Contrabass Digest

2000-06-23

Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 09:51:04 -0800
From: Andrew Stiller
Subject: [CB] serp. & oph. on one staff

Hi!  I just joined this list, wh. I must say doesn't seem very
active.  I hope there are people out there who can advise on this
question:

I am editing for publication an American orchl. score from the 1830s
which has serp. and oph. on a single staff, almost always playing in
octaves.  My question is, which is which?  The staff is labeled
"Serpent & Ophicleide" on some pages and "Ophicleide & Serpent" on
others; furthermore my experience w. this composer suggests that the
order of names on a staff does not correlate to the placement of the
two parts on the staff itself.  The range of the two parts in this
case falls well within that of either instrument (the bottom part
goes down to Bb below the staff, the top part goes up to the F above
the staff).

Any thoughts?

--
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press

http://www.netcom.com/~kallisti

Ut Sol inter planetas, Ita MUSICA inter Artes liberales in medio
radiat.
--Heinrich Schuetz, 1640
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 12:07:06 -0700
From: Grant Green
Subject: Re: [CB] serp. & oph. on one staff

>Hi!  I just joined this list, wh. I must say doesn't seem very
>active.  I hope there are people out there who can advise on this
>question:

Less than some, more than others.  Somewhere between the pipe organ
list (hundreds of messages per day) and the sarrusophone list
(haven't seen a message for a few months now).

>I am editing for publication an American orchl. score from the 1830s
>which has serp. and oph. on a single staff, almost always playing in
>octaves.  My question is, which is which?  The staff is labeled
>"Serpent & Ophicleide" on some pages and "Ophicleide & Serpent" on
>others; furthermore my experience w. this composer suggests that the
>order of names on a staff does not correlate to the placement of the
>two parts on the staff itself.  The range of the two parts in this
>case falls well within that of either instrument (the bottom part
>goes down to Bb below the staff, the top part goes up to the F above
>the staff).

My guess would be serpent on top, ophicleide on bottom.  My hunch
(not having played serpent) is that (a) the ophicleide will have more
accurate intonation than the serpent in the lower register, and (b)
that the ophicleide, with the louder and clearer timbre, will sound
better as the foundation than the serpent with its more wheezy timbre.

Grant

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green
ecode:contrabass       http://www.contrabass.com
Professional Fool -> http://www.mp3.com/ProFools
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 16:38:25 -0800
From: Andrew Stiller
Subject: Re: [CB] serp. & oph. on one staff

At 12:07 PM -0700 6/23/00, Grant Green wrote:
>My guess would be serpent on top, ophicleide on bottom.  My hunch
>(not having played serpent) is that (a) the ophicleide will have
>more accurate intonation than the serpent in the lower register, and
>(b) that the ophicleide, with the louder and clearer timbre, will
>sound better as the foundation than the serpent with its more wheezy
>timbre.

Makes sense.  The piece this comes from is full of interesting stuff
like that.  In the first 2 mvts., there was originally only oph., and
the composer (A.P. Heinrich, if anyone's interested) later added a
tuba part on the same staff.  However, the new part lies above the
old one (again, mostly at the octave) and my guess is that in the
revised version the tuba is supposed to take the old oph. line, while
the oph. takes the newly added line. At the end of the 2nd mvt.,
Heinrich wrote, at the same time he added the tuba part, a very
careful list of exactly what instruments would be tacet in the
succeeding movement; the tuba is not on that list, but that next mvt.
is the one w. oph. and serp., but no tuba.  This means that the
tubist is expected to double on the serp.--or that he wants his
newly-added tuba to replace the serpent in that mvt.--or rather, that
the tuba would replace the oph., while the oph. wd. replace the
serpent... Oog.

Then there's the final (5th) mvt., which calls for serpent and...
contrabassoon.

--
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press

http://www.netcom.com/~kallisti

Ut Sol inter planetas, Ita MUSICA inter Artes liberales in medio
radiat.
--Heinrich Schuetz, 1640

***End of Contrabass Digest***

 
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