Seattle Opera's Wagner Tubas: 'A New Sound We've Never Heard'

As German composer Richard Wagner contemplated the Ring cycle in the 19^th century, he decided it wasn’t enough to create a four-night saga of gods and humans.

He also envisioned an instrument that didn’t yet exist, one that could sound "strident" one moment and “gorgeous and mellow” the next. He wrote the music for the Ring in the 1860s and 70s with the instrument in mind. Then he commissioned someone to build it.