Posted by Klaus on May 10, 2002 at 22:17:57:
In Reply to: Tenor Tuba posted by Lew on May 10, 2002 at 21:29:13:
The instrument linked to has a larger bore through the 3 first valves than any modern 3+1 piston comp euph, whereas the bore through the 4th valve is smaller than that of modern euphs.
This instrument might be called a tenor tuba, whereas its nomenclature out of the factory most likely would have been Kaiserbariton. The sure reason for calling this instrument a tenor tuba is, that there does not exist such thing as a rotary euphonium. The term might have been applied in the US, and even I might have let myself get corrupted through a recent thread. But a rotary instrument in Bb covering the baritone and bass vocal ranges always is a German/Czech Bariton/Kaiserbariton or a tenor tuba, if one uses the Thein term. (But this instrument is not a Bydlo instrument of Ravel's imagination).
The term "euphonium" exclusively belongs to the instruments that comes out of the Saxhorn Basse en Si bemol tradition. That is the one that has seen its most prominent development in the 3+1 compensating euphonium, that for almost a century was exclusively British, but since 1970 has found much better makers in France, Swiss, and especially in Japan (and inferior makers in Germany).
The reason for the distinguishing between rotary Baritons and pistoned euphs might be less a matter of valve types than of the bore progressions. Rotary instruments all have quite long leadpipes. And whereas they do not suffer from smaller bell volume, their large branches are narrower than those of the pistoned euphs.
There is no rotary Bariton, that has the dynamic span found in a good euph. The rotary instrument will break up at a much lower dynamic level.
As any rotary instrument has been proven ineligible for the term of "euphonium", let us recall the famous distinguishing by Gustav Holst between the technically identical instruments:
With vibrato: euphonium
Without vibrato: tenor tuba
Klaus