Wagner tuba, F
Maker
Carl Wilhelm Moritz
Date1877-1894 ca.
Place MadeBerlin, Germany, Europe
Serial No.None
SignedEngraved plate on the bell: C. W. Moritz / Königl. Hoflieferant / BERLIN. C.MarkingsStamped on each touchpiece, valve-linkage stems, push-rods, cork stoppers, valve pivots, bottom valve caps, and rotors: 4
DescriptionBrass with nickel-silver trim. Essentially in rectangular shape with round-chamfered corners, i.e., superelliptical, like the Viennese models. Triple-loop with angled upright bell towards the left side of the player. Valves built for left-hand playing. Predominantly conical bore profile. Four side-action, clock-sprung rotary valves of German style, i.e., with a metal mechanical linkage for each valve, for: whole tone (first valve), semitone (second valve), minor third (third valve), and major third (fourth valve). Main tuning slide after valve segment at first bow. Pull ring only for second valve slide. One water key at the main tuning slide bow.
This Wagner tuba is as a distinctive historical object, particularly because it is an especially early example of its type. The fact that it was made by the German company C. W. Moritz, which had direct collaboration with composer Richard Wagner as early as 1866 for other Wagnerian instruments (such as the bass tuba and the bass trumpet; and produced Wagner tubas from 1877 on, that is, during the composer’s lifetime) also endows NMM 14348 with particular importance for the history of musical instruments.
DimensionsFootprint (H x W): 795 x 334 mm
Bell diameter: 190mm
ProvenanceThis instrument was donated to the museum in 2008 by Lawrence Barnhart, principal horn of the Minnesota Sinfonia, centered in Minneapolis. Barnhart acquired this instrument from Marvin McCoy, a freelance professional musician for many years and one of the most respected brass instrument repair experts in the United States, whose workshop (“McCoy's Band Instrument Repair”) was also located in Minneapolis.
Barnhart reported that McCoy acquired the instrument from the Metropolitan Opera after one of their performances of Puccini’s "La Bohème," at a time when, like a cultural missionary, the Met Opera set out on annual spring tours to bring opera to several U.S. cities, including Minneapolis (further research by Silva pinpointed either in 1972, 1975, 1977, 1983 or 1985). The NMM instrument had been used as a prop by the on-stage band in that opera, most probably, either on the on-stage military band that appears at the end of the second act at “Caro! Fuori il danaro!” or as the horn that the character Schaunard, the “great musician,” carries throughout the second act.
Published ReferencesSilva, Ana Sofia. _The Origins and Revival of a Wagner Tuba_. M.M. Thesis, The University of South Dakota, 2013.Johnson, Cleveland, and Ana Silva. “An Instrument for Valhalla.” _Encore Arts Programs_ 38, No. 1 (August 2013): 42.
Credit LineGift of Lawrence Barnhart, 2008
Object number14348
On View
Not on view
