Euphonium

Euphonium

Brass instrument
Classification	Wind, brass Aerophone
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	423.232 (Valved aerophone sounded by lip movement)
Developed	1840s from the ophicleide
Playing range
The B♭ euphonium sounds an octave and a major second lower than written when notated in treble clef. It is also notated by its concert pitch in bass clef.
Related instruments
Saxhorns Flugelhorn Tenor Horn Baritone horn Mellophone Ophicleide Sousaphone Tuba

The euphonium (English: /juˈfoʊiːəm/ yoo-FOH-nee-im; Italian: eufonio; Spanish: bombardino) is a conical bore, tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium belongs in the family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have three or four usually compensating piston valves, although instruments with rotary valves are common in Eastern and Central Europe.

Euphonium music may be notated in the bass clef as a non-transposing instrument or in the treble clef as a transposing instrument in B♭. In British brass bands, it is typically treated as a treble-clef instrument, while in American band music, parts may be written in either treble clef or bass clef, or both. A musician who plays the euphonium is known as a euphoniumist, a euphonist, or simply a euphonium or "eupho" player.

Name

The euphonium derives its name from the Ancient Greek word εὔφωνος euphōnos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" (εὖ eu means "well" or "good" and φωνή phōnē means "sound", hence "of good sound").

The euphonium is a member of the large and diverse family of valved bugles, and thus has many relatives among the low brass. The baritone horn, although similar, has a narrower conical bore, smaller bell, and usually lacks a fourth valve. In the US, band scores and even some manufacturers have sometimes treated them as the same instrument, or used the word "baritone" to refer to the euphonium. As with the cornet and flugelhorn, the two instruments are easily doubled by one player, with some modification of breath and embouchure, since the two have identical range and essentially identical fingering.

German inventor Ferdinand Sommer's original name for the instrument was the Sommerophone, but it quickly became known as the euphonion. It is sometimes called the tenor tuba, notably in The Planets (1917) by English composer Gustav Holst, although this can also refer to other varieties of tuba. Names in other languages, as included in scores, can be ambiguous as well. They include French basse, saxhorn basse, and tuba basse; German Baryton, Tenorbass, and Tenorbasshorn; Italian baritono, bombardino, eufonio, and flicorno basso. The most common German name, Baryton, may have influenced Americans to adopt the name "baritone" for the instrument, due to the influx of German musicians to the United States in the nineteenth century.

Late 19th century American instrument catalogs often listed a euphonium-like instrument as the B♭ bass. The 1894 catalog from Lyon & Healy depicts it alongside B♭ tenor and B♭ baritone instruments of the same pitch and construction, differing only in bore and bell width, and the larger E♭ and BB♭ basses; all with three valves. Along the same lines, drum and bugle corps in the 1950s introduced a wider-bore version of the baritone or baro-tone bugle called the bass-baritone bugle, which eventually replaced it.

The American baritone, featuring three valves on the front of the instrument, a hybrid conical-cylindrical bore, and a curved forward-pointing bell, was dominant in American school bands throughout most of the 20th century. As a marching instrument, its weight, shape, and configuration conform to the needs of marching bands. Along with similar-looking cylindrical bore instruments like the trombonium, it was almost universally labelled a "baritone" by both band directors and composers, thus contributing to the confusion of terminology in the United States.

History and development

Euphonium ancestors: serpent, c. 1800, left; ophicleide, c. 1825, right. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Before the invention of valves in the 1820s, brass instruments were either restricted to a single harmonic series like the natural trumpet or bugle, or used a slide like the trombone, or used keys and tone holes like the cornett, keyed bugle, or serpent. For low-pitched brass instruments, none of these solutions were ideal; the bass trombones with slide handles were unwieldy for fast passages, and the timbre of the serpent was often criticised. The history of the euphonium is tied to the history of the tuba, which is itself the search for a practical valved bass-voiced brass instrument, suitable for use in bands and orchestras.

The euphonium traces its origins to the ophicleide, an all-metal, conical bore keyed brass instrument developed from the serpent in 1817 by French instrument maker Jean Hilaire Asté. While the serpent had been in use particularly in France since the late 16th century, it was difficult to play with consistent tone quality and intonation, partly due to its small tone holes. The ophicleide improved on the serpent by using keys covering tone holes in acoustically correct positions, sized proportionally to the bore width. The wide conical bore of the ophicleide, similar to the keyed bugle and much later saxophone, imparted the warm, noble timbre characteristic of the modern euphonium. The ophicleide was widely used in French and British military bands, orchestras, and the emerging civic brass band movement for several decades, after the invention of valves and as late as the 1870s.

The invention of the Stölzel valve in 1814, the Berlinerpumpenventil ("Berlin valve") in 1833 used on the 1835 Baß-Tuba and Adolphe Sax's early brass instruments, and especially the modern piston valve by François Périnet in 1839, allowed the construction of brass instruments with an even sound and facility of playing in all registers.

As early as 1829, German military conductor Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht required for his trumpet corps a Tenorbasshorn in B♭ with three valves, a name which was later sometimes used for the euphonium. It was probably a larger bore version of the Tenorhorn, later often called the Baryton.

Several instruments appeared in the 1830s and 1840s that fit the broad description of a baritone valved bugle with a wide conical bore. Carl Moritz in 1838 built a tenor tuba in B♭ with four valves which survives in a Munich museum, and Ferdinand Sommer of Weimar built his Sommerophone, later called the Euphonion, in 1843. While Sax's family of saxhorns were invented c. 1843 and the bass saxhorn is very similar to the euphonium, there are also differences—the bass saxhorn is narrower throughout the length of the instrument—although they were often used interchangeably, especially in British brass bands.

The ophicleide's system of 9 to 11 keys was an improvement over the serpent, but its complexity compared to valves, and its still unreliable intonation especially in the high register, eventually led to its obsolescence. By the end of the 19th century, they had been replaced by valved brass instruments, and in Britain particularly by euphoniums, which were offered in competitions as prizes for winning ophicleide players. One of the last great ophicleide players was the English musician Sam Hughes.

The "British-style" compensating euphonium was developed in 1874 by David Blaikley, of Boosey & Co, and has been in use in Britain since then, with the basic construction little changed.

Modern-day euphonium makers have been working to further enhance the construction of the instrument. Besson introduced an adjustable main tuning-slide trigger, which allows players more flexibility with intonation. Adams euphoniums have developed an adjustable lead-pipe receiver, which allows players to change the timbre of the instrument to whatever they find preferable.

Construction and general characteristics

A euphonium (left) and tuba (right), the two lowest conical-bore instruments

The euphonium, like the tenor trombone, is pitched in concert B♭. For a valved brass instrument like the euphonium, this means that when no valves are in use the instrument will produce partials of the B♭ harmonic series.

Professional models have three top-action valves, played with the first three fingers of the right hand, plus a fourth valve, generally found midway down the right side of the instrument, played with the left index or middle finger; such an instrument is shown at the top of this page. Such models also have compensating "knuckles" to resolve intonation issues below E₂. Beginner models often have only the three top-action valves, while some intermediate "student" models may have a fourth top-action valve, played with the fourth finger of the right hand. Compensating systems are expensive to build, and there is in general a substantial difference in price between compensating and non-compensating models. For a thorough discussion of the valves and the compensation system, see the article on brass instruments.

As with the other conical-bore instruments like the flugelhorn, horn, and tuba, the euphonium's tubing (excepting the tubing in the valve section, which is necessarily cylindrical) gradually increases in diameter throughout its length, resulting in a softer, gentler tone compared to cylindrical-bore instruments such as the trumpet or trombone. While a truly characteristic euphonium sound is rather hard to define precisely, most players would agree that an ideal sound is dark, rich, warm, and velvety, with virtually no hardness to it. This also has to do with the different models preferred by British and American players.

Notation and range

In British brass bands, all instruments except the bass trombone are transposing instruments using the treble clef notation popularized in France by instrument maker Adolphe Sax for his families of instruments. Thus the euphonium, along with the tenor trombones and baritones, are notated as B♭ instruments in treble clef sounding a major ninth lower than written, like the tenor saxophone and bass clarinet.

In orchestral, concert band, and US military band music, the euphonium is generally written at concert pitch in the bass clef, treating the euphonium as a non-transposing instrument like the trombone, with high passages often written in tenor clef. Concert band music often provides the euphonium parts in both bass and B♭ treble clef, to accommodate players from either background. In continental European band music, parts for the euphonium may also be written in transposing bass clef in B♭, sounding a major second lower than written.

Range of the modern euphonium
(4v indicates notes requiring a compensating instrument with four valves)

The euphonium has a large range of at least four octaves. Intermediate players can access a range from E₂ to about F₄, and in professional hands this extends from B₀ up to at least C₅ and as high as B♭₅. The upper range is limited only by the fitness of the players' embouchure, but a working tessitura from existing repertoire tops out around C₅.

The lowest notes obtainable depend on the valve set-up of the instrument. All instruments are chromatic down to E₂, but four-valved instruments extend that down to at least C₂. Non-compensating four-valved instruments suffer from intonation problems from E♭₂ down to C₂ and cannot produce the low B₁; compensating instruments do not have such intonation problems and can play the low B₁. Although less satisfactory, a good player can provide these notes on a three-valve instrument using falset tones, which are more distinct on instruments with wide conical bores and large bells. From B♭₁ down lies the pedal range, the fundamentals of the instrument's harmonic series. They are more easily produced on the euphonium and tuba than on other brass instruments, and the extent of the pedal range similarly depends on the instrument. A compensating four-valved instrument can produce a B₀ six ledger lines below the bass clef with all valves down, sometimes called double pedal B.

Though the euphonium's fingerings are no different from those of the trumpet or tuba, beginning euphoniumists will likely experience significant problems with intonation, response and range compared to other beginning brass players.

Types

Euphoniums: modern 4-valve model by Yamaha; bell-forward model for marching, by Yamaha; double-bell euphonium by Conn; marching euphonium by King

Compensating

The compensating euphonium is common among professionals. It utilizes a three-plus-one-valve system with three upright valves and one side valve. The compensating valve system uses extra tubing, usually coming off the back of the three upright valves, in order to achieve proper intonation in the lower range of the instrument. This range being from E₂ down to B♭₁. Not all four-valve and three-plus-one-valve euphoniums are compensating. Only those designed with extra tubing are compensating. There were, at one time, three-valve compensating euphoniums available. This configuration utilized extra tubing, just as the three-plus-one compensating models did, in order to bring the notes C₂ and B₁ in tune. This three-valve compensating configuration is still available in British style baritone horns, usually on professional models.

Double-bell

Main article: Double bell euphonium

A creation unique to the United States was the double-bell euphonium, featuring a second smaller bell in addition to the main one; the player could switch bells for certain passages or even for individual notes by use of an additional valve, operated with the left hand. Ostensibly, the smaller bell was intended to emulate the sound of a trombone (it was cylindrical-bore) and was possibly intended for performance situations in which trombones were not available. The extent to which the difference in sound and timbre was apparent to the listener, however, is up for debate. Michele Raffayolo of the Patrick S. Gilmore band introduced the instrument in the U.S. by 1880, and it was used widely in both school and service bands for several decades. Harold Brasch (see "List of important players" below) brought the British-style compensating euphonium to the United States c. 1939, but the double-belled euphonium may have remained in common use even into the 1950s and 1960s. In any case, they have become rare (they were last in Conn's advertisements in the 1940s, and King's catalog in the 1960s), and are generally unknown to younger players. They are chiefly known now through their mention in the song "Seventy-Six Trombones" from the musical The Music Man by Meredith Willson.

Marching

Marching euphoniums are used by marching bands and in drum and bugle corps. Typically in a drum corps, there will be two baritone parts and one euphonium part, with the euphonium playing the lower parts comparatively. Some corps (such as the Blue Devils) march all-euphonium sections rather than only marching baritone or a mix of both. In high school marching bands, the two will often be used interchangeably.

Depending on the manufacturer, the weight of these instruments can be straining to the average marcher and require great strength to hold during practices and performances, leading to nerve problems in the right pinky, a callus on the left hand, and possibly back and arm problems. Marching euphoniums and marching baritones commonly have three valves, opposed to the regular euphonium having four.

Another form of the marching euphonium is the convertible euphonium. Recently widely produced, the horn resembles a convertible tuba, being able to change from a concert upright to a marching forward bell on either the left or right shoulder. These are mainly produced by Jupiter or Yamaha, but other less expensive versions can be found.

Five valves

The five-valve euphonium (non-compensating) is an extremely rare variation of the euphonium manufactured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Britain's Besson musical instrument company and Highams of Manchester Musical Instrument Company. Higham and Besson's Clearbore five-valve euphonium was economical but not widely used.

The Besson five-valve euphonium featured the standard three piston valves horizontally not on top, but had an additional two piston valves off to the side. The standard euphonium has eight possible fingering and non-fingering positions by which sound is produced. The Besson and the Highams "clearbore" model rare fourth and fifth extra "side" valves change the possible fingering and non-fingering positions from eight to thirty-two.

The term 'five-valve euphonium' does not refer to variations of the double bell euphonium made by various brass instrument companies during the same time period. Some of the double-bell euphoniums had five valves, with the fifth valve either not on top with the other four, or by itself off to the side, but the double-bell fifth valve was used for switching the sound to the second smaller trombone-sized bell, and not for changing the fingering pitch of the instrument. Also, Cerveny Musical Instruments manufactures several euphoniums with five vertical rotary valves today, but this is an unrelated recent development.

Notable euphonium players

Main article: List of euphonium players

German Ferdinand Sommer, if one discounts the claims of Moritz and Sax each of whose horns also approached a euphonium in nature, in addition to being credited with inventing the euphonium as the Sommerhorn in 1843, as a soloist on the horn, qualifies as the first euphonium player to significantly advance and alter the understanding of the instrument.

United Kingdom

• Alfred James Phasey (1834–1888), English ophicleide, baritone and euphonium artist credited with modifying the bore of the baritone saxhorn, precursor of the baritone horn, to enlarge it and make it more resonant thereby creating the first true euphonium which he went on to popularize as a performer and author of an early instructional method for tenor brass.
• Steven Mead, English euphonium soloist and professor at the Royal Northern College of Music noted internationally for advancing the British euphonium sound.
• David Thornton, principal euphonium of the Brighouse and Rastrick Band and student of Steven Mead noted for winning several prestigious international competitions and advancing the British euphonium sound through broadcast as well as recording media.
• David Childs, Professor of Euphonium at the University of North Texas. Noted for extensive soloist experience with multiple organizations, amongst other musical accolades.

United States

• Simone Mantia (1873–1951), an Italian-born American baritone horn/euphonium virtuoso and also trombone artist at the start of the 20th century. Playing as soloist with the Sousa and the Pryor Bands, Mantia was the first euphonium virtuoso to record and popularized this non-orchestral instrument in the United States.
• Leonard Falcone (1899–1985), Italian-born American baritone/euphonium soloist, arranger, professor, Director of Bands at Michigan State University, and teacher of many noted euphonium artists. Falcone advanced an operatic passionate baritone style and is the namesake of the Leonard Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Festival, the leading venue for the instrument in the United States.
• Arthur W. Lehman, (1917–2009), American euphonium soloist known as 'Art', Recording Artist, United States Marine Band, noted euphonium author of works such as The Art of Euphonium. Lehman was a student of Harold Brasch and Simone Mantia and advanced the concept of a rich resonant sound with no vibrato pioneered by Mantia.
• Brian Bowman, former soloist with the U.S. Navy Band (1971–75) and U.S. Air Force Band (1976–91); former professor of euphonium at the University of North Texas, co-editor of "Arban's Method for Trombone and Euphonium". Bowman innovated a fusion of the mellow British sound with deep passion heard in Falcone recordings, becoming the best known American artist at the end of the 20th century through recording, teaching and the first euphonium recital at Carnegie Hall.
• Bernard Atwell McKinney, later Kiane Zawadi (1932–2024) jazz trombonist and euphonium player, one of the few jazz soloists on the latter instrument.

Japan

• Toru Miura, professor of euphonium at the Kunitachi College of Music; soloist and clinician who was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the International Tuba Euphonium Association (formerly TUBA) for his role in promoting the instrument.

Brazil

• Irineu de Almeida (known as Irineu Batina) (1863–1916), one of the most influential musicians and professors of the genre of Choro, the first Brazilian typical music. Irineu was an active composer, euphoniumist, ophicleidist and professor, and has participated in the first commercial recordings of Brazilian music, from 1900 onwards, in Rio de Janeiro, playing both euphonium and ophicleide, as a composer, soloist and counterpointist. De Almeida was also professor of the prodigy Pixinguinha, who later became the most important developer of the whole genre of Choro, and one of the most important creators in Brazilian music history. Due to Irineu Batina and his contemporaries, the bombardino is an essential part of the genre of Choro, which is an intangible cultural heritage in Brazil.

Repertoire

Main article: Euphonium repertoire

The euphonium repertoire consists of solo literature and orchestral, or, more commonly, concert band parts written for the euphonium. Since its invention in 1843, the euphonium has been important in ensembles. While the euphonium is predominantly a concert band instrument, certain composers have featured it in symphonic music. Notably, it has iconic appearances in Holst's The Planets. Still, solo literature was slow to appear, consisting of only a handful of lighter solos until the 1960s. Since then, however, the breadth and depth of the solo euphonium repertoire has increased dramatically.

Amilcare Ponchielli, composer of the first original euphonium solo

Upon its invention, it was clear that the euphonium had, compared to its predecessors the serpent and ophicleide, a wide range and had a consistently rich, pleasing sound throughout that range. It was flexible both in tone quality and intonation and could blend well with a variety of ensembles, gaining it immediate popularity with composers and conductors as the principal tenor-voices solo instrument in brass band settings, especially in Britain. It is no surprise, then, that when British composers – some of the same ones who were writing for brass bands – began to write serious, original music for the concert band in the early 20th century, they used the euphonium in a very similar role.

When American composers also began writing for the concert band as its own artistic medium in the 1930s and 1940s, they continued the British brass and concert band tradition of using the euphonium as the principal tenor-voiced solo. This is not to say that composers, then and now, valued the euphonium only for its lyrical capabilities. Indeed, examination of a large body of concert band literature reveals that the euphonium functions as a "jack of all trades."

Though the euphonium was, as previously noted, embraced from its earliest days by composers and arrangers in band settings, orchestral composers have, by and large, not taken advantage of this capability. There are, nevertheless, several orchestral works, a few of which are standard repertoire, in which composers have called for instruments, such as the Wagner tuba, for which euphonium is commonly substituted in the present.

In contrast to the long-standing practice of extensive euphonium use in wind bands and orchestras, there was, until approximately forty years ago, literally no body of solo literature written specifically for the euphonium, and euphonium players were forced to borrow the literature of other instruments. Fortunately, given the instrument's multifaceted capabilities discussed above, solos for many different instruments are easily adaptable to performance on the euphonium.

The earliest surviving solo composition written specifically for euphonium or one of its saxhorn cousins is the Concerto per Flicorno Basso (1872) by Amilcare Ponchielli. For almost a century after this, the euphonium solo repertoire consisted of only a dozen or so virtuosic pieces, mostly light in character. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, American composers began to write the first of the "new school" of serious, artistic solo works specifically for euphonium. Since then, there has been a virtual explosion of solo repertoire for the euphonium. In a mere four decades, the solo literature has expanded from virtually zero to thousands of pieces. More and more composers have become aware of the tremendous soloistic capabilities of the euphonium, and have constantly "pushed the envelope" with new literature in terms of tessitura, endurance, technical demands, and extended techniques.

Finally, the euphonium has, thanks to a handful of enterprising individuals, begun to make inroads in jazz, pop and other non-concert performance settings. One well-known euphonium player from the world of popular music is Don McGlashan, the New Zealand musician who began his musical career as an orchestral brass player before finding success in popular music with bands such as Blam Blam Blam and The Mutton Birds.

See also

• List of euphonium players
• Baritone Horn
• William Bell (tuba player)
• List of euphonium, baritone horn and tenor horn manufacturers
• Steven Mead
• Brian Bowman

References

Sources

• Adler-McKean, Jack (2020). The Techniques of Tuba Playing (in multiple languages). Kassel: Bärenreiter. ISBN 978-3-7618-2421-4. OCLC 1201192145. Wikidata Q134349391.
• Bevan, Clifford (2000). The Tuba Family (2nd ed.). Winchester: Piccolo Press. ISBN 1-872203-30-2. OCLC 993463927. OL 19533420M. Wikidata Q111040769.
• Herbert, Trevor; Myers, Arnold; Wallace, John, eds. (2019). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Brass Instruments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316841273. ISBN 978-1-316-63185-0. OCLC 1038492212. OL 34730943M. Wikidata Q114571908.
• Yeo, Douglas (2021). An Illustrated Dictionary for the Modern Trombone, Tuba, and Euphonium Player. Dictionaries for the Modern Musician. Peterson, Lennie (illustrator). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-538-15966-8. LCCN 2021020757. OCLC 1249799159. OL 34132790M. Wikidata Q111040546.
• The History of the Euphonium and its use in Orchestral Music by Jeff Cottrell 2005 Archive retrieved 28 January 2008
• Euphonium Asylum site by Nikk Pilato 2005 Archive retrieved 28 January 2008
• History of the Baritone and the Euphonium by historyman 2008 2015 Archive

External links

• ITEA — The International Tuba Euphonium Association
• Media related to Euphonium at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of euphonium at Wiktionary
• TubaForum.net — online forum
• History of the Tuba Podcast — Jake Kline & Jack Adler-McKean, also discusses the euphonium
• Euphonium Music Guide — a list of original euphonium literature
• Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). "Euphonium" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.