Английская Википедия:Contrabass trombone

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The contrabass trombone (Шаблон:Lang-de, Шаблон:Lang-it) is the lowest-pitched instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. While modern instruments are pitched in 12′ F with a single slide, the first practical contrabass trombones appeared in the mid-19th century built in 18′ B♭ an octave below the tenor trombone with a double slide. German opera composer Richard Wagner notably called for this instrument in his Der Ring des Nibelungen opera cycle in the 1870s, and contrabass trombone has since appeared occasionally in large orchestral works without becoming a permanent member of the modern orchestra.

Since the late 20th century, the double-slide contrabass has largely been supplanted by the less cumbersome bass-contrabass in F, a fourth below the B♭ tenor and bass trombones. In the 21st century the contrabass has enjoyed something of a revival, particularly in film and video game soundtracks.

History

Шаблон:Broader The contrabass trombone first appeared in Renaissance music in the late 16th century as the Шаблон:Lang (Шаблон:Lit.), a sackbut in 18′ B♭. The bass trombones of the time were pitched in 12′ F (Шаблон:Lang), or 14′ E♭ (Шаблон:Lang).Шаблон:Sfn During this period, the contrabass trombone was built with a very long slide, with an extension handle to reach the lower positions. This instrument was seldom used and generally unsatisfactory with players, being unwieldy and taxing to play.Шаблон:Sfn

Файл:Weber trombone slide diagram in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 1816.png

Gottfried Weber's trombone slide concept in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 1816

The innovation that enabled a practical instrument was the double slide, first documented nearly two centuries later in 1816 by German writer and composer Gottfried Weber. He proposed that it would lend greater facility to the bass trombone, and described the idea of using two joined outer slides moving on four inner tubes, halving the distances between slide positions. Makers soon applied the double slide to bass trombones in F and E♭ that would normally require a slide handle to reach the longest positions.Шаблон:Sfn Newly invented models of contrabass trombone in low 16′ C and 18′ B♭ soon followed, and the first double-slide contrabass trombones were produced by Parisian maker Jean Hilaire Asté (known as Halary) in the 1830s.Шаблон:Sfn

First use in orchestral music

In France, composer Georges Bizet called for contrabass trombone in his opera Шаблон:Lang (1869), and in his completion in the same year of Noé, an unfinished opera by his father-in-law and French composer Fromental Halévy. Soon after, Wagner notably employed contrabass trombone in his Der Ring des Nibelungen, a cycle of four operas commonly known as the Ring cycle, writing a fourth trombone part to double on bass and contrabass trombone. For the première in 1876, Wagner commissioned a contrabass in 18′ B♭ from Berlin instrument maker Carl Wilhelm Moritz, who built it with a double slide.Шаблон:Sfn The double slide and the pitch one octave lower means this instrument has the same seven positions as the tenor trombone, and a range to the low EШаблон:Sub in the "spear" motif in Das Rheingold:

In Britain in the 1860s, London instrument maker Boosey & Co. built a small number of "Basso Profundo" double-slide contrabass trombones in 16′ C. These were intended for use in British orchestras performing Wagner's operas, and one surviving instrument built in 1898 was named "King Kong" by players. At the turn of the 20th century, American instrument manufacturer C. G. Conn produced a small number of B♭ double-slide contrabass trombones.Шаблон:Sfn

19th century Italy

Файл:Cimbasso in Bb by Stowasser SCCHMM-95928.jpg

Cimbasso in B♭ by Stowasser, early 20th century. St Cecilia's Hall, University of Edinburgh

Italian composers for much of the 19th century specified the cimbasso as the bass voice of the brass section, a confusing term which over time referred to an upright serpent, ophicleide, or early variants of the tuba. In preparation for the La Scala première of Aida in 1872, Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi expressed his displeasure about "that devilish Шаблон:Lang" (referring to the tuba) as the bass of the trombone section, preferring a "Шаблон:Lang".Шаблон:Sfn In 1887 for Otello, Milan instrument maker Шаблон:Ill produced the Шаблон:Lang (or sometimes, Шаблон:Lang), a valved contrabass trombone in low B♭. This instrument blended with the usual Italian trombone section of the time—three tenor valve trombones in B♭—and became the prototype for the modern cimbasso.Шаблон:Sfn Verdi and Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini both wrote for this instrument in their later operas, although confusingly they often referred to it as simply Шаблон:Lang to distinguish it from the tenor trombones.Шаблон:Sfn

Later innovations

In 1921, Ernst Dehmel, a Berlin trombonist, patented a new design of contrabass trombone that added two independent rotary valves to the old bass trombone in F, still found in Prussian military bands of the time. The valves provide a fully chromatic range by supplying missing low register notes between the pedal FШаблон:Sub in first position and the second partial CШаблон:Sub in sixth (slide fully extended, without using a handle). The valves also provide alternatives for other notes in long slide positions, thus neither a longer slide with a handle nor a cumbersome double slide are needed. Dehmel's bass-contrabass instrument is the prototype for all modern F contrabass trombone designs.Шаблон:Sfn

Contemporary use

Since the 1990s, the contrabass trombone in F with two valve attachments has all but replaced the double slide B♭ instrument.Шаблон:Sfn The contrabass trombone is increasingly called for in large orchestral works by modern composers, and routinely since the late 1990s in film and video game soundtracks.Шаблон:Sfn

Construction

Шаблон:Broader Шаблон:See also Instruments in F are built with two independent ("in-line") valves. These valves are usually tuned two ways. A "traditional" configuration common with European manufacturers has a first valve lowering the instrument a minor third into D, and a second that lowers it a fifth into B♭, which when used together lower the instrument a major sixth into A♭. The "American" style commonly favoured by American manufacturers and players has valves in C and D♭, combining to give A.Шаблон:Sfn This results in a contrabass with valves using the same intervals (F/C/D♭/A) as a two-valve bass trombone (B♭/F/G♭/D). Some instrument makers provide sets of tuning slides that allow changing between both configurations.

The bell diameter is similar to or slightly larger than a bass trombone, at around Шаблон:Convert. The bore is typically at least as wide as the Шаблон:Convert version usually used in modern bass trombones, and is commonly around Шаблон:Convert in size. Some models employ a dual-bore slide, and many models are now made using Axial or Hagmann valves.

Double slide instruments

Double slide contrabass trombones are still made by German makers Thein and Miraphone, in 18′ B♭ (Miraphone also offer one built in 16′ C). The bore is large, varying from Шаблон:Convert up to Шаблон:Convert for the largest Miraphone models. They are all built with at least one valve that lowers the instrument a fourth (i.e. B♭/F or C/G), and the Miraphone C model has a second independent valve tunable to A or A♭. The second valve can also be fitted with a smaller B♭ tuning slide, and has a reversible linkage to place the instrument in B♭, raising it to C when engaged.

Файл:Trombone (deel), NG-NM-10385-147 whitebalanced.jpg

A double slide from an early bass trombone, Шаблон:Circa. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The double slide can be conceived of as two regular trombone slides operating as one, i.e. two outer slide bows braced together, moving on four parallel inner slides. Although it eliminates the need for a long slide with a handle, it doubles the weight, the friction of movement, and the length of the air column that must be strictly cylindrical.Шаблон:Sfn

Older double slide instruments from the 19th and early 20th centuries (e.g. Conn, Boosey & Co., French maker Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy) were built with narrower bores and did not have valve attachments, and some instruments only have six usable slide positions, instead of the seven that would be expected.

Range

Шаблон:Image frame The range of a modern F contrabass trombone with two valves is fully chromatic from at least CШаблон:Sub to FШаблон:Sub, with a comfortable working range of approximately EШаблон:Sub to DШаблон:Sub.Шаблон:Sfn Pedal tones are distinct and resonant, and can be obtained to CШаблон:Sub with the six reachable open slide positions. In theory the range extends as far as F♯Шаблон:Sub using both valves, but in practice very low pedal tones become increasingly difficult to produce on cylindrical-bore brass instruments due to their inherent acoustical limitations.

Шаблон:Image frame The range of the original B♭ contrabass trombone demanded by Wagner extends to EШаблон:Sub.Шаблон:Sfn With a valve in F the range extends to CШаблон:Sub, although some instruments with a shorter slide cannot always reach the CШаблон:Sub at full extent, and BШаблон:Sub above the B♭Шаблон:Sub pedal is unobtainable. These notes are not missing on the modern F contrabass, which can access the lowest useful range of the double slide contrabass.Шаблон:Sfn

Repertoire

After Wagner's reinvention of the B♭ contrabass trombone for the Ring cycle, it has occasionally been used by other 20th century composers. In Germany, composer Richard Strauss wrote for it in his opera Elektra (1908), and Arnold Schoenberg scored Gurre-Lieder' (1913) for a section of seven trombones including alto and contrabass.Шаблон:Sfn French composer Vincent D'Indy, inspired by performances of Wagner's Ring cycle, wrote for it in several of his later works, including his last two symphonies. It has also been called for in works by composers Havergal Brian, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Edgard Varèse, György Ligeti, and Pierre Boulez. Despite this, the contrabass trombone did not earn a permanent seat in the opera or symphony orchestra.Шаблон:Sfn

Since the late 1980s the contrabass trombone has appeared in orchestral works by Harrison Birtwistle, Sofia Gubaidulina, Hans Werner Henze, and Manfred Trojahn.Шаблон:Sfn It has also enjoyed a revival particularly in film and video game soundtracks, due to the influence of Los Angeles session players Phil Teele, Bill Reichenbach, Bob Sanders and others. The contrabass trombone first appeared in film music in Jerry Goldsmith's score for Planet of the Apes (1968), played by Phil Teele.Шаблон:Sfn The popularisation of loud, low-brass heavy orchestral music in films and video games like the remake of Planet of the Apes (2001), Call of Duty (2003) and Inception (2010) has made the contrabass trombone nearly ubiquitous, and bass trombonists are now routinely required to double on contrabass for soundtrack session work.Шаблон:Sfn

In jazz, the contrabass trombone can sometimes be employed to play the fourth (bass) trombone parts in big bands. Maria Schneider has written for it in several of her works, featuring on her 2007 Sky Blue and 2017 The Thompson Fields albums.

Performance

The double-slide contrabass trombone in B♭ is taxing to play, even with modern instruments.Шаблон:Sfn It is unwieldy, being about twice as heavy as a tenor or bass trombone, and its cylindrical bore is less efficient than a similar-pitched tuba, requiring more air to produce a good sound. The F contrabass is more agile, since for much of its range it has a shorter air column and, like the bass trombone, has two valves which allow access to more alternate positions. Nonetheless, like the tuba, the instrument is better suited as the contrabass voice of harmonic material in an ensemble, rather than virtuoso or solo passages.

The use of a contrabass trombone in an orchestra is usually as an additional fourth player to the standard section of three trombones. In the past, the lack of good instruments, and players able to play them, meant that contrabass trombone parts were often played on a tuba or bass trombone (as can be heard on many 20th century recordings of Wagner, Verdi and Puccini).Шаблон:Sfn Nowadays however, it is considered unacceptable to use anything but a contrabass trombone to play them, at least in professional settings.Шаблон:Sfn Most opera house orchestras and some symphony orchestras require the bass trombonist to double on the contrabass trombone.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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