Posted by Mark Heter on March 13, 2003 at 10:52:39:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Can you play the Ophicleide part? posted by The Sock on March 08, 2003 at 14:27:06:
Von Suppe was actually an Italian composer. "Von Suppe" translates from German as "of the soup". The overtures written by him do not accompany operas by the same titles - they are parody overtures designed to mock the music of Von sSuppe's contemporaries - notably Carl Maria von Weber. Von Suppe had a gift for catchy melodies (ear-worms, as the Germans call them, and between the concert bands and cartoons, Von Suppe's music lives on, more familiar than that of the people he was poking fun at.
Ophicleide parts are best played on "F" or "E-flat" tubas, as they can be above the staff, although many orchestra tuba players will do the Mendelsohn on the CC or BBb and sound just fine. It's also handy to be able to double on euphonium for some of this stuff. Depending on the orchestra, the ophicleide parts on "Symphonie Fantastique" are played by either two Eb tubas (Brits, mostly) or an F and a CC, or F and a BBb. The choice of instrument is not so much whether the player can hit notes up over the staff, but the timbre of the horn - its ability to be heard over ninety other musicians on its solo turn.
There is at least one French orchestra where, under the banner of authenticity, they have performed the Berlioz with not one, but TWO ophicleides! I friend of mine bought one of these beasts while on tour in India (they still make them somewhere, along with high-pitch cornets). We stuck a trombone mouthpiece in the thing and had a pretty good laugh with it. I can only describe the tones we produced as "violent". The only thing worse than one ophicleide would have to be two ophicleides.
An Eb or F tuba pretty much replaces the ophicleide for modern use. After all, we have sopranos sing the the soprano parts today, not castratos.
Mark Heter