Tuba

instruments | repertoire | brass | tuba

Repertoire examples for Tuba, based on recommendations from orchestration treatises and college syllabi.

Recommended Listenings
The Technique of Orchestration

KENNAN AND GRANTHAM (2002, P. 161), THE TECHNIQUE OF ORCHESTRATION.

Suggested listening for Tuba. Playlist available here on Spotify.

  • Davies, St. Thomas Wake, meas. 136-150.

  • Gershwin, An American in Paris, after figure 67.

  • Mahler, First Symphony, beginning of 3rd movt.

  • Mussorgsky-Ravel, Pictures at an Exhibition, beginning of Part 4 (“Bydlo”).

  • Prokofiev, Fifth Symphony, 1st movt. at figure 3 and throughout.

  • Revueltas, Sensemaya, figure 2.

  • Shostakovich, First Symphony, 3rd movt., before figures 7 and 20.

  • Strauss, Don Quixote, figure 3 (muted tubas), figure 9, etc. (This work illustrates the use of both tenor and bass tubas.)

  • Stravinsky, Petrouchka, 2 bars after figure 100.

  • Wagner, Siegfried, beginning of Act II.

The Study of Orchestration

Adler (2002, P. 356), THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION.

Tuba:

  • Berlioz, Benvenuto Cellini, Overture, [18]-[19] (very high tuba part)

  • Chávez, Symphony No. 6, third movement, beginning

  • Gershwin, An American in Paris, 4 mm. after [67] to [68]

  • Respighi, Fountains of Rome, fourth movement, [11]-[14]

  • Respighi, Pines of Rome, last movement, 4 mm. before [21] (trombones, horns, trumpets, tuba)

  • Shostakovich, Symphony No. 1, third movement, 3 to 4 mm. after [6]

  • Stravinsky, Petrushka, Fourth Tableau, "Dance of the Peasant and the Bear"

Tenor Tuba:

  • Bruckner, Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8 (throughout)

  • Rouse, Symphony No. 1 (throughout)

  • Schoenberg, Gurrelieder (throughout)

  • Strauss, Elektra and Alpine Symphony (throughout)

  • Stravinsky, Le Sacre du printemps (throughout)

  • Wagner, The Ring Cycle, especially Siegfried, Act III, Prelude, and Götterdämmerung, Act I, scene 1 (directly after the Prelude)

 
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