Playing the New World Symphony

Symphony E Minor #9, Op. 95 (1893)

from the New World Symphony

 LARGO

I recently got the call from a local community orchestra to play tuba in the New World Symphony. A semi-professional orchestra with one rehearsal, a run-thru and the concert. This works fine with experienced players, the audience loves it, and it’s fun. As it happens, I had been anticipating a call to play as it had been 18 months since they had last programed music requiring tuba. I was amused to learn that the only work on the program requiring tuba would be the New Word Symphony. The symphonic all-time minimalist tuba part - 14 notes - in the 2nd movement. A call and response brass chorale to open and close the symphony’s second movement “Largo”. In a way this is an ultimate orchestral playing experience in having ‘the best seat in the house’, to be playing an expressive, “Once upon a time” to start and sounding “The End” to conclude this exquisitely melodic story telling movement. I approach it, as an opportunity to softly appear, within the fabric of the symphony, and to embody a novel sounding bass trombone tuba unison, framing an inspired musical journey into a strange new land. Viewed metaphorically playing tuba in the New World Symphony becomes an exciting musical challenge, when you know what you’re doing.

So, what is this unusual brass orchestral excerpt about, what are we musically doing here in Dvorak’s 9th symphony? In the first instance it is a key change, from the E-minor tonality of the first movement into the “earthy” Key of D-Flat. A semi-tone of difference - that harmonically is a great distance away in the Circle of Fifths. Dvorak does this modulation in seven chords  (E major – B flat major (Sixth chord) – E major – D flat major – B double-flat major – G flat minor – D flat major) as it is explained at the Antonin Dvorak website.

The unusual unison doubling of bass trombone with tuba is not a redundant orchestrated addition. Trombone III also plays without the tuba in this movement and everywhere else. Dvorak knew what sound he wanted and the consequence of this unison trombone and tuba orchestration is to manifest a complimentary sound-resonance of musical strangeness as progressing into a new and strange country, a harmonically rich foundational bass, expressing a vocal sounding church hymn like statement. An earthy sound, softly growing and swelling, producing a harmonic cadence from E Minor to D-Flat Major. The musical information required to accomplish this brief, yet mighty key change is expressed in the harmonic information provided by the intervals being played - the spaces between the notes outlining the progression:

E-2 whole step down (two semitones) to D-2 with a whole step back up to E-2, and three semitones down to D-flat 2, raising an augmented perfect 5th (Eight semitones) to A-2 descending to G-flat 2 (3 semitones) with a crescendo down a Perfect 4th to D-flat 2 and decrescendo (with the chord being taken up by the strings).

This is the bass line in the opening seven note chorale, orchestrated for trumpets, horns, trombones and tuba. The second concluding chorale omits the trumpets (evoking a darker orchestrated sound) and starting in a higher bass tessitura on D-flat 3, before descending progressively to D-flat 2. Here the harmonic intervals are:

 Db-3 down to B-2 (a whole step lower, spelled harmonically as a minor 3rd) returning to Db-3 before descending in a harmonic progression; I-VI-IV-II-I (crescendo < > decrescendo) re-establishing D-Flat Major before making way to a remarkably ethereal sounding conclusion by the double basses.

Written out in a linear form (as it is here) the complications of the harmonic spelling become apparent in revealing the musical journey being undertaken to shift the tonal reality from E minor to D-Flat Major. Ironically it is also easier to play in-tune by focusing the chorale with precise intervals, while blending and complimenting the predominate trombone sound. manifesting a hybrid wind-bass sound introducing and concluding the melodic story telling “from the New World”.