Contrabassoon
An octave higher listed
The contra-bassoon is a musical instrument with a double reed, the lowest representative of the woodwinds in the orchestra. The name comes from the contra - octave, whose profound tones can produce it, structurally it is basically a to double extended bassoon ( in English there is also the designation double bassoon ). In the orchestra it is played as a side instrument of bassoonist who also abbreviated " counterpoint " to call the instrument.
Design and function
The tone and the basic structure of the double bassoon are identical to the bassoon. The handles are largely the same, the sound is but one octave lower.
The tube is bent three or four times, and the vibrating column of air 5.93 m long. Unlike its little brother, the contrabassoon, apart from S- bend and double reed, not be broken down into several parts, as extends the mechanics of the valve due to the enormous size of the instrument to the whole corpus.
Early contrabassoons had in the bass, the low C, now most go instruments to subcontra B or A, rare to ace. In this low position, however, a semitone is an extension of the air column up to 40 cm, often there are therefore interchangeable bells, which can be used depending on the required lowest note to have no unnecessary weight to the instrument. The height is about the sounding c '( notated c'' ) reaches the maximum, but most composers did not go over the a addition, because the sound on the top register is only thin and tortured.
History
In the second volume of Syntagma Musicum ( Wolfenbüttel 1619) describes Michael Praetorius first attempts of the then large group of bassoons in different moods add a Fagotcontra, the octave down. These early tools, however, were like the ordinary bassoons, bent only once in the tube and accordingly unwieldy to play ( An illustration can be found in the links). A similar instrument, called in France " Cromorne français " or " Contrebasse de basson ", was about 1670 to 1740 in the Royal Concert, the "Grande Ecurie et les Gardes Suisses " in use.
Parallel to the Heckel bassoon 's reform of the flap system and the mechanics of the double bassoon rethought, and the tube was repeatedly bent.
Use in the music
Soloist
The use of the double bassoon as a solo instrument is only possible mainly due to the extremely low range, but a work from the pen of a well-known composer does exist: The Bass Nightingale, Erwin Schulhoff, where even a two -part fugue ( with rhythmically staggered inserts ) occurs. Concerts for contrabassoon and orchestra who composes Gunther Schuller, Donald Erb and Kalevi Aho.
Chamber Music
In chamber music, the contrabassoon acts mainly as a bass for large wind instruments, as in Mozart's " Gran Partita " or Dvořák Wind Serenade Op. 44
Orchestra
In Baroque Orchestra the contrabassoon was used in rare cases to reinforce the basso continuo group. Busy is its use in a monumental performance of Handel's " Messiah" and in JS Bach's St. John Passion. But even in Haydn's Creation the instrument to two onomatopoeic points can clearly be heard: the " lion's roar " and the wording " The floor pushes heavy beasts ". As of this time, so towards the end of the 18th century, the contrabassoon is more commonly used in the orchestra, and at times also used for solo tasks. Beethoven, for example, used the contrabassoon very characteristic in the grave duet of his opera Fidelio and in the 9th Symphony.
It is noteworthy that Rimsky -Korsakov claims in his Treatise on Instrumentation, the contrabassoon is (as well as the piccolo ) are generally not capable of expressive sound. Perhaps for this reason, most composers have the instrument as soloists for dreary, eerie effects: in Verdi's Don Carlos, it accompanies the Grand Inquisitor, Strauss leaves his Salome by the curse of the lokanaan with a contra - solo alone, Maurice Ravel used it in his Ma mère l' oye cycle in the tale of the beautiful ( clarinet ) and the Beast ( contrabassoon ). Likewise, the opening melody of Ravel's Piano Concerto for the left hand is played by the contrabassoon.