Revisiting the World's Largest Tuba

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Dave Detwiler
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Revisiting the World's Largest Tuba

Post by Dave Detwiler »

Merry Christmas, all!

As I continue to poke around the history of what I am convinced is "the world's largest tuba," it now appears that it may have been created as early as 1851 - making it not only the world's largest, but also perhaps the very first subcontrabass tuba ever built.

You can read more about my findings here: http://tubapastor.blogspot.com/2020/12/ ... -tuba.html

And here's what this beast looked like! Enjoy!

1870s - Saxhorn bourdon in Sax's workshop in Rue de Dunkerque, Paris.JPG
1870s - Saxhorn bourdon in Sax's workshop in Rue de Dunkerque, Paris.JPG (76.85 KiB) Viewed 327 times


Played an F. E. Olds 4-valve BBb in high school (late '70s)
Led the USC Trojan Marching Band tuba section (early '80s)
Now playing an F. Schmidt (=VMI) 3301 and goofing around
on a 1925 Pan American Sousaphone and an 1899 Conn tuba!
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Mithosphere
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Re: Revisiting the World's Largest Tuba

Post by Mithosphere »

A friend of mine went to that museum and saw the smaller EEb.
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Dave Detwiler
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Re: Revisiting the World's Largest Tuba

Post by Dave Detwiler »

Mithosphere wrote: Fri Dec 25, 2020 8:45 pm A friend of mine went to that museum and saw the smaller EEb.
Do you mean the one in the Henri Selmer collection in Paris? Cool! Anything to report?
Played an F. E. Olds 4-valve BBb in high school (late '70s)
Led the USC Trojan Marching Band tuba section (early '80s)
Now playing an F. Schmidt (=VMI) 3301 and goofing around
on a 1925 Pan American Sousaphone and an 1899 Conn tuba!
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Mithosphere
Posts: 128
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 1:26 pm
Has thanked: 40 times
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Re: Revisiting the World's Largest Tuba

Post by Mithosphere »

Dave Detwiler wrote: Sat Dec 26, 2020 8:36 am
Mithosphere wrote: Fri Dec 25, 2020 8:45 pm A friend of mine went to that museum and saw the smaller EEb.
Do you mean the one in the Henri Selmer collection in Paris? Cool! Anything to report?
He was there in 2017. It's, like most of the instruments, behind glass, but in good shape.
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Dave Detwiler
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Re: Revisiting the World's Largest Tuba

Post by Dave Detwiler »

I stumbled upon yet another piece of evidence for this giant tuba (and have now included this in the post mentioned above). It is a lithograph showing what Sax displayed at the International Exhibition of 1862 in London - showing not only the giant Saxhorn bourdon, but a couple of thinner bourdons, as well as a few Saxtubas hanging from the top of the case. Pretty cool stuff!

1862 Sax display case at the Internation Exhibition in London.JPG
1862 Sax display case at the Internation Exhibition in London.JPG (111.74 KiB) Viewed 204 times
Played an F. E. Olds 4-valve BBb in high school (late '70s)
Led the USC Trojan Marching Band tuba section (early '80s)
Now playing an F. Schmidt (=VMI) 3301 and goofing around
on a 1925 Pan American Sousaphone and an 1899 Conn tuba!
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