- Vaughan Williams wrote this concerto for bass tuba and orchestra in 1954.1
- The composer’s Oxford Music article observes that he was experimenting with writing for several “unlikely instruments” at this time in his life. In 1951 he wrote a Romance for harmonica, strings, and piano, and his Eighth Symphony features a prominent vibraphone part.
- Vaughan Williams dedicated this piece to the London Symphony Orchestra, who played its premiere on June 13, 1954. The soloist at the premiere was Philip Catelinet (click his name for a charming picture of Catelinet playing the tuba to Vaughan Williams).2
Sources
- Hugh Ottaway and Alain Frogley, “Vaughan Williams, Ralph,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000042507.
- Ralph Vaughan Williams, Concerto for Bass Tuba (London: Oxford University Press, 1955).
Cut IDs
42271