Vaughan-Williams Tuba Concerto -- Manuscript Score

[Steve Oberheu]

Ever since he received a rolled-up cardboard tube which contained his first-edition copy of the Vaughan-Williams Tuba Concerto in 1955—sent by request of the composer himself—Roger Bobo has notched over seventy performances of the concerto as soloist. From the first one at Interlochen as a teenager in 1956, until his last time with the Charleston Symphony in 1988, he is easily the tubist who has performed the piece the most. It is the piece by which he learned to play the tuba at the highest level

When the concerto first arrived in the mail from Oxford University Press, it came with editing marks in the solo part, which Roger dutifully learned. During preparations for a performance of the concerto, Robert Marsteller listened to Roger as he followed along with a manuscript copy of the orchestral score. He noticed a couple of notes in the cadenza of the third movement that had been written and then crossed out. When he pointed this out, Roger looked and saw that there were articulations in the solo tuba part in the score that were quite different from the solo tuba part that he had received from Oxford University Press. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that there were many further discrepancies in the notes themselves, which had been either incorrectly notated, crossed out, or left out altogether. Shocked by what he found, Roger wrote to Oxford University Press to suggest that corrections be made, but was met with stubborn refusal by the company to alter the engraved parts.

Since then, Roger has related this information to every student who has studied the piece with him, and made it his mission to share the truth of the existing errata. This complete manuscript score—photocopied from Roger’s personal library—and composite of the solo tuba part are shared here in an effort to inform and educate, and is not meant to replace the score and solo tuba part published by Oxford University Press.

Get your own copy of the manuscript score and solo part here: https://www.upperhaymusic.com/?product= ... -solo-part

[bloke]

Congratulations on this. I offered something very similar to a Canadian publisher several years ago. I think they showed it to an "expert" (ignoramus?) who told them that it was all "wrong" (ie. "different from OUP"), at which point they abandoned the publication project.

At that point I shrugged my shoulders, and I'm really glad that you were able to get this done.

[DonO.]

The story I heard, from various sources, is that Philip Catelinet, the tuba player who was chosen to debut the Concerto with the LSO, met with VW at his house to do a “play through”. As a result of this meeting, Mr. Catelinet suggested deleting some small sections of higher register passages for two reasons: he himself didn’t feel secure enough with them, and also these passages made the piece less commercially viable. That is to say, there were so few tuba players at the time with the technique to play those passages, they wouldn’t sell very many copies of the sheet music. This was apparently an important consideration at the time, and VW agreed to the edits. Later, when the bar was raised and tuba players became more skilled at higher registers, some versions have those notes put back in (?) There is an interesting account of all this in an article Mr. Catelinet wrote entitled “The Truth About the Vaughan Williams Concerto”. You can find it online.

When I was in high school, I took several lessons with Mr. Catelinet while he was on the faculty of Carnegie-Mellon University. We spent some time on the Concerto, which I bravely attempted on my BBb (!). My main takeaway was his opinion that most modern tubists take the first and third movements way faster than VW intended. By the way, everybody knows how difficult the piano part is, being basically an orchestra reduction. But he played it effortlessly! He really was an excellent pianist!

[arpthark]

So, I just made my order and I have to say, it doesn't mention anywhere on the order form, website, or even in your cart until you have already paid for this item that it's PDF download only and not a printed-out score/parts. I bought the Bobo book too, so I figured the shipping price covered both the book and the VW.

Still a good deal with the discount, but I think that should be made more clear.

Also, in my opinion, the quality of the scan is inconsistent. It looks like a xerox of an old xerox. Some measures are nearly illegible.

Just my 2¢.

[arpthark]

Also, you are only limited to one download of the file (!), and apparently viewing it on my phone counted as a download, so now I cannot access it anymore. @Steve Oberheu, can you assist?

For reference, this is the email i received and the link that I clicked on, which doesn't indicate anything about a limited number of downloads. In fact, "expires: never" seems to indicate the opposite.

[UncleBeer]

Philip Catelinet, the tuba player who was chosen to debut the Concerto with the LSO, met with VW at his house to do a “play through”.

I always thought this was the saddest looking picture.

5646049.jpg (86.48 KiB) Viewed 1313 times

[Steve Oberheu]

Also, you are only limited to one download of the file (!), and apparently viewing it on my phone counted as a download, so now I cannot access it anymore. @Steve Oberheu, can you assist?

Send me an email at: upperhaymusic@gmail.com. I would be happy to send you a .pdf copy.

[arpthark]

Also, you are only limited to one download of the file (!), and apparently viewing it on my phone counted as a download, so now I cannot access it anymore. @Steve Oberheu, can you assist?

Send me an email at: upperhaymusic@gmail.com. I would be happy to send you a .pdf copy.

Thanks Steve!

[Steve Oberheu]

So, I just made my order and I have to say, it doesn't mention anywhere on the order form, website, or even in your cart until you have already paid for this item that it's PDF download only and not a printed-out score/parts. I bought the Bobo book too, so I figured the shipping price covered both the book and the VW.

Still a good deal with the discount, but I think that should be made more clear.

Also, in my opinion, the quality of the scan is inconsistent. It looks like a xerox of an old xerox. Some measures are nearly illegible.

Just my 2¢.

The decision to use .pdf for the Concerto was made to save $$ on printing/shipping costs as well as to make it more portable and accessible. I leave it up to individuals whether they want to print it out or not. My apologies for any confusion this may have caused!

As for the quality of the scan...well, it's the best one available. This scan was made using Roger Bobo's personal copy of the manuscript.

[arpthark]

So, I just made my order and I have to say, it doesn't mention anywhere on the order form, website, or even in your cart until you have already paid for this item that it's PDF download only and not a printed-out score/parts. I bought the Bobo book too, so I figured the shipping price covered both the book and the VW.

Still a good deal with the discount, but I think that should be made more clear.

Also, in my opinion, the quality of the scan is inconsistent. It looks like a xerox of an old xerox. Some measures are nearly illegible.

Just my 2¢.

The decision to use .pdf for the Concerto was made to save $$ on printing/shipping costs as well as to make it more portable and accessible. I leave it up to individuals whether they want to print it out or not. My apologies for any confusion this may have caused!

As for the quality of the scan...well, it's the best one available. This scan was made using Roger Bobo's personal copy of the manuscript.

I get it, it's definitely more cost-effective. I just wanted folks to be aware. I think it's well worth the cost and it's a great resource, warts and all. Thanks for making it available to us!

[Steve Oberheu]

[/quote]
I just wanted folks to be aware. I think it's well worth the cost and it's a great resource, warts and all. Thanks for making it available to us!
[/quote]

I totally understand. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!