 Contrabass natural trumpet in E♭ built c. 1920 by Evette & Schaeffer. St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh | |
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| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 423.233 (Valved aerophone sounded by lip vibration) |
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The contrabass trumpet is the lowest-pitched member of the trumpet family, sounding below the bass trumpet. Only a few exist. The instrument appeared in the mid-20th century and has no orchestral or jazz repertoire.[1] Usually built in 12' F a perfect fourth below the B♭ bass trumpet, it has the same length as the F contrabass trombone, cimbasso, or tuba. Some (sometimes called the subcontrabass trumpet) are built larger in 18' B♭— an octave below the bass trumpet and two octaves below the standard B♭ trumpet.
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PHIL TEELE contrabass trombone solo 2000
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Siegfried Act II, Scene II, fight between Fafner and Siegfried
Transcription
History
A "contrabass trumpet: in 18' B♭ played by tuba player Don Butterfield appeared in 1962 on the TV show I've Got a Secret.[3] The instrument was loaned to the show from a Claremont College University musical instrument collection, which is now at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.[4][2]
In 1967, Roger Bobo, tuba player with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, commissioned a contrabass trumpet from instrument maker George Strucel. Unhappy with the sound of the contrabass trombone in recording the Canzoni e Sonate by Gabrieli, they built an instrument in 12' F in the shape of a large bass trumpet, out of spare tubing and a bass trombone bell from the Bach factory.[5]
Tuba player Carl Kleinsteuber made four similarly configured contrabass trumpets in F in the 1990s. He made them cheaply out of spare brass instrument parts as "fun" instruments, acknowledging the absence of any known repertoire.[6]
In the early 2000s, Latvian trombonist Vairis Nartišs built four instruments in 18' B♭ which he called "subcontrabass trumpets", two of which are now in museums.[7][8]
Performance
Contrabass trumpets have not gained wide appeal, and very few instrument makers offer a contrabass trumpet today; Lars Gerdt in Sweden offers a model in F based on the Strucel/Bobo instrument.[9] Their unwieldy shape and weight can make contrabass trumpets difficult or impractical to play. The timbre from their cylindrical-bore construction, use of valves and similar range allow them to be readily substituted with a cimbasso.[5]
References
- ^ Leeman, Dan (27 July 2020). "What In The World Is A Contrabass Trumpet?". Notestem. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ a b KontrabassTubaMann (25 September 2021). "r/Tuba: The Contrabass trumpet at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ. Hilariously impractical and awesome". Reddit. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ Butterfield, Don (contrabass trumpet); Moore, Gary (presenter) (2016) [Recorded 21 May 1962]. I've Got a Secret - Arlene Francis hands out Emmys! (Television episode). New York: CBS Television. Segment begins at 5 min, 43 sec. Retrieved 3 August 2022 – via YouTube, cited in Leeman (2020).
{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Gordon, Larry (21 April 2008). "A departure sadly noted". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
- ^ a b Bobo, Roger (16 November 2012). "Strucel Contrabass Trumpet in F". Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ Kleinsteuber, Carl (13 January 1997). "Re: Contrabass trumpet". Contrabass-L list archive. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- ^ Nartiss Latvia (2021). "Subcontrabass Trumpet Nartiss NATU711-1". Reverb. Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ Nartišs, Vairis. "Lowest Trumpet in the world: Subcontrabasstrumpet Nartišs Latvia". Showbrass.lv. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ "Contra Bass Trumpet". Lars Gerdt AB. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
This page was last edited on 3 January 2024, at 23:22