.
The modern horn with valves did not gain acceptance until about the1850s, and some traditions from the days of horns with crooks inform the
use of the modern horn. Today’s players take their ability to transpose
from any key as a point of pride; only the greenest novice needs thevarious old parts for horns in D, E, G,1 etc., re-notated in F, though F is
considered the ‘home key’ of the instrument. Some players use horns
with B-flat triggers that help with certain notes, but the composer should just the same write the part in F.
Another holdover from the old days is that horns are generally written
without key signatures. For example, in a piece in E-flat major, horn in Fwould be written in the key of B-flat major but without the 2-flat key
signature. Therefore, each written instance of B-flat and E-flat
(corresponding to the sounding E-flat and A-flat, respectively), would
need an accidental, and there is the possibility that you might not needaccidentals for some B-naturals and E-naturals (whereas you would need
them for the E-naturals and A-naturals occurring in the parts of non-
transposing instrument, and instruments that transpose by octaves). KentKennan suggests that it would be a good idea for modern composers to
use a key signature “in scoring music of a diatonic nature.” Also,
computer notation software by default gives horns the appropriatelytransposed key signature and it takes a little more effort to suppress it and
then review the use of accidentals to add them in where necessary.
But players still prefer the accidentals to the key signatures, though
they should be understanding of composers who don’t know how to setthat up in the notation software.2 In writing music with both horns and
Wagner tubas there is another good reason not to use key signatures for
the horns: to differentiate them from the Wagner tubas.
Kennan dismisses the old custom of transposing horn parts in the bassclef in the opposite direction as a “pointless” custom dying a natural
1 As someone who has transcribed horn parts from the Baroque and Classical periods, I have to say that horn in G is the
most confusing and error-prone to deal with. Such parts occur not only in Symphonies in G major and E minor, but even
a few C major works: for his landmark Symphony in C major of 1788 (the one that inspired Mozart’s “Jupiter”),
Michael Haydn used not only horns in C but also horns in G as well as one horn in E and another in D. I did not mind
the horn in D, having gotten used to it from various Symphonies in D major that I’ve worked on. Haydn’s clever use of
various horn crooks demonstrates that the time was ripe for the invention of the valve horn.2 If you are using Finale 2010, look up my book Finale 2010: The Misplaced Handbook . The advice given therein
pertaining to the horns applies to some earlier and later versions of the program.
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death. (For example, horn in D in the treble clef is written a minor
seventh up from the desired pitch, but in the bass clef it’s written a major
second down). Gunther Schuller, a renowned composer and horn player,
defends this tradition, and thus I consider Kennan overruled on this particular matter.
The tone of the horn blends very well with woodwinds, and indeed we
find the horn in chamber music far more often than the other brassinstruments: the wind quintet consisting of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon
and horn is almost as standard as the string quartet consisting of two
violins, viola and cello.The low register of the horn is much more effective for sustained
tones and ‘punctuation’ than for melodies; almost the whole top octave is
too strained and shrill for most purposes, and in any case those notes are
better given to the trumpet or clarinet. It is in the upper middle register that the horn really shines, with a warm, bright, noble tone.
Although the best horn players today claim it is no problem to come in
on a high note, it is probably still a good idea to heed the old advice of not writing initial notes for the horn above a certain threshold, especially
if the horn is expected to play softly and only sparsely accompanied. The
threshold is just a little higher than concert middle C.Older authors of orchestration textbooks teach the tradition of the two
pairs of horns “interlock[ing] on paper” and the consequent “division of
labor” that caused the second and fourth horns to become more adept atthe low notes. However, as the 20th Century progressed, composers
expected all horns to play higher and higher. Already in the 19 th Century
we saw Robert Schumann taking the horns rather high, and Bruckner,
when using 4 or 8 horns, wrote them high to low, not interlocking.Kennan did acknowledge unison passages that take the second and fourth
horns rather high, and the rare odd passage that takes first and third very
low.One shouldn’t write 32nd notes (demisemiquavers) for the horn, at
least not at a fast tempo, even if those notes are in the same harmonic
series. That was the only objection one horn player had with the firstdraft of my Horn Concerto in B-flat major. “Flight of the Bumblebee” is
definitely not a solo horn piece. As the horn is a wind instrument, it
should go without saying that horn parts should have plenty of rests.
Horns are often used on harmony parts, particularly alto and tenor harmony parts. (It should be kept in mind that the horn can’t articulate
repeated notes as clearly as the trumpet). But this is not their only use.
Horn solos can be heroic or poignant as called for, and a pair (or all 4 or
all 8) can be put in unison on a single melodic line (these often involvesome kind of arpeggio).
Brass instruments in general are quite loud, though still not as capableof the broad range of dynamics of the percussion. However, the horn is
not quite as loud as the rest of the brass. Kennan writes: “An accepted
axiom in scoring for brass is this: if the dynamic marking is mf or louder,two horns are needed to balance one trumpet or one trombone.” Kennan
also recommends spacing horns and trumpets close, and the trombones
open (e.g., in fifths and octaves) unless they are used higher in their
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range.
In addition to embouchure (how the mouth is put on the mouthpiece)
and fingering of the valves, pitch and tone on the horn are also controlled
by the player’s hand in the bell, something that you just can’t do on thetrumpet or tuba, much less the trombone. Muting of the horn is more
often done by sticking the hand further in than by using a mute (though
the player may very well choose to use an actual mute). Muted notes below written middle C are not recommended, though very skilled
players can pull them off.
Stopped, ‘brassy’ and stopped ‘brassy’ notes are some other specialeffects unique to the horn, as well as lontano effects (the horn sounds like
it’s far, far away). Asking the players to put the bells in the air puts the
horn on some more common ground with the Wagner tuba. Kennan’s
words on this matter are quite telling: “Inasmuch as the hand cannot beused in the bell here, the tone is completely open and lacking in any
subtlety of coloring.”
The horn is capable of some glissandos, but besides The Rite of Spring
by Stravinsky, the only other example I can think of is in the finale of
Robert Ward’s Symphony No. 2.
And so we have barely scratched the surface of all there is to sayabout the horn, even after trying to limit ourselves to what is relevant for
composers. There is also a lot to say about the Wagner tuba. In the
paragraph in Kennan’s book, there isn’t even an attempt to describe howthe Wagner tuba sounds. This supplement is an attempt to fill that gap.
I assume that Readers of this supplement are quite familiar with the
concept of transposition. They may occasionally need to refer to the
textbook for the transposition interval and direction of a specificinstrument, but once they know it they can easily transpose a melody by
hand, or they know how to set up their favorite computer notation
software to do it automatically for them.In this book supplement, to distinguish between passages for horns
and Wagner tubas written at actual pitch from those with various
transpositions, the passages written at actual pitch will use tenor clef evenif this requires many ledger lines above or below. Also, actual pitch
passages will show the screen-only color coding of the Finale notation
software.3
In Kennan’s book, the possible ranges of instruments are given in‘open’ notes, while practical ranges are given in ‘closed’ notes. However,
for the Wagner tubas, Kennan does not give any practical ranges at all!
The practical ranges of the Wagner tubas given in this supplement are for
the most part my own conjecture, and I need the advice of players tocorrect them.
Most of the musical excerpts in this book come from Bruckner’s lastthree Symphonies. As far as the Wagner tubas are concerned, any edition
of any version will do (Haas, Nowak, Orel, Redlich, Wöss, even the
inauthentic Schalk), since they will all present the various issues of confusing transposition changes. From modern composers, I only have
3 Finale can of course be set up to print at concert pitch, but that’s beyond the scope of this book and it is in any case
unnecessary.
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permission for the Horn Concerto that I wrote.
The term “French horn” is mentioned here only because it has become
so prevalent even among professional musicians. In this book
supplement, the horn will mostly be referred to as such, and occasionallyas “regular horn” to distinguish it from the Wagner tuba, which is a
“modified horn.”
Lastly, the male third person pronouns when not referring to a specificman are used generically: the composer, conductor or player could just as
easily be a woman. I personally know quite a few women who play horn,
though I have yet to meet one who also plays Wagner tuba.
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Chapter: The Wagner Tubas
Tenor
in B-flat, sounding
a major 2nd lower
Bass
in F, sounding a
perfect 5th lower
OR
in B-flat, sounding
a major 9th lower
OR
in B-flat,
sounding a
perfect 12th lower
These practical ranges may be too narrow. The possible ranges are exactly as given in Kennan's book.Bruckner is one of the greatest composers of all time, very much worthy
of emulation. Harmonies, melodies, structures, etc. But don’t imitate his
quirks of notation. For example, your cellos should not becometransposing instruments when written in the treble clef. And, whichever
way you choose to transpose the Wagner tubas, stick to it throughout the
entire piece. Don’t start one way, then change to the other way and then back.
In regards to terminology, there is no point in insisting that the Wagner
tubas should be called something else. The name has stuck and it’s not
going to change however much sense it would make to call them“Wagner horns” instead. The Wagner tubas do have it in common with
the regular tubas that the player can’t insert his hand in the bell; this is a
crucial difference from the regular horn. But horn players are generally
the ones who play Wagner tuba when the score calls for them, and nottubists. In the score, the term “Wagner tubas” is not actually used, instead
we see “tenor tubas” and “bass tubas” (or, in German, “tenor Tuben” and“baß Tuben”). These are the terms that will be used in this book when
there is a need to distinguish between them, otherwise, they will be
referred to as “Wagner tubas.”
Just as there is the ‘double’ horn, there is the ‘double’ Wagner tuba,which can switch from tenor in B-flat to bass in F by means of a “change
valve just like a double horn,” according to HornGuys.com. A further
distinction among double Wagner tubas is that some such instruments are“full double” and some are “compensating double,” the latter apparently
being more trouble than they’re worth. If you can afford to buy your orchestra a quartet of instruments, it might be better to order all four singles, two just tenor and two just bass.
Your orchestration textbook might have mentioned that although the
horn with valves was pretty much standard by the time Wagner wrote
most of the music he’s known for today, he kept writing the horns indifferent transpositions as if he expected the players to change crooks.
And he carried this over to the Wagner tubas, even though they were
horns with valves from the get-go. Thus we find tubas in E-flat in the
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Ring . Bruckner limited himself to F and B-flat, but even in his oeuvre
there are quite a few discrepancies of notation, consistent even across all
the different versions and editions of Bruckner’s last three Symphonies.
Ignoring Wagner’s own notation, there are essentially two ways totranspose the tenor tuba and two ways to transpose the bass tuba, though
the former seems to inspire more dilemmas of reading than the latter. The
tenor tuba can be written in the treble clef, up a major second from thesounding pitch, just like the trumpet in B-flat. Or it can be written up a
major ninth from sounding pitch (also in treble clef), like the tenor
saxophone in B-flat.It makes sense to write the bass tuba in the bass clef, but the problem
is that given its F transposition, a lot of the notes require some ledger
lines over the bass clef. Writing them in the treble clef still presents the
issue of ledger lines, especially if you want to take advantage of thelower notes of the bass tuba. What you can do then is write them in treble
clef up a perfect twelfth (that is a perfect octave plus a perfect fifth) from
the desired pitches.To better understand the various trade-offs of the different
transposition methods, let’s look at an actual musical excerpt transposed
a few different ways. For this purpose, I’ve chosen the first four bars of the Adagio of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E major, the first time
Bruckner ever used Wagner tubas. Here is the excerpt at concert pitch:
Taking tenors up a major second and basses up a perfect fifth is
exactly what Kennan prescribes, though he says nothing of whether or
not to use bass clef for the bass tubas.
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But if you want to write your tenor tubas low like Bruckner does here,
this transposition requires not too many ledger lines but almost every
note is on ledger lines! The lines on the staff are essentially being wasted.
So we can try applying tenor saxophone transposition to the tenor tubas(the interval of transposition is then a major ninth):
This is much better for the tenor tubas but with the bass tubas there is
the potential problem that those playing bass tuba may think they are
expected to transpose a fourth up instead of a fifth down. Remember, if not from the orchestration book then from the recapitulation in the
introduction, that horns in the old days were expected to transpose in the
opposite direction when written in the bass clef. So let’s add an octave on
top of the fifth for the bass tubas:
If you look in the Redlich or Wöss edition, this is pretty much what
you will see. The slurs have been carefully finessed there, of course,whereas they have not been here, and the abbreviations “cresc.” and
“sempre dim.” are used instead of the hairpins, but the notation is
otherwise exactly the same. The transposition for the bass tuba is now upa perfect twelfth (perfect octave plus perfect fifth), eliminating the
problem of potential misunderstanding with opposite direction
transposition.
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Transpositions of a major second, major ninth and perfect fifth are all
readily available as ‘presets’ in Finale. For the perfect twelfth, however,
you will be exposed to the fact that Finale internally uses a slightly
different arithmetic for musical intervals: a perfect fifth is 4 in theInterval field, and a perfect twelfth is 11.4 This still holds true for Finale
2010, though they might have come up with something more musically
intuitive in Finale 2011 or later.The potential for misunderstanding the transposition as being just a
perfect fifth down, rather than fifth and octave, is rather slim, and it
should be quickly dispelled at a sectional rehearsal when the playersrealize this puts the basses over the tenors right off the bat.
The issue of transposition gets really confusing in the Eighth
Symphony, with the abundance of 8va bassa, 8va bassa sempre and loco
indications, as well as passages with no such indication. Furthermore,Bruckner uses both treble and bass clef for the bass tuba, and the choice
doesn’t seem to be governed by the avoidance of ledger lines at all. The
net result is that at any given point where Wagner tubas are used in theEighth Symphony you really have to do a kind of logic puzzle and quite a
bit of backtracking to determine how the tubas should transpose.
Switching methods in the middle of your compositions will causeconfusion even if the doctrine of “computer notation approval” applies to
you. Under this doctrine, most parameter changes occur only when
explicitly notated. For example, you write a pianissimo note for thetrumpets, then they are silent for some twenty-odd measures. When they
come back in with no dynamics marking, they should still be pianissimo.
The reasoning behind this assumption is that you listened to the computer
playback, and, while keeping in mind the various caveats on the manylimitations of computer playback, you had no problem with the trumpets
sounding pianissimo after their long rest. If you had wanted them to
come in at a louder dynamic, the playback would have sounded wrong toyou and you would have added the dynamic marking you wanted.
Likewise with writing the Wagner tubas ‘alto’ or ‘basso.’ If you don’t
cancel an 8va bassa marking, the player will assume that you heard thelower pitch in the computer playback for the unmarked passage and you
had no problem with it. The doctrine of computer notation approval of
course does not apply to Wagner, Bruckner, or for that matter Elisabeth
Lutyens. But these composers are no longer here to tell us what thecorrect octaves are for whatever passages we may be confused about, and
indeed there have been disagreements between players and conductors on
issues of this sort. Indeed it is possible that in this book I have incorrectly
transposed quoted passages from these composers.In the score, the Wagner tubas should be placed below the horns but
above the trumpets. This is what Bruckner does in the Eighth and NinthSymphonies, because he has them double on fifth to eighth horns. In the
Seventh Symphony, he places them above the regular tuba (which is then
called “kontrabaß Tuba”), which makes sense for that particular work asthe horn players who play the Wagner tubas don’t also play regular horns.
4 Either way, enter 1 in the Key Alter field, telling Finale to add one sharp to the key signature (which works out to
subtracting a flat in keys with flats.
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The Wagner tubas have a very dark sound compared to the horns,
especially as a quartet accompanied by the lower strings in minor key
music. This is not to say that the horn can’t be made to sound dark, but
that dark sound comes from the Wagner tubas by design. Generallyspeaking, the only good place to have both horns and Wagner tubas
playing at the same time is in an orchestral tutti, or when there is not
enough time for the players to change over to regular horns Whathappens is that the brightness of horns mostly nullifies the darkness of
the Wagner tubas. But it can still be effective to have the quartet of
Wagner tubas accompanying the first horn, as happens a few times inBruckner’s Eighth.
In its lower register, the tenor tuba is capable of a very brooding
darkness. In the middle register, the tone is somewhat brighter but
nowhere near as bright as the regular horn. Still, this register is good for noble, cautiously optimistic music, such as what we find in the finale of
Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony.
I admit it is harder for me to differentiate the registers of the bass tuba,and for the most part my basis for recommending against the use of its
high register is based on the idea that such notes ought to be reassigned to
the tenor tubas, if the tenor tubas are not otherwise occupied. In general,the tone of the bass tuba is dark and powerful but without any of the
heaviness of the trombones or the “contrabass” tuba.
Plenty of rests should be allowed between changes of horn, muchmore than for a trumpeter to take out or put in a mute. This is akin to the
time Haydn and his contemporaries allowed players to change crooks on
their valveless horns. If the four measures Bruckner gives at some spots
in the Eighth Symphony seem insufficient to you, players agree with you.Had I already mentioned that the Wagner tuba uses a regular horn
mouthpiece? Some players will remove the mouthpiece from their horn
and put it on the Wagner tuba, and when they’re ready to go back to theregular horn, put the mouthpiece back on it. Other players will keep
separate mouthpieces ready on both instruments. Whichever way they
accomplish the switch, you’ve got to give players enough time, morethan four measures at Allegro moderato.
Given the option, players will execute fewer changes of horn than
indicated by the composer. For example, in my Horn Concerto in B-flat
major, after the minuet, the orchestral horn players switch back to tubasfor the rondo finale. When a restatement of the rondo B theme is
expected, the horn soloist instead quotes a theme from Wagner’sSiegfried .5 The principal horn player responds by playing the actual B
theme, as if trying to usurp the soloist’s position. But which horn getsthat point across better: the regular horn or the tenor tuba? I leave the
option to the player, the part is notated in B-flat alto but transpositionshould be no problem for the player whatever his choice.
Good composers today are generally hesitant to admit how useful
computer playback is, despite its many drawbacks. Many wrong notescan be detected just by listening to the computer playback, wrong notes
that could easily escape a visual inspection of the score. Mediocre5 The only Wagner quotation in the entire piece, by the way.
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composers not only rely on computer playback for this purpose but also
allow it to dictate matters of articulation and dynamics, and in some cases
even durations of notes in arpeggios. The tell-tale sign of a mediocre
composer in computer-notated music for woodwinds or strings is anabundance of staccato dots and a complete absence of slurs: this is
because computer playback tends to be legato when there are no marks to
indicate staccato playing. (Though a complete absence of slurs and dotscould indicate an otherwise competent composer who just doesn’t know
how to use the program).
A good composer who doesn’t have Wagner tuba samples he can usewith his notation program (I recommend the Vienna Symphonic Library,6
by the way) can cope with the assignment of another instrument for
playback, such as piano in a case of extreme necessity. But if he has horn
samples, that’s what should be used for this purpose, in my opinion (theGarritan Personal Orchestra for Finale 2010 comes with horn samples).
The range of the horn encompasses the range of both the tenor and bass
tubas.One of the caveats on computer playback that any good composer
should be aware of is that the computer can execute passages that are
difficult if not impossible on the actual instrument. This includes thingslike double stops involving pitches available only on the lowest string of
the violin, and trombones trilling low notes in seventh position. In both
of these examples, for the computer it is a simple matter of retrieving theappropriate sound sample file and playing it.
The horn is by nature not an agile instrument, as the orchestration
textbook should have already said; this was hinted at in the introduction
to this supplement. Intonation on the horn is not easy, and it can be positively difficult on the Wagner tuba. As a rule of thumb, regard the
tenor tuba as being slightly less agile than the regular horn, and the bass
tuba as much less so. This passage from my Horn Concerto in B-flat for bass tuba is playable but somewhat difficult:
(It’s actually a quotation of the Te Deum by Antonio Caldara, but
recast to 6/8 time).7
I decided to keep it as it is. However, later on in the piece (at rehearsal
mark DC) I greatly simplified the bass tuba parts because the whole
6 I don’t have the VSL Wagner tubas, but I did use their Chamber Strings package for a 2006 research project that tested
whether listeners could differentiate human performances from computer performances of music. The result was thatyes, they can, about 75% of the time. However, I suspect that if I had used wind instruments instead, the result would
have been closer to 100%. Even the best wind samples have various ‘tells’ that give them away as computer-controlled
performance. Still, given the choice between a complete VSL orchestral package and a Garritan package, the VSL is the
better choice.7 Part of the concept for the Horn Concerto is that it would attempt to answer the question of how Bruckner would have
written a Concerto. Not everyone will agree that it does, but I hope at least they think it’s nice music. One thing that I’m
sure of is that Bruckner would have quoted his own sacred music. Since I haven’t written any church music myself, I
quote church music written by others.
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orchestra is playing a deliberate cacophony and the Audience would not
be able to appreciate the difficulty of the bass tuba part. I am confident
that the bassoons will adequately provide the murky bass effect that I was
going for.If I had decided to change the passage at rehearsal mark C1 (and an
analogous passage at C3), here’s what I could have done: transpose the
Caldara quotation up an octave and reassign it to the tenor tubas, tradingfor the bass tubas the sustained concert E-flats (written F). Then it would
have been necessary to write the tenor tubas in B-flat basso, and not B-
flat alto like I had written them in the slow movement.
Suggested Assignments
1. Choose two Bach chorale harmonizations, one in a major key and the other in a minor key, andarrange both for Wagner tuba quartet. Be sure to indicate which transpositions you’re using at the start
and don’t deviate from them.
2. Rewrite the horn and Wagner tuba parts in the first movement of Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony
so that no octave indications (other than at the very beginning) are needed.3. Rescore the scene in Star Wars aboard the Death Star in which Darth Vader fights Obi-Wan
Kenobi so that a) the Imperial March theme is heard, and b) so that the orchestra includes a quartet of
Wagner tubas (which could perhaps be used for the Obi-Wan's theme).
Suggested Listening
• Bach, Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582, orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski.
• Bruckner, Symphony No. 8 in C minor, preferably the 1890 version, I. Allegro moderato and
III. Feierlich langsam.
• Holst, The Planets, recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic.
• Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Primtemps.