Tuba Minor English?

A small-scaled Tuba of 8' pitch, often (but not always) in the company of a louder Tuba in the same instrument. Wedgwood describes its tone as smooth and full, differing from the Tromba “in partaking more of the quality of the Hope-Jones Tuba Sonora”, a close-toned reed. Bonavia-Hunt, on the other hand, says:

It must be pointed out that the tuba minor is not a tromba, even though the line of demarcation may be slight. The tromba is essentially a close-toned reed, and treated as such: the tuba minor has a freer development of harmonics and belongs to the category of normal chorus reed tone.

Irwin claims that the Tuba Minor posesses the true Tuba quality of tone at a reduced loudness, but then goes on to say that it can have any type of voicing, “either brassy, comparatively dull, like the Tuba Sonora, or of the average type heard in the Tuba Magna”.

Examples

Tuba Minor 8', Choir; St. Mungo's Cathedral, Glasgow, Scotland; Willis 1903-1922. This is the only known example.

Bibliography