Posted by Brian Frederiksen on June 23, 2001 at 14:52:35:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Did you attend Curtis? posted by Jimmy D. on June 23, 2001 at 12:31:50:
Here's the story from a different era:
For his audition, Jacobs played a four-valve Conn E flat tuba, which he played as a BB flat tuba by tying the fourth valve down and pulling the slides sufficiently to allow him to play in tune. He played the Carnival of Venice, with all variations, and Herbert Clarke’s Stars in a Velvety Sky. The audition panel consisted of Josef Hoffman, director of the school; Philip Donatelli, tubist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Curtis Institute’s tuba teacher; and the concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Next, they asked him to play the tuba part of the overture to Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. It was the first time he had seen a high C. He did not think he could hit the note and brought it down to a B flat.
He remembers saying to the panel, “‘I cannot play that, it is too high for the tuba!’ I was a fifteen-year-old playing on a little E flat tuba.
“They asked, ‘Why do you say that?’
“I said, ‘It’s a C. The highest note on the tuba, according to the [Otto Langley] book, is B flat, that’s what I was told.’
“They just laughed and said, ‘Well, try it again.’
“I tried it and missed it.
“They said, ‘Try it again.’
“I tried it again, and played it perfectly. I played the rest of the music without a problem.”
Finally they asked him to play Wagner’s Rienzi Overture.
Recalling that audition, Jacobs said, “Can you imagine that little E flat horn with a valve taped down. I was doing Wagner operas and all sorts of music on it. They liked me very much. I had a very fine audition.”