Posted by Rick Denney on February 19, 2004 at 09:27:49:
In Reply to: Re: Do tenor tubas still exist? posted by Curious on February 18, 2004 at 23:26:05:
"Baritone horn" is the traditional American name for a tenor tuba (I'm excluding the very different English baritone from this discussion). "Euphonium" is a traditional British name for a tenor tuba. Baritones of American origin tend to look different than euphoniums of English origin, but then contrabass tubas of American origin look different than contrabass tubas of English origin, and we still call them both tubas. The differences are more style than substance. In practice outside top military bands (where euphoniumists are professionals), they are interchangeable. Their audible differences are well within the range of differences of various bass tubas and contrabass tubas.
"Tenor tuba" is a general term describing all wide-tapered tuba-like instruments pitched in Bb (like a bass trombone) or C (viz. Small French Tuba in C).
But when orchestra guys talk about a "tenor tuba", they mean something more specific. They mean a rotary kaiserbaryton, which is a German-style euphonium with the same configuration as a rotary tuba. It has a slightly bigger bell throat and bell than most euphoniums, and a slightly larger bore (just as most rotary tubas have a slightly larger bore and bell throat than similarly sized piston tubas). Tuba players like them because they have a more tuba-like sound and because they look and are held like a tuba. They use them for works where the range requires a euphonium but the part says "tuba", such Ravel's orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition.
The quintessential tenor tuba of this type is the Alexander 151G, which is still available. Miraphone also sold a kaiserbaryton at one point, and I played in a quartet with a guy who used one. Nice instrument.
Rick "going over old ground" Denney