Ben Hur - Parade of the Charioteers - Link to Parts

[the elephant]

Tuba I and II, Ben Hur, "Parade of the Charioteers"

This is from the full-length score used in the concert suite. The version in the film had to be chopped up some to work with the final edit of the scene, so a lot of two- and four-bar bits have been excised and it starts in the middle. (But this clip gives you the general idea, at least.) You do not see this piece programmed all that often these days, which is a shame. It is a fun, if taxing blow, to be sure. We played it last night as a part of our "Oscar Winners" Pops subscription series concert.

Here is the film scene. Don't you just wish you could walk around dressed like that today? HAHAHA!!!



Here is the exact arrangement linked above, with the Johann Strauss Orchestra, FIVE HUNDRED BRASS PLAYERS, and the "King of Cheese" himself, André Rieu, in Amsterdam in 2015.



Now get out your big horn, put on some headphones, turn up the volume, and play it twice, so you can try both parts. Do this as loudly as humanly possible without hurting yourself. Heck, go ahead and hurt yourself. Go nuts.

Have some fun, for Pete's sake.

Who was that Pete guy, anyway?

[UncleBeer]

(Not to hijack or anything, but...) Here's the same scene from the 1925 version of Ben Hur (score added later by Carl Davis). The movie absolutely lends itself to virtuosic bombast. The entire 2 hours and 23 minutes is stuff like this .

I had the good fortune to perform this in NYC with Philharmonia Virtuosi under the composer about a thousand years ago.

[bloke]

Rozsa wrote a great score to the movie “Quo Vadis” as well.
There was a wind band version - not watered down - of the “Triumphal March” from that movie. I could imagine it serving as great exit music - after a commencement… The band would need to have some trumpets that can play.

[P@rick]

Here is the exact arrangement linked above, with the Johann Strauss Orchestra, FIVE HUNDRED BRASS PLAYERS, and the "King of Cheese" himself, André Rieu, in Amsterdam in 2015.



Now get out your big horn, put on some headphones, turn up the volume, and play it twice, so you can try both parts. Do this as loudly as humanly possible without hurting yourself. Heck, go ahead and hurt yourself. Go nuts.

Have some fun, for Pete's sake.

Who was that Pete guy, anyway?

Brings back memories! André did this concert also in Maastricht. I was there among the 500 brass players. It was 5 days in a row and it gave me the chills every single day.

[hrender]

Some good tuba parts in this, from what I can hear.

[Mark]

I play this a few years ago in Seattle at Benaroya Hall. It was a blast. It has been a while, but I think Jon Hill was the other tuba.