the gremlins apotheosis

7/26/2019 The Gremlins apotheosis

1/7

Mahillon's Wagner TubasAuthor(s): John WebbReviewed work(s):Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 49 (Mar., 1996), pp. 207-212

Published by: Galpin SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/842402.Accessed: 07/08/2012 22:45

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2/7

MAHILLON'S

WAGNER

TUBAS

Some

years ago

I

acquired

an

instrument

(Fig.l)

from the estate of

the

late Alan Civil.

His

widow,

Shirley

Hopkins,

recalls him

coming

home

with it one night and announcing that he had 'a type of Wagner Tuba'. It

is

about

the size of a

British

brass

band

baritone

(58

cms

high),

but in

low

F

with four

straight-through,

in-line

Perinet

valves

and,

of

course,

a

lot

more

tubing.

Its

mouthpipe

takes a

narrow-bore

trombone

mouthpiece.

On the

bell

is

stamped:

'C.

MAHILLON

/

FOURNISSEUR

BREVETE / DE

L'ARMEE

/

ET DES

/

CONSERVATOIRES

/

BRUXELLES'. Above the

inscription

is a German-silver

plaque

bearing

the

Belgian

royal

warrant.

There is

no

number.

Half the

tubing

(with

the

valves

open)

is

cylindrical,

all

seamed. It

has

the

sound

of

a bass

trombone,

is

constructed

and

plays superbly,

like all

Mahillon

instruments

in

my

experience.

The

Royal

Academy

of

Music

had

a

set of these

Wagner

tubas,

two in

B6,

two in low

E

They

were

bought

in

1895

for the

formation

of the

Queen's

Hall

Orchestra

and

the

introduction of

the

Promenade

Concerts.1 A Dr

Cathcart

put

up

the

money

on

two

conditions:

one,

to

establish

low

pitch;

the

other that

Henry

Wood be

engaged

as

permanent

conductor.

Cathcart,

a

throat

specialist,

felt that

English high

pitch

did

untold harm to singers' voices.

The wind

players

refused

initially

to

buy

new

low-pitch

instruments,

so

Wood

bought

them

himself

from

Mahillon

in

Wardour

Street and lent

them to

the

players

for

the

first

season.

The

players

never

thought

that

low

pitch

would

last. At the

end of

the

season,

however,

most of the

wind

players

bought

the

low-pitch

instruments,

though

no one

invested

in a

Wagner

tuba.

Even

today,

most

sets are

the

property

of the

orchestras

and

opera

houses.

Three from

the

Academy

set were

sold

fairly recently;

the

fourth,

a

B%

instrument, is

mnissing.

The surviving three are

engraved

with the initials

'HJW'

(Henry

Joseph

Wood),

and

they

are

stamped

in

English:

'Gold

Medal /

Paris /

C.

MAHILLON

& Co

/LONDON /

MADE AT

THEIR

BRUSSELS

WORKS'.

Again,

no

numbers. There

are

slight

differences

between the

two

F

instruments and

my

own one

(see

Fig.2

for

a

comparison).

They

have

four

water-keys (mine,

only

two),

and

a

slightly

longer

format.

Their

P&rinet

valves,

too,

have

the

later

staggered

ports.

The bore

of all

the

instruments

(including

mine)

is 12

mm.

An

extract from

The

Stage,

of

February 1896,

describes

a

concert at

the

Queen's

Hall

conducted

by

Mottl,

one of

the

leading

contemporary

German

Wagnerians:

The

concert

will

be

remarkable

or the

introduction

in this

country

of the

bass

trumpet

and

four

tenor

tubas.On

former

occasions

the

parts

have

been

played

by

a

trombone

and four

horns. The

differencewill

be

very

marked,

for

the

tenor

tubas

are

very

noble

instruments.

Although

the

passages

n

question

take

only

a

207


3/7


4/7

few minutes

to

play,

the

instruments

are

being specially

built,

and some

players

will

study

them

on

purpose.

Another

interesting

feature of

the

concert will

be

that Parisiannormal

pitch

will

be

adopted.

What

a

blessing

this will be if this

were

generallyemployed.

In

Henry

Wood's

autobiography

he writes of the

Wagner

concerts

he

conducted

at the Norwich Festival

in 1908:

'They

were made

more

interesting by

my

employing

four

Wagner

tubas made

specially

for me

by

Messrs

Mahillon of

Brussels.'

This

innovation added

to

his work.

The

four

players

lived in

Kettering.

He

had to leave the train there

and

rehearse with

them

for two hours.

'I

had

done

this

for

two

years,

but

it

repaid

me.

I

obtained

the

effect

Wagner

wanted,

which

was the main

thing.'

Later in the book, for 1911 (the year when he was knighted), he writes

of a

performance

of

Elgar's

2nd

Symphony

for

the

London Festival at the

Queen's

Hall:

It was about this

time that Mahillon

made the four valve

trombones

of

which

I

have

already spoken. Elgar

was

delighted

with the

beautiful

legato

these

instruments

produced

n the

finale

but

I did not

care for the

horn-like

quality

of

them.

They

now

repose

n

my

library

at the

R.A.M.,

probably

ilenced for

ever.

This statement is

rather

mysterious.

The

only

previous

mentions

of

Mahillon brassinstruments concern the Wagner tubas; there is nothing at

all about trombones.

So,

could

these

have

been

one

and the

same?

Elgar's

2nd

Symphony

is

scored in

the

brass for

four

horns,

three

trumpets,

three

trombones

and

tuba.

On

this

occasion,

presumably

the

trombones were

replaced

(for

greater legato)by

three

of these 'valve

trombones',

which

-

since

they

sounded

too

'horn-like'

for

Henry

Wood's taste

-

surely

must

have been Mahillon

Wagner

tubas Sir

Henry's

remark

that

they

are now

'probably

silenced

forever',

was

probably

written

many years

later: his

book was

published

in

1938,

by

which

time

modern

European Wagner

tubas had alreadybeen adopted.

In

the

Naples

Museum is a bass

trumpet

and

four

Wagner

tubas,

all

by

Mahillon,

donated

by

Duke Ernesto

del

Balzo,

accession

numbers 580

and

583-6.

The

catalogue

contains

no

pictures,

and the

instruments are

currently

stored

away,

awaiting

rehousing,

and

are

not

accessible for

photography. They

are

described as

having

four

pistons:

two

instruments

in

Bb,

two in

F,

each

bearing

the

same

inscription,

in

French,

as

mine.

Another set was

recently

discovered in

the

Royal

Opera

House,

Covent

Garden,

together

with a

bass

trumpet,

also

by

Mahillon.

The

inscriptions

on

these are in

English,

the

same as the

R.A.M.

set;

but

the

valves

are

earlier,

like

mine.

A

Mahillon

catalogue

of

1896

shows a

page

of

B?

euphoniums

described

as 'tubas

or

basses'.2 Two

of

them

(one

in

Continental oval

format)

have

rotary

valves;

two

have

pistons,

with the

fourth,

for

the

left

hand,

placed

horizontally

(as

on

standard

British 4-valve

euphoniums).

209


5/7

The fifth of these instruments

see

Fig.3)

is

captioned

Tuba n

Bb

with

4

pistons,

new

model.

Price: 90

guilders'

One

of

the

R.A.M.

Bb

instruments

s

shown

in

Fig.4,

for

comparison.

Later

n

the

catalogue

are

listed

instruments

made for

specific

operas,

like

Lohengrin,

Othelloand

Aida trumpets.For the Ring cycle, among others, are a B6 contrabass

valved

trombone,

a

Bb

contrabass

bombardon,

a

bass

trumpet

(70

guilders)

and,

of

course,

a

tenor

tuba

n

Bb

with

four

pistons

(65

guilders)

and a basstuba

in F with four

pistons

(75

guilders).

Unfortunately,

none

is illustrated.

We

know

that

Wagner

visited

the Sax

workshops

in

Paris

in 1853

where

he

saw and

heard

the maker's axhorns

(patented

n

1845).

It

is

possible

he

even

heard he Distin

family

who

were

still

touringEurope

at

that

time,

having

recreated

their

quintet using early

Sax

bell-forward

saxhorns

as

far

back

as

1844.3

The

composition

sketches

for Das

Rheingold

were

begun

later that

year.

In the

1854

orchestral

ketch

he scores

for two

tenor tubas

in

E6,

baritonetuba

in

Bb,

bass uba

in

B6

and

contrabass uba

in

E6,4

as

well

as

for

eight

horns,

three

trumpets,

bass

trumpet,

three trombones

and

contrabass rombone.

The final

orchestral

disposition

changes

the tubas

to

two tenors

n

B6,

two basses

n F

and

one contrabass

uba.

At

this

stage

he decided

that

the

extra instruments

were to be

played

by

the second

section of horns, presumablyunawareof the difficulties hat would be

imposed

on

players

doubling

on

horn-

and trombone-sized

mouthpieces.

In 1865 he

wrote

to

Ludwig

II that he

had become

acquainted

with

the

'extra instruments'

needed

in the

Ring,

at Sax's

workshop;5

but

he

goes

on

to

say

that

suitable nstruments

n the

required

keys

could

not

be

found

anywhere,

not

even

in the

military

bands

of Munich

and

Vienna.

By

the

time he

began

the

score

of Die

Walkiire

1855),

he notated

the

tenor tubas

n

El

and the basses

n

Bb,

apparently

or ease of

readingby

the

players.

Gevaert

(1885)6

said

he

could not understand

this.

He

thought the Germanperformersanywayalwaysplayedthe 'tuben'parts

on

alto

horns in

E6

and

euphoniums

n

Bb,

n other

words,

on alto

and

bass

saxhorns.

Wagner

continued

with the

El

and

B1

notation

in

Siegfried

nd

G6tterdaimmerung,7

equests

to

Alexander

and Moritz

for

B6

and

F

instruments

having

been

ignored.

In the

meantime

he

seemed

satisfied

with

saxhorns,

stating

that

they

could be found

everywhere

under

different

names,

especially

n Vienna with

the

Military.8

According

o

Ernst,9

he

first

true

Wagner

ubas'

by

Moritz)

were

not

built until

1877,

too

late

for the

first

performance

of the

Ring. Fig.5

shows

a

later Moritz

model

from

a 1900

catalogue.

Note

that,

like

the

saxhorns

(and

the

cornophones

in

France),

it is still

a

right-handed

player,

hough

with

a horn

mouthpiece

and

leadpipe.

Altenburg

(1911)

shows

a

quartet

of

military

musicians

with

similar,

ight-handed

Wagner

tubas.10

The

Alexander

Brothers

first

supplied

a

set

(of

the

type

we

210


6/7

FIG.

.

Mahillon

uba

n

BX

'New

Model'

1896).

FIG.

.

Mahillon

Bb

Wagner

uba.

FIG.

.

Moritz

Wagner

uba

1900).

211


7/7

recognise

today)

to

Bayreuth

in

1890. The first set in

Britain

by

the same

maker was

ordered

by

Sir Thomas

Beecham as late

as 1935

for the

London Philharmonic

Orchestra."

It has

been claimed

that,

'in

London,

brass band

instruments

were

used until 1935'.12 But rather than

that

having been the case, were these not perhaps the very same Mahillon

instruments

we

have

been

discussing?

Considering

all the above

evidence,

it

seems

unlikely

that

Wagner

ever

heard tubas of the

kind

he

originally

had in

mind,

not

realising

back

in

1854

that

he was

writing

for

instruments that

did not

exist.

Throughout

his lifetime

and

well

into

the twentieth

century, military

and

brass

band

musicians

played

the

parts

on

saxhorns,

cornophones, euphoniums,

etc.,

with a

bias,

in

Britain

anyway,

towards

the

Wagner

tubas

of

Mahillon.'3

JOHN

WEBB

REFERENCES

I

HenryJ.

Wood,

My

Life

of

Music

London:

Victor

Gollancz,

1938).

2I

am

indebted to

Ignace

de

Keyser

of the

BrusselsMuseum

for

sending

me

photocopies

of the

appropriate

ages.

3 Adam

Carse,

'Adolphe

Sax and

the Distin

Family',

The

Music

Reviewv

I

(1945),

p.193.

4Baritoneand bass ubas n manymakers' istswereof the samepitch, the bass

usually

having

a fourth

valve and

a wider bore.

5

Otto

Strobel

(compiler),

Kiinig

Ludwig

I

und Richard

Wagner, riefwechsel

(Karlsruhe:

raun,

1936),

vol.1,

p.184.

6

E

A.

Gevaert,

A

New Treatise

n

Instrumentation

Paris:

Lemoine,

1885).

7

For

a full

exposition

of the

anomalies

n notation

throughout

the

Ring,

see

James

Harvey Keays,

'An

Investigation

nto the

Origins

of

the

Wagner

Tuba',

D.M.A.

dissertation,

University

of

of

Illinois,

Urbana/Champaign,

977.

8

Wilhelm

Altman,

Richard

WVagners

riefe

nach

Zeitfolge

und

Inhalt

(Leipzig:

Breitkopf

&

Hirtel,

1905).

9

Friedrich

Ernst,

'Die Blasinstrumentenbauer Familie Moritz in

Berlin',

AiMusikinstrument

VIII

(1969).

'

Wilhelm

Altenburg,

'Die

Wagnertuba

und

ihre

Einfiirung

in der

Milithirmusik',

eitschrift

ir

Instrumentenbau

XX

(1911).

11

This

set of instruments s

now in the

University

of

Edinburgh

Collection

of

Historic Musical

nstruments.

12

R.

Bryant

& A.

Baines,

'Wagner

tuba',

in

The

New Grove

Dictionary f

Musical

nstruments,

d. S. Sadie

(London,

1984).

3

Editor's

ostscript:

fter

presenting

an

earlier

draftof

the

above

paper,

at

the

Symposium on Musical InstrumentHistory (Edinburgh,10-13 June 1994),

Mr Webb

staged

a

practical

demonstration

of short

extracts from

works

by

Wagner

and

Bruckner,

played

on an actualset

of Mahillon

Wagner

ubas.

Players

(in

order

of

pitch)

were

Trevor

Herbert,

John

Webb,

David

Rycroft

and

Anthony

George.

212

the gremlins apotheosis

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