The Wagner tuba has accumulated a thick crust of fable in little over a century and a quarter since its invention.This book revisits original sources to bring the facts of the instrument’s development to light: the scope of Wagner’s vision, the myriad helpers who gave the vision practical form, the musicians who pioneered the playing technique, and the new generations of composers who adopted the curious little tubas.Though the scholarship is painstaking, all of these elements are woven into an approachable narrative that ranges widely across the European musical legacy.