The Ring had been composed and had already premiered before the invention of the Wagner tuba. Here is the story of yet another example of Wagner’s genius.

THE VISION
While working on the orchestral composition of The Ring, Wagner found that he lacked an instrument that could produce a range of sound combining elements of the French horn and the trombone. The ways in which he later employed the Wagner tuba illustrate that he also wanted an entirely new and special sound to supplement the brass section. In the first draft of the orchestration for Das Rheingold, the Valhalla motif, which introduces the second act, is notated with “pos. dolce”, which stands for “trombones, softly”. This would later become a distinctive example of the almost sacred sound of the Wagner tuba. Another colour in the sound palette is employed by Wagner to announce Hunding’s entrance in Die Walküre, Act 1 Scene 2, and which portrays Hunding’s stature and brutality. A third example is the bass tuba and the two deep Wagner tubas in F that signify Fafner the dragon in both Das Rheingold and Siegfried. Finally, the composer uses the Wagner tuba as an ingredient in the full orchestral tutti during Siegfried’s funeral procession in Götterdämmerung, among others.

THE REALIZATION
In a letter to his friend and patron King Ludwig II, Wagner mentions that, during time spent in Paris in 1853 working on the orchestral composition for Das Rheingold, he had come across a range of brass instruments called saxhorns, which were built by the inventor of the saxophone, Adolph Sax. Four of these saxhorns are mentioned in an early orchestration sketch for The Ring. Wagner abandoned the idea of using the saxhorn in 1862 and asked the instrument maker Alexander to build a set of tubas for a concert tour intended to promote public awareness of The Ring. Alexander did not reply to Wagner, perhaps because the composer was notorious for not paying his bills. One can only imagine which instruments were used in place of the Wagner tuba before it was first built in 1877. Perhaps the French horn was used, or the music was played by military musicians on the althorn, the tenor horn or the trombone.

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Wagner made a fresh attempt to realize his vision with a new commission to have the instrument produced by a Berlin firm called Moritz. In building the first Wagner tuba, Moritz copied the shape of the German tenor horn: oval with four valves. As Wagner chiefly intended the instrument to be played by horn players, and since alternating between the horn and the Wagner tuba should be easily undertaken, the Wagner tuba was adjusted in a way so that a horn mouthpiece could be used and the valves of the instrument could be worked with the left hand. In practise, shifting between the two instruments is highly troublesome and requires a lot of getting used to because the Wagner tuba has a radically different response from the horn. The Moritz-produced tubas were first delivered in 1877, which is why the world premiere of the entire Ring cycle took place in Bayreuth WITHOUT the full realization of Wagner’s sound conception for the cycle. The Royal Danish Theatre obtained Wagner tubas for its orchestra around 1914, which unfortunately post-dated the then-last complete performance of The Ring cycle at the Royal Danish Theatre. The Alexander-built Wagner tubas were in use at the Royal Danish Theatre until 1984 (!), when the horn players selected new tubas ordered from the firm of Dieter Otto.

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WHERE TO HEAR THE WAGNER TUBA IN THE RING CYCLE

Das Rheingold
Scene 1, accompaniment to Woglinde: “Nur wer der Minne Macht versagt”
Scene 2, introduction, Valhalla motif
Scene 3, after Alberich: “Riesenwurm winde sich ringelnd”
Scene 4, Erda’s entrance, Norn or Erda motif
The last 14 bars of the opera score, which signify the rainbow bridge to Valhalla

Die Walküre
Prelude to Act 1: Donner’s motif
Act 1, beginning of Scene 2: Hunding’s motif
Act 1, conclusion: Notung pulled from the ash tree
Act 2, beginning of Scene 4, Brünnhilde: “Siegmund, sieh auf mich”
Act 3, Scene 4, Siegmund: “Hella halte mich fest”

Siegfried
Act 1, beginning of Scene 2: Wanderer’s entrance
Act 2, Scene 2: Fafner’s appearance

Götterdämmerung
Prelude to Act 1, accompaniment to second Norn: “In Trümmer sprang der Verträge heiliger Haft”
Prelude to Act 1, after third Norn: “Götter Ende dämmert ewig da auf ”
Act 3, Scene 2, Siegfried’s death and funeral procession

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