The Tuba Concerto was composed in 1954 when Vaughan Williams was over eighty years of age, but amongst his late works is exceptionally fresh and effective, bursting with melodic invention. It was written for the London Symphony Orchestra's principal tuba Philip Catelinet, and was first performed by them in June of that year under Sir John Barbirolli as part of the orchestra's Golden Jubilee celebrations, then published in 1955. For long the score was on hire only, and the work considered merely an eccentric trifle, but it has since achieved classic status – this is after all the first-ever tuba concerto, followed since by concertos by Edward Gregson (1976), John Williams (1985), Arutiunian (1992) and Kalevi Aho (2001) – and increasing demand for the score made its availability inevitable.

sources

A  Autograph score (1954), in the British Library, cited in correction lists from Vaughan Williams's amanuensis Roy Douglas

V,S  Piano score and Solo Tuba part, published by Oxford University Press in 1955

E  Full score, published by OUP in 1979

Ur  Urtext edition, edited by David Matthews and published by OUP in 2012

V, S and Ur are viewable online at IMSLP.