Scan 740
Grove's Dictionary Of Music And Musicians Vol I A. To E., 1904
34 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. Printed page 722. See the scan on archive.org.
1appearing to be a combination of the gamba and the violin, and therefore probably of a date posterior to both.
3The double bass was originally mounted with three strings only, tuned thus (a). At the present time, however, basses with four strings, tuned thus (b), are used by all, except the
5Italian. (a) English. (b)
78va bassa.
9Italian and some English players, who still prefer the three-stringed instrument on account of its greater sonority. For orchestral playing, however, the fourth string has become an absolute necessity, since modern composers very frequently use the contra E and F in obbligato passages. In England, up to a recent period, a phrase like that which opens Mendelssohn's 'Meeresstille' (c), owing to the absence of the fourth string and the consequent impossibility of producing the low F, had to be altered to the octave (d). This and other similar musical
11(c) (d)
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15barbarities were committed, until at the Crystal Palace the sensible plan was adopted of having half the number of the basses with four, and the other half with three strings, thus avoiding the mutilation of phrases like the above, without sacrificing the greater richness of tone which is claimed for the three-stringed instrument.
17If the violin is the leader of the orchestra, the double bass is its foundation. To it is given the lowest part, on which both harmony and melody rest. The English term 'double bass' has probably been applied to the instrument because it often doubles in the lower octave the bass of the harmony, given to the bass voice, the violoncello, the bassoon, or some other instrument. In a similar way the 32-foot stop of the organ is termed double diapason because it doubles a 16-foot diapason in the lower octave.
19This doubling of the bass part was for a long time, with rare exceptions, the sole function of the double bass, and it is only since the beginning of the 19th century that we meet, in the scores of Haydn, and more frequently in those of Beethoven, with independent double-bass passages. The double bass from its very nature—its tone, when heard alone, being somewhat rough, and its treatment, owing to its large dimensions, very difficult—is essentially an orchestral rather than a solo instrument, and as such it is with the violin the most important and indispensable one. The solo performances of Bottesini and a few other celebrated double-bass players, are exceptions which prove the rule for any one who has heard them. In fact these virtuosi did not play on full-sized double basses, but used the basso di camera, an instrument of considerably smaller dimensions.
21As double-bass players Dragonetti, Müller, and Bottesini, had the greatest reputation. Most of the great Italian violin-makers, from Gaspar di Salò downwards, have made double basses of various sizes, a fair number of which are still extant.
23P. D.
25DOUBLE BASSOON (It. Contrafagotto; Fr. Contrebasson; Ger. Contrafagott, Doppelfagott). The contrafagotto or double bassoon, in pitch an octave below the ordinary bassoon, is not by any means a new instrument; but the older instruments were of feeble rattling tone, rendered unwieldy by unsuccessful attempts to obtain the B♭ of the 32-foot octave. It has been considerably improved by Herr Haseneier of Coblenz, and subsequently by the writer, who has introduced it into English orchestras.
27The double bassoon as made on the writer's design by Haseneier consists of a tube 16 feet 4 inches long, truly conical in its bore, enlarging from 1/4 inch diameter at the reed to 4 inches at the bell. It is curved four times on itself for convenience of manipulation, so that the length of the instrument is about equal to that of the ordinary bassoon. Its extreme compass is three octaves, from C, upwards to c'—see example (a). Its ordinary range, however, should be limited to the tenor g, the notes above this being rather difficult to produce.
29It possesses every semitone of the diatonic scale throughout its compass, and is therefore able to play in any key with moderate facility. The scale is founded on the octave harmonic, and continued by means of the twelfth. From C, to F, (b), only a single sound is obtained by each key. Between the latter note and its double octave (c), the same fingering produces two sounds of an octave, simply by change of embouchure and greater pressure of wind. With the f♯ a new harmonic sound begins, using the fingering of the B,♯, and again increasing the wind-pressure. Seven semitones thus procured carry the tone up to the c' above (d), which is the fourth C inclusive from the foundation note. It must be remembered that the orchestral part for this instrument, like that of the double bass, is always written an octave higher than the real sound, to avoid ledger-lines; the following example gives the actual notes:—
31(a) (b) (c) (d)
33The holes from which the sound issues are of graduated size, increasing downwards with the size of the bore. They are placed as a rule in their correct positions, so as to cut off the proper portion of tube corresponding to the elevation of the note. Mechanism is adapted to them, to bring them within reach of the fingers. To enable the player to distinguish what are called 'open' from closed holes, a different shape is
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