contrabass clarinet

noun. : a clarinet usually pitched an octave below the bass clarinet. called also double-bass clarinet, pedal clarinet.

Contrabass (from Italian: contrabbasso) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch - generally one octave below bass register instruments.

In the case of the contrabass clarinet, which is pitched a full octave lower than the bass clarinet, it is rarely if ever used as a solo instrument and more in a harmonic bass support role. In its lowest register it produces a rumbling pedal tone sound quality, very deep and dark.

The earliest known contrabass clarinet was the contre-basse guerrière invented in 1808 by a goldsmith named Dumas of Sommières; little else is known of this instrument. The batyphone (also spelled bathyphone, Ger. and Fr. batyphon) was a contrabass clarinet which was the outcome of W. F.

The terms for the instrument among classical performers are contrabass (which comes from the instrument's Italian name, contrabbasso), string bass (to distinguish it from brass bass instruments in a concert band, such as tubas), or simply bass.

The double bass, or contrabass as it is sometimes known, is the largest and lowest pitched bowed stringed instrument in a modern classical symphony orchestra.

B♭0 to D4 The contrabass clarinet has a range from B♭0 to D4.

One of its names, double bass, is derived from the fact that the contrabass was, and frequently still is, used to double the cello's bass part at the octave below in the symphonic orchestra.

In an orchestra, the clarinet takes on both solo roles and the middle register of the woodwind part, while in music for wind instruments the clarinet assumes a leading role (along with the trumpet). Due to its warm timbre and all-action playing style, it is also used as a solo instrument in genres such as swing jazz.

First used in 19th-century classical orchestras and military bands, the contrabass clarinet is one of the more obscure members of the woodwind family. It has long held an appeal for jazz musicians intent on creating a wide tonal spectrum in their work.

The majority of bass clarinet music is written so that the notes the clarinet player sees correspond to the same fingerings they would use on any other clarinet. Meaning, it is written in treble clef but sounds an octave lower than B♭ soprano clarinet (a major ninth lower than concert pitch).

Alberto Ginastera - Variaciones concertantes. Variation 2. (Variazione in modo di Scherzo) may have the most difficult orchestral passages ever composed for the clarinet.