Posted by Steve Marcus on June 12, 1999 at 06:20:19:
In Reply to: Using a sousaphone in an orchestra posted by Jacob on June 11, 1999 at 23:32:21:
In Disney's "Fantasia," the sousaphone in the symphony orchestra on the screen is FEATURED in a red-lit highlight. (OF course, that doesn't apply to the orchestra that actually recorded the soundtrack--the Philadelphia Orchestra. Wouldn't that have been Donatelli in 1939/1940, and might he have been playing the now legendary York that he eventually sold to Arnold Jacobs for $175?)
Jazz bands and dance bands of the 1920's, 1930's, and occasionally even into the 1950's used sousaphones. Even concert bands would have commonly used sousaphones up to, say, the 1960's--look at the photos.
Enough time warp stuff. A sousaphone is fun. But in 1999, a sousaphone in a symphony orchestra, just as Sam Gnagey illustrates, would be an...errrr..."novelty." I'm not aware of any composer who specified sousaphone in a symphonic score. Even Sousa himself, who wrote volumes of orchestral music, would not have indicated "sousaphone." And if he did, he certainly would have required raincatchers!!!!