Contrabassophone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The contrabassophone is a woodwind instrument, invented about 1847 by German bassoon maker Heinrich Joseph Haseneier.[1] It was intended as a substitute for the contrabassoon, which at that time was an unsatisfactory instrument, with a muffled sound due to tone holes that were too small and too close together. Haseneier's design made use of some of the same principles that went into the Boehm system flute, in which keywork was developed based on tone holes with acoustically optimum sizes and positions. The contrabassophone's bore was substantially larger (by about a third) than that of the contrabassoon, and the result was an instrument with a powerful tone. Indeed, it was regarded as too loud for orchestral use, though it was suitable for outdoor use in military bands.[2] Many other European makers produced copies of the contrabassophone, including a lightweight version made of papier-mâché.[1]

Adolphe Fontaine-Besson patented a similar instrument in 1890 but allowed the patent to lapse in 1898.[2] By this time the contrabassophone had been largely superseded by improved versions of the contrabassoon for orchestral use, and by the tuba in wind bands.

  1. ^ a b Double Bassoon History. Vienna Symphonic Library. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  2. ^ a b c Dibley, Tom (April 2000). "A Contrabassophone by Alfred Morton". Galpin Society Journal 53: 60-77.  Online copy (JSTOR subscription required), retrieved 19 March 2007.

  • The Contrabassophone at Contrabass Mania. (Note: The implication that only Haseneier and Morton made contrabassophones, and in very limited numbers, appears to be based on a misunderstanding of Dibley's article.[2])


Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.