What does a Wagner Tuba Sound Like?
We get questions at Horn Matters, some of which are easy to answer and some harder. Today I had a question from a visitor asking what a Wagner tuba sounds like? It is something that is a little hard to imagine but to my mind the perfect example to point toward to hear it with your own ears is the opening of the Adagio of Bruckner Symphony No. 7. Checking on You Tube, I found this very nice video of the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons, conductor, recorded in 2007.
I have a page of information on the Wagner tuba in my Horn Articles Online website, and I also published a book, Playing the Wagner Tuba, that presents not only information on the instrument and how to play it but also complete original notation and transposed parts for this very work of Bruckner. Check it out if you are unfamiliar with the instrument, which to my ear is sort of a cross between a horn and a Euphonium if I had to describe it.
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