Posted by John Swadley on March 06, 2003 at 20:09:58:
In Reply to: Can you play the Ophicleide part? posted by Keith C. on March 06, 2003 at 17:04:22:
Von Suppe lived until 1895 and was an Austrian. He composed a whole series of operettas which were very popular in their day. Many orchestras still have the "Poet and Peasant" and "Light Cavalry" (beware the double-tounging) in their light repertoire. The brass bass in Vienna was never an ophecleide at the mid-nineteenth century but a helicon, or tuba or cimbasso type instrument, so it surprises me that the edition you're dealing with says ophecleide. Of course it's totally desirable and legitimate to play these parts on tuba. You will no doubt also run across the Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn) which is also an ophecleide part. For a little taste of why the keyed bugle was undesirable, listen to a bit of the J F Bellon quintet on gmn.com. John Wallace and his ophecleide colleague play really well but what a poor sound these period intruments make.