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The Vaughn Williams Concerto: It doesn’t belong in the Tuba Ghetto

Last Updated (Wednesday, 14 May 2008 11:28)
Written by Roger Bobo
Sunday, 09 September 2007 02:38

Articles - Pedagogical articles

It happened again and each time it gets more painful. While chatting on Skype with a friend, an old student from Le Domaine Forget in Quebec and the Royal Northern Collage of Music in Manchester, I found myself involved again defending my preference of the original phrase and articulation markings found in the hand written score of the Vaughn Williams Concerto, which used to appear only with the rented orchestra parts. Quite simply, those markings in the old score sound better than the printed phrase and articulation markings in the 1954 Oxford University Press version.

The Vaughan Williams Concerto was dedicated to the composer’s nephew who played and loved the tuba. It was premiered in 1954 in with Sir John Barbaroli conducting the Halle Orchestra, and Philip Catelinet played that premier.

I met Philip Catelinet in Montreux Switzerland in 1972 at the First International Brass Symposium. He was a very nice man and a very talented man. He was an arranger, composer, euphoniumist and pianist but he was not a tubist. His arrangements and compositions are still quite visible particularly in the British Band world. I’m sure there is an interesting story about how he became the one to premier this concerto but I have never heard it.

I have, however, heard a recording of the 1954 premier of the concerto and although I hold deep respect for Mr. Catelinet as a very talented and well-versed musician, I must say in all honesty that his tuba playing was very disappointing.

Having played the Vaughn Williams concerto many times and having studied the original hand written score that came with the rental of the orchestra parts, I noticed that the tuba part had phrase and articulation markings that were quite different from the printed version. When playing the original articulations and phrases in the hand written score, I found that to my ears they sounded strikingly better.

After several performances I wrote the Oxford University Press and inquired why the original markings were changed. Their answer was that Vaughn Williams liked to give such editing decisions to the performers and that all the articulation, phrasing and breathing markings were the decision of Philip Catelinet.

Now we face a dilemma, should we play the editings made by a non-tubist over 50 years go or should we take the prerogative and make our own editings? Most tubists today who are performing the Vaughn Williams Concerto are far more sophisticated than the time that Mr. Catelinet made those editings. Shouldn’t the tubists of today have the same prerogative that Mr. Catelinet had a half century ago?

But what of the audition, competition and exam panels, juries, judges and commissions that don’t know the Vaughn Williams Tuba Concerto history? Will we be judged negatively for parting from the ink? Having been a member of many of these panels and commissions, I can say that there is usually a lot more the judges are listening for than a perfectly in tune and perfect reading of every detail exactly as printed. We can only answer that question for ourselves; however, I believe strongly that we can far better make the right decision after we are able to play both versions. However, the original version is also problematic, there are phrase markings that are so long that one must take a breath in mid hand written phrase, therefore I have a third edition, the one I used to use that (for want of a better name) I call the Bobo version. I will put the exposition of the first movement as part of this article so a comparison can be made.

Further, when I teach this concerto I have the player learn four versions: the printed Catelinet version, the markings in the hand written score version, the Bobo version and finally a copy with no markings or edititings at all, so that the player is free to make his own version.

The tuba is such a young instrument. I find it sad that many players show a fear to move forward. We’ve come so far in such a short time it seems a shame to get stuck in an old school time zone.

Is it possible that the tuba’s coming of age has been affected by the fact that its growth has been more or less parallel with the emerging industrial age, and is it possible that mass production vs. quality has compromised our artistic integrity? The Vaughn Williams Tuba Concerto is a fine work; I hope we can let it evolve to the quality it deserves.

August 26, 2007, Tokyo