Olosabut (1885)
The World's Oldest Tuba Solo
Tuba - Sheet Music

Chamber Music Tuba, Piano

SKU: CF.W2693

The World's Oldest Tuba Solo. Composed by William Pettee. Edited by Curtis Peacock. Sws. Set of Score and Parts. 8+2 pages. Carl Fischer Music #W2693. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.W2693).

ISBN 9781491158586. UPC: 680160917198. 9 x 12 inches.

While unknown today, composer William Pettee (1839a1891) was clearly a remarkable musician and composer evidenced by the fact that he wrote funeral music for Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant. This funeral music survives to this day in a piano reduction format and is the basis of some of my most current arranging projects. This new edition of Olosabut was the culmination of years of research into the era commonly called The Golden Age of Bands, a period spanning 1880a1920. This project initially began when I played the solo part for Olosabut with a reading band when I was a guest artist at the Northwest Brass Festival in Seattle in 2010. For this new edition, I created a score with modern transpositions. Prior to this, there has been no score for this music. There is often no score for American band music from this era. I also adjusted the dynamics and articulations to allow the soloist to be heard and composed a handful of new musical lines to correct the problems stemming from inconsistent number of measures in the original edition. Finally, I created a reduction for tuba and piano as well as a new edition for solo tuba and orchestra. Olosabut (atuba soloa spelled backwards) from 1885 is possibly the oldest American tuba solo to survive to the twenty-first century. I have done extensive research in this area, and while there may be some earlier pieces with small obbligato solos for tuba, and perhaps even earlier full-fledged tuba solos, I believe this is the earliest music with a serious solo tuba part throughout that survives to this day. In the Tuba Source Book, several early solos are listed from the 1880s. In my research, I have attempted to obtain all of the music listed in the Tuba Source Book from the 1880s or earlier though the Library of Congress and various historic libraries in America. Most of this music for solo tuba and band is incomplete or entirely unavailable today though. The earliest of these is Southwellas Quickstep (Fun for Basses) from 1881. This is described as a novelty march for tuba section, however. A notable omission from the Tuba Source Book, though, is William Petteeas Olosabut, which is clearly marked 1885 on the original published sheet music. This piece is not listed in the Tuba Source Book. However, a different piece by Pettee called Osceola is listed from 1889.
While unknown today, composer William Pettee (1839-1891) was clearly a remarkable musician and composer evidenced by the fact that he wrote funeral music for Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant. This funeral music survives to this day in a piano reduction format and is the basis of some of my most current arranging projects. This new edition of Olosabut was the culmination of years of research into the era commonly called The Golden Age of Bands, a period spanning 1880-1920. This project initially began when I played the solo part for Olosabut with a reading band when I was a guest artist at the Northwest Brass Festival in Seattle in 2010. For this new edition, I created a score with modern transpositions. Prior to this, there has been no score for this music. There is often no score for American band music from this era. I also adjusted the dynamics and articulations to allow the soloist to be heard and composed a handful of new musical lines to correct the problems stemming from inconsistent number of measures in the original edition. Finally, I created a reduction for tuba and piano as well as a new edition for solo tuba and orchestra. Olosabut ("tuba solo" spelled backwards) from 1885 is possibly the oldest American tuba solo to survive to the twenty-first century. I have done extensive research in this area, and while there may be some earlier pieces with small obbligato solos for tuba, and perhaps even earlier full-fledged tuba solos, I believe this is the earliest music with a serious solo tuba part throughout that survives to this day. In the Tuba Source Book, several early solos are listed from the 1880s. In my research, I have attempted to obtain all of the music listed in the Tuba Source Book from the 1880s or earlier though the Library of Congress and various historic libraries in America. Most of this music for solo tuba and band is incomplete or entirely unavailable today though. The earliest of these is Southwell's Quickstep (Fun for Basses) from 1881. This is described as a novelty march for tuba section, however. A notable omission from the Tuba Source Book, though, is William Pettee's Olosabut, which is clearly marked 1885 on the original published sheet music. This piece is not listed in the Tuba Source Book. However, a different piece by Pettee called Osceola is listed from 1889.
While unknown today, composer William Pettee (1839–1891) was clearly a remarkable musician and composer evidenced by the fact that he wrote funeral music for Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant. This funeral music survives to this day in a piano reduction format and is the basis of some of my most current arranging projects. This new edition of Olosabut was the culmination of years of research into the era commonly called The Golden Age of Bands, a period spanning 1880–1920. This project initially began when I played the solo part for Olosabut with a reading band when I was a guest artist at the Northwest Brass Festival in Seattle in 2010. For this new edition, I created a score with modern transpositions. Prior to this, there has been no score for this music. There is often no score for American band music from this era. I also adjusted the dynamics and articulations to allow the soloist to be heard and composed a handful of new musical lines to correct the problems stemming from inconsistent number of measures in the original edition. Finally, I created a reduction for tuba and piano as well as a new edition for solo tuba and orchestra.Olosabut (“tuba solo” spelled backwards) from 1885 is possibly the oldest American tuba solo to survive to the twenty-first century. I have done extensive research in this area, and while there may be some earlier pieces with small obbligato solos for tuba, and perhaps even earlier full-fledged tuba solos, I believe this is the earliest music with a serious solo tuba part throughout that survives to this day. In the Tuba Source Book, several early solos are listed from the 1880s. In my research, I have attempted to obtain all of the music listed in the Tuba Source Book from the 1880s or earlier though the Library of Congress and various historic libraries in America. Most of this music for solo tuba and band is incomplete or entirely unavailable today though. The earliest of these is Southwell’s Quickstep (Fun for Basses) from 1881. This is described as a novelty march for tuba section, however. A notable omission from the Tuba Source Book, though, is William Pettee’s Olosabut, which is clearly marked 1885 on the original published sheet music. This piece is not listed in the Tuba Source Book. However, a different piece by Pettee called Osceola is listed from 1889.