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baBposaune
Posts: 391
Joined: Jan 21, 2019

by baBposaune »

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
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nopos
Posts: 25
Joined: Feb 25, 2019

by nopos »

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BGuttman
Posts: 7368
Joined: Mar 22, 2018

by BGuttman »

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.
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baBposaune
Posts: 391
Joined: Jan 21, 2019

by baBposaune »

[quote="nopos"]There is an alternate tuba part by Robert Ryker (tba w/Montreal Sym & also a conductor) available as a free pdf download: [url]<LINK_TEXT text="https://www.wessex-tubas.com/blogs/news ... bert-ryker">https://www.wessex-tubas.com/blogs/news/dvorak-new-world-symphony-tuba-part-arranged-by-robert-ryker</LINK_TEXT>[/quote]

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

Thanks a heap!

Matt
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stewbones43
Posts: 333
Joined: Oct 25, 2018

by stewbones43 »

OK, but don't tell Dvorak!

Cheers

Stewbones 43
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BGuttman
Posts: 7368
Joined: Mar 22, 2018

by BGuttman »

[quote="stewbones43"]OK, but don't tell Dvorak!

Cheers

Stewbones 43[/quote]

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.
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brassmedic
Posts: 1447
Joined: Dec 14, 2018

by brassmedic » (edited 2025-03-14 4:18 p.m.)

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.
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AndrewMeronek
Posts: 1487
Joined: Mar 30, 2018

by AndrewMeronek »

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.
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baBposaune
Posts: 391
Joined: Jan 21, 2019

by baBposaune »

[quote="brassmedic"]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.[/quote]

Possibly apocryphal but plausible.
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LeTromboniste
Posts: 1634
Joined: Apr 11, 2018

by LeTromboniste »

[quote="AndrewMeronek"]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.[/quote]

Yes, Mahler did that a ton! There's a Mahler version of Schumann's Rhenish that gets fairly regularly performed
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Doldom
Posts: 139
Joined: May 12, 2018

by Doldom »

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.
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sf105
Posts: 433
Joined: Mar 24, 2018

by sf105 »

[quote="Doldom"]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.[/quote]

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