- «=: To enrich the ensemble of brass instruments in his § in Eb, the bass tubas in B®, for the sake of better
| Nibelang eycle, Wagner devised, in addition to the bass trumpet, a quartet of tubas furnished with horn mouthpieces and to be played by horn players.
(sounding a fifth lower), including all chromatic intervals. In his scores Wagner writes the tenor tubas
legibility, as he says in a footnote—an explanation which is not very convincing,
Supported by the bass of the double-bass trombone and double-bass tuba, they serve almost everywhere in the scores of the “Ring” as the bearers of the solemn and majestic Walthall motif.
But their hoarse and rancorous tone can just as well symbolize Alberich’s fierce hate and envy or the swelling vein of fury on Wotan’s forehead (end of } the second act of “Walkuere”); notice especially the sensible silence of the tubas—essentially legato instruments—during the two sharp final chords (Ex-
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