Tuba tenore

As Printed on a Score

Labels a tenor tuba, usually with its key (Tenor Tuba in B♭, Tenortuba). Read the context: in Wagner and Bruckner the Tenortuben in B are Wagner tubas, while in Holst or Strauss the name means a euphonium-type instrument. Notation varies between bass clef at pitch and treble clef transposing, so check the clef and key before reading.

Abbreviations: T. Tba.

Also spelled: Tenor Tuba, Tenortuba

How Composers Use It

In most twentieth-century scores the tenor tuba is played on a euphonium: a B-flat tuba an octave above the bass tuba, with a warm, round, singing tone. Strauss gave it a share of Sancho Panza’s music in Don Quixote, and Holst a prominent part in “Mars” from The Planets. Use it as a melodic tenor brass voice between the trombones and the tuba, and state whether you mean a euphonium or a Wagner tuba.

Example

Holst, The Planets: the staff is labelled “Tenor Tuba in B♭” (“T. Tba. in B♭” on later systems), the part now usually played on a euphonium.

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