THE AUTOMATIC COMPENSATING EUPHONIUM AS THE IDEAL CHOICE FOR PERFORMING MUSIC COMPOSED ORIGINALLY FOR OPHICLEIDE Richard R. Demy, M.M. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2014 APPROVED: Brian Bowman, Major Professor Eugene Corporon, Minor Professor Donald Little, Committee Member John Holt, Chair of the Division of Brass Benjamin Brand, Director of Graduate Studies, College of Music James Scott, Dean, College of Music Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Demy, Richard R. The Automatic Compensating Euphonium as the Ideal Choice for Performing Music Composed Originally for Ophicleide. Doctor of Musical Arts (Performance), August 2014, 90 pp., references, 84 titles The ophicleide was a popular 2instrument tables, 12 forfigures, a short 7 examples, yet important time in music . history. Many orchestras perform music originally written for ophicleide on a bass tuba. By researching the music written for the ophicleide, and the history of the instruments that were related to it, we can see that the euphonium would be a more historically accurate replacement. A detailed analysis of the sound properties of these instruments help to reinforce the euphoniums dominance at matching the timbre of the ophicleide. Several famous orchestral excerpts are treated as case studies to show why the use of a euphonium is the ideal choice for performing music written for the ophicleide. Copyright 2014 By Richard R. Demy ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ......................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 HISTORICAL EVIDENCE ........................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 3 COMPARISON OF THE FUNCTION AND TESSITURA OF THE OPHICLEIDE WHEN COMPARED TO SIMILAR MUSIC WRITTEN FOR TUBA AND EUPHONIUM ................. 19 CHAPTER 4 A DISCOGRAPHY OF OPHICLEIDE RECORDINGS, AND SUBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF ITS TONE......................................................................................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER 5 OBSERVATIONS AND ANALYSIS OF THE SOUND SPECTRUM AS AN OBJECTIVE COMPARISON OF TIMBRE BETWEEN THE OPHICLEIDE AND OTHER MODERN INSTRUMENTS OF A SIMILAR RANGE ...................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 6 A CASE STUDY OF 3 MAJOR ORCHESTRAL OPHICLEIDE EXCERPTS FROM WORKS OF 3 MAJOR COMPOSERS .............................................................................................................. 37 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................... 47 APPENDIX A INSTRUMENT MEASUREMENTS ...................................................................................... 49 APPENDIX B LIST OF COMPILED OPHICLEIDE LITERATURE ........................................................ 52 APPENDIX C PITCH FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF REPERTOIRE ............................................ 62 APPENDIX D OPHICLEIDE DISCOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 64 APPENDIX E INSTRUMENT WAVEFORM ANALYSIS .......................................................................... 69 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................................... 84 iii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Instrument Sizes ................................................................................................................................ 18 Table 2. Spectral Centroid Data .................................................................................................................... 35 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Method Book pitch frequency distribution. The yellow lines are tuba, red are ophicleide, and blue are euphonium. ......................................................................................................... 22 Figure 2. Combined Method Book pitch frequency distribution. .................................................... 23 Figure 3. Solo pitch frequency distribution. ............................................................................................ 24 Figure 4. Chamber music pitch frequency distribution. ..................................................................... 25 Figure 5. Ophicleide waveform ..................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 6. Fourier transform of ophicleide ................................................................................................ 31 Figure 7. Ophicleide spectrograph .............................................................................................................. 32 Figure 8. Euphonium spectrograph ............................................................................................................ 33 Figure 9. Bass tuba spectrograph ................................................................................................................ 33 Figure 10. Bass clarinet spectrograph ....................................................................................................... 34 Figure E.1. Combined data for Baritone .................................................................................................... 72 Figure E.2. Combined data for Bass Clarinet ........................................................................................... 73 Figure E.3. Combined data for Bass Tuba ................................................................................................. 74 Figure E.4. Combined data for Contrabass Tuba .................................................................................. 75 Figure E.5. Combined data for Bucket mute, pulled away ................................................................. 76 Figure E.6. Combined data for Cup Mute .................................................................................................. 77 Figure E.7. Combined data for Bucket Mute, Pushed in ...................................................................... 78 Figure E.8. Combined data for Euphonium .............................................................................................. 79 Figure E.9. Combined data for Balu Wood Mute .................................................................................... 80 Figure E.10. Combined data for Plastic Composite Mute ................................................................... 81 Figure E.11. Combined data for Metal Strait Mute ................................................................................ 82 Figure E.12. Combined data for Trombone .............................................................................................. 83 v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES Page Example 1. Mendelsson’s “Elijah” ophicleide excerpt ......................................................................... 27 Example 2. Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Ophicleide Excerpt ...................... 38 Example 3. Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Score ................................................. 39 Example 4. Ophicleide Excerpt Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique" mvm. 5 ................................. 41 Example 5. Revision Tuba 1 excerpt, Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique" mvm. 5 1910 .......... 41 Example 6. Full Score Excerpt from Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique" Dies irae ..................... 42 Example 7. Full Score Excerpt from Wagner's Overture to "Rienzi".............................................. 46 vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The ophicleide is an antiquated instrument today, but it was popular shortly after its creation in 1817.1 It was the last of the brass instruments that produced its chromatic pitches from vent holes. After its quick rise to popularity, it was soon challenged by the new valve brass instruments that were being developed around the same time2. Today it is often considered as a historical footnote, and it is widely accepted that the ophicleide was superseded by the bass tuba.3 Even the entry in the Oxford Dictionary of Music says little more than: “[an] obsolete keyed brass instr. of conical bore and played with cup mouthpiece. Was a development of the serpent and existed in alto, bass, and double‐bass sizes, but only the bass was much used. Was used in military bands and is also incl. in early scores of Mendelssohn , Berlioz , Verdi , and Wagner. Superseded by the bass tuba.”4 This entry is true in a sense, as the ophicleide was formerly the lowest bass voice in the orchestra and wind band, until the adoption of the tuba.5 However this statement is misleading and may bring people to the false assumption that the tuba is the worthiest choice to perform music originally written for ophicleide. This paper shows why the euphonium is the best