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Scan 138
Musical instruments, 1908
7 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 112. See the scan on archive.org.
1CONTRABASS, DOUBLE BASS — Bowed Strings. Europe.
2The contrabass derives its name from the manner in which it doubles the part of the violoncellos, the bass of the stringed quartet, and is capable of producing the lowest notes called for in the orchestral scores. It strings are tuned in fourths instead of in fifths, as are the strings of the other stringed instruments. Open they sound G on the lowest line of the bass clef, and D, A and E, below. In order that extra or leger lines need not be used constantly, the music is written an octave higher than it sounds.
4This is the only one of the bowed family in which the individual features of the old viols are retained, the contrabass having the slanting shoulders and flat back of the older instruments. It has undergone but few changes since it was known as the violone, the largest viol. It is said that a small boy was sometimes placed within the body of the violone, where he sang a treble part of the harmony, the player, besides using the bow, singing the bass. The older instruments possessed more strings, the number varying from five to seven. Now a contrabass with three strings finds especial favor in England, where it is tuned in fourths, A, D and G, but in other countries the three strings are sometimes tuned in fifths, sounding an octave below the three upper strings of the cello.
6Muted tones are never found in contrabass music, for a mute suitable for use on the instrument would be an impossibility, weighing about two pounds. The neck is long, increasing the distances between the notes, but a good performer can produce many effects. Although the instrument had been extensively used in completing the harmony, Beethoven somewhat scandalized his contemporaries by scoring new effects for it. Its versatility has been greatly increased, and Kussewitsky, a modern virtuoso, can vary his tone from a full and almost thundering bass, to sounds that are most delicate and flute like. Where the strings are plucked, they sustain the full rich tone for a long time.
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