Contrabassoon: The Orchestra’s Sub-Bass Double Reed

Overview

The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon that sounds an octave lower. It plays in the same sub-bass register as the tuba, double bass, or contrabass clarinet, and is the lowest-pitched member of the standard symphonic woodwind section. The instrument’s sounding range begins at B₀ (or A₀ on models fitted with a low A extension) and extends up over three octaves to D₄, although the top fourth of that range is rarely scored for.

Contrabassoon parts are notated an octave above sounding pitch and most often use bass clef. As with the bassoon, extended high-register passages may use tenor clef, though this is rarely necessary. Treble clef is even less common, used only for the most ambitious solo repertoire. Tonally the contrabassoon resembles the bassoon at every point of its compass but is distinctly different in colour: thinner in the extreme high register and characteristically booming, organ-pedal-like in the lowest register, where the flared bell — which the bassoon does not have — helps it produce powerful contrabass tones.

Origin and History

Precursors to the contrabassoon are documented as early as 1590 in Austria and Germany, at a time when the growing popularity of doubling the bass line led to the development of lower-pitched dulcians. Examples of these low-pitched dulcians include the octavebass, the quintfagott, and the quartfagott. There is documentary evidence that a contrafagott was used in Frankfurt in 1626. Independent Baroque precursors developed in France in the 1680s and later in England in the 1690s, parallel to the central-European dulcian tradition.

The contrabassoon proper was developed especially in England in the mid-18th century; the oldest surviving instrument, which came in four parts and has only three keys, was built in 1714. By that time the contrabassoon was beginning to be accepted in church music. Notable early uses include J.S. Bach’s St John Passion (1739–49 versions) and G.F. Handel’s L’Allegro (1740) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749). Until the late 19th century, however, the instrument typically had a weak tone and poor intonation. For this reason, contrabass woodwind parts were often scored for or played on a serpent, contrabass sarrusophone, or — less frequently — the reed contrabass, until improvements by Heckel in the late 19th century secured the contrabassoon’s place as the standard double-reed contrabass.

For more than a century, between 1880 and 2000, Heckel’s design remained relatively unchanged. The American maker Fox began manufacturing an instrument in 1971 (with input from Chip Owen) that included some improvements. Through most of the 20th century, changes were limited to an upper vent key near the bocal socket, a tuning slide, and a few key linkages to facilitate technical passages. In 2000, Heckel announced a completely new keywork and Fox introduced its own new key system based on input from New York Philharmonic contrabassoonist Arlan Fast. Both companies’ improvements allow for greater technical facility and an extended upper range.

Construction and Materials

The instrument is twice as long as the bassoon and curves back on itself twice. Because of its weight and shape, it is supported by an endpin that rests on the floor rather than by a seat strap. Additional support is sometimes provided by a strap around the player’s neck. A wider hand position is required than on the bassoon, as the primary finger keys are widely spaced.

The bore, accounting for the increased length, is narrower than the bassoon’s, although still wider than that of the oboe or cor anglais. The contrabassoon has a water key to expel condensation and a tuning slide for gross pitch adjustments. The instrument typically comes apart in a few sections (plus the bocal); some models cannot be disassembled without a screwdriver. On instruments with a low A extension, the bell often comes apart in two pieces.

Contrabassoons use a simplified version of the bassoon’s keywork, although all open toneholes on the bassoon are necessarily replaced with keys and pads on the contrabassoon because of the physical distances between the holes. The reed is considerably larger than a bassoon reed in both length and width; the large blades allow ample vibration to produce the low register. The general structure of the reed is very similar to a bassoon reed, and as with the bassoon, scraping the reed affects intonation, tone, and response.

Playing Technique

In the lower register, contrabassoon fingerings are almost identical to those of the bassoon. Differences in fingering begin in the second register and become totally unrelated in the high register, partly because the contrabassoon’s harmonic series differs from the bassoon’s. The reed’s larger size requires more air volume than a bassoon reed, and the player generally adopts a slightly more open embouchure.

The instrument is supported on its endpin so that the player sits behind it rather than wrapping the bassoon’s seat-strap mechanism around his or her body. This frees the hands for the wider key spacing but adds a logistical consideration to performance setups. The endpin and curving body also mean that, although technically possible, fast passagework is harder to execute cleanly than on the bassoon — a consideration that has shaped how composers write for the instrument.

Cultural Context

The contrabassoon is a supplementary orchestral instrument, most frequently found in larger symphonic works, where it often doubles the bass trombone or tuba at the octave. Frequent exponents of such scoring were Brahms and Mahler, as well as Richard Strauss and Dmitri Shostakovich. The first composer to write a separate contrabassoon part in a symphony was Beethoven, in his Fifth Symphony (1808). It can also be heard providing the bass line in the brief “Janissary band” section of the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, just before the tenor solo. Bach, Handel (in Music for the Royal Fireworks), Haydn (in both of his oratorios The Creation and The Seasons) and Mozart (in the Coronation Mass) had occasionally used it in other genres before Beethoven.

Composers have often used the contrabassoon for comical or sinister effect, taking advantage of its seeming “clumsiness” and its sepulchral rattle, respectively. A clear example can be heard in Paul Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (originally scored for contrabass sarrusophone). Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is one of the few orchestral works that requires two contrabassoons.

Most major orchestras employ a contrabassoonist, either as a primary player or as a bassoon doubler, as do many symphonic bands.

Notable Players and Examples

As a featured instrument the contrabassoon can be heard in several works, most notably Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and the opening of his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Gustav Holst gave the contrabassoon multiple solos in The Planets, primarily in “Mercury, the Winged Messenger” and “Uranus, the Magician.”

Although the solo literature has historically been thin, modern composers including Gunther Schuller, Donald Erb, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Woolrich, Kalevi Aho, Ruth Gipps and Daniel Dorff have written concertos for the instrument. Notable performances include Michael Tilson Thomas’s Urban Legend for Contrabassoon and Orchestra with Steven Braunstein and the San Francisco Symphony; Gunther Schuller’s Concerto with Lewis Lipnick and the National Symphony Orchestra; John Woolrich’s Falling Down with Margaret Cookhorn and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Donald Erb’s Concerto with Gregg Henegar and the London Symphony Orchestra; and Kalevi Aho’s Concerto with Lewis Lipnick and the Bergen Symphony Orchestra. One of the few full-time contrabassoon soloists in the world is Susan Nigro, who has released several CDs. Henry Skolnick commissioned, premiered and recorded Aztec Ceremonies for contrabassoon by Graham Waterhouse. A rare jazz appearance came from Garvin Bushell, who sat in as a guest with saxophonist John Coltrane during his 1961 Village Vanguard sessions.

Donald Erb and Kalevi Aho write even higher than the standard upper range in their concertos for the instrument (to A₄ and C₅, respectively), but this is extraordinary and well beyond the expectations of the typical instrument or player. At the lower end, Richard Bobo of the Tulsa Symphony has designed a “subcontrabassoon,” a full octave below the contrabassoon, with the intention of manufacturing the first working prototype.

Comparison with Related Instruments

In the woodwind family the contrabassoon belongs to the same world as the bassoon, oboe and cor anglais — all double-reed conical-bore instruments — but covers the lowest range. Compared with the bassoon, it is twice as long, sounds an octave lower, has a flared bell, uses an endpin rather than a seat strap, and is supported by a simplified version of bassoon keywork.

In its register the contrabassoon overlaps with the tuba, the double bass, the contrabass clarinet, and the bass trombone (which it often doubles at the octave). Its tone is darker and woodier than the tuba’s, more sustained and less articulate than the double bass’s pizzicato, and more “buzzy” or “rattling” — particularly in the low register — than the contrabass clarinet, which has a smoother cylindrical-bore tone. Contrabassoon writing exploits this distinctive rattle for sinister or grotesque effect, while the instrument’s organ-pedal warmth in long sustained notes provides foundational weight that no other woodwind can supply. The historic contrabass alternatives — the serpent, the contrabass sarrusophone, and the reed contrabass — have all but disappeared from regular use, leaving the contrabassoon as the orchestra’s standard sub-bass double reed.