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BOMBARDON, or BASS TUBA
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See also:BOMBARDON, or See also:BASS See also:TUBA , the name given to the bass and contrabass of the See also:brass See also:wind in military bands, called in the See also:orchestra bass tuba. The name of bombardon is unquestionably derived from bombardone, the See also:Italian for contrabass See also:pommer (See also:bombard), which, before the invention of the fagotto, formed the bass of See also:medieval orchestras; it is also used for a bass See also:reed stop of 16 ft. See also:tone on the See also:organ. The bombardon was the very first bass wind See also:instrument fitted with valves, and it was at first known as the corno basso, clavicor or bass See also:horn (not to be confounded with the bass horn with keys, which on being perfected became the See also:ophicleide). The name was attached more to the position of the wind See also:instruments as bass than to the individual instrument. The See also:original corno basso was a brass instrument of narrow See also:bore with the pistons set horizontally. The See also:valve-ophicleide in F of See also:German make had a wider bore and three See also:vertical pistons, but it was only a " See also:half instrument," measuring about 12 ft. A. See also:Kalkbrenner, in his See also:life of W. See also:Wieprecht (1882), states that in the See also:Jager military bands of See also:Prussia the corno basso (keyed bass horn) was introduced as bass in 1829, and the bombardon (or valve-ophicleide) in 1831; in the See also:Guards these instruments were superseded in 1835 by the bass tuba invented by Wieprecht and J. G. See also:Moritz. The See also:modern bombardon is made in two forms: the upright See also:model, used in stationary See also:band See also:music; and the circular model, known as the See also:helicon, worn See also:round the See also:body with the large See also:bell resting on the See also:left See also:shoulder, after the See also:style of the See also:Roman See also:cornu (see HORN), which is a more convenient way of carrying this heavy instrument when marching. The bombardon, and the See also:euphonium, of which it is the bass, are the outcome of the application of valves to the See also:bugle See also:family whereby the saxhorns were also produced. The See also:radical difference between the saxhorns and the tubas (including the bombardon) is that the latter have a sufficiently wide conical bore to allow of the See also:production of fundamental sounds in a See also:rich, full quality of immense See also:power. This difference, first recognized in See also:Germany and See also:Austria, has given rise in those countries to the See also:classification of the brass wind as " half " and " whole " instruments (Halbe and Ganze Instrumente). When the brass wind instruments with conical bore and See also:cup-shaped See also:mouthpiece first came into use, it was a well-understood principle that the See also:tube of each instrument must theoretically be made twice as See also:long as an organ See also:pipe giving the same See also:note; for example, the See also:French horn See also:sounding the 8ft. C of an 8 ft. organ pipe, must have a tube 16 ft. long; C then becomes the second See also:harmonic of the See also:series for the 16ft. tube, the first or fundamental being unobtainable. After the introduction of pistons, instrument-makers experimenting with the bugle, which has a conical bore of very wide See also:diameter in proportion to the length, found that baritone and bass instruments constructed on the same principle gave out the fundamental full and clear. A new sera in the construction of brass wind instruments was thus inaugurated, and now that the proportions of the bugle have been adopted, the tubes of the tubas are made just half the length of those of the older instruments, corresponding to the length of the organ pipe of the same See also:pitch, so that a euphonium sounding 8 ft. C no longer needs to be 16 ft. long but only 8 ft. The older instruments, such as the saxhorns, with narrow bore, have therefore been denominated " half instruments," because only half the length of the instrument is of See also:practical utility, while the tubas with wide bore are styled "whole instruments."' Bombardons are made in E See also:flat and F of the r6 ft. See also:octave, corresponding to the orchestral bass tuba, See also:double bass in strings, and pedal See also:clarinet and See also:contrafagotto in the See also:wood wind. The bombardon in B flat or C, an octave See also:lower than the euphonium, corresponds to the contrabass tuba in the orchestra. 1 See Dr E. Schafhautl's See also:article on Musical Instruments, See also:section 4 of Bericht der Beurtheilungscommission bei der Allg. deutschen Industrie-Ausstellung, 1854 (See also:Munich, 1855), pp. 169-170; also Friedr. Zamminer, See also:Die Musik and die Musikinstrumente in ihrer Beziehung zu den Gesetzen der Akustik (See also:Giessen, 1855), P. 313. The bombardons possess a See also:chromatic See also:compass of 31 to 4 octaves. The harmonic series consists of the harmonics from the 1st to the 8th. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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