Octobass

Because of the extreme fingerboard length and string thickness, the musician plays it using a system of levers and pedals. The levers serve to engage metal clamps that are positioned above the neck at specific positions. These clamps act as fretting devices when the performer presses the levers. It has never been produced on a large scale or used much by composers. Hector Berlioz wrote favorably about the instrument, however, and proposed its widespread adoption.{{cite book |title=Treatise on Instrumentation |url=http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/3/30/IMSLP11615-Treatise_on_InstrumentationBerlioz.pdf |access-date=22 May 2024 |last=Berlioz|first=Hector |date=1948 |page=405 |via=imslp.info }}

The only known work from the 19th century that specifically calls for the octobass is Charles Gounod's {{lang|fr|Messe solennelle de Sainte-Cécile}}. In this work, the octobass only appears in the "Benedictus" and the "Agnus Dei" and is specified to be tuned B{{music|flat}}{{sub|0}}, E{{music|flat}}{{sub|1}}, and B{{music|flat}}{{sub|1}}. It typically plays one octave below the double bass.{{cite thesis |last1=Arenas |first1=Erick G. |title=A historical Study of Charles Gounod's Messe Solennelle de Sainte-Cecile |date=August 2004 |hdl=1794/23902 |hdl-access=free }}

{{stack|File:Octobasse Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Eric Chappell 1.jpg}}

In addition to the Paris instrument, octobasses exist in the collections of the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, made in 2007 by the Italian luthier Antonio Dattis, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.{{cite book |last1=McDonald |first1=Hugh |last2=Berlioz |first2=Hugh |date=2002 |title=Berlioz's Orchestration Treatise : a Translation and Commentary |location=Cambridge, NY |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=318 |isbn=978-1-139-43300-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZteQ_2uHZ8C |via=books.google.com}} The Montreal Symphony Orchestra is currently the only orchestra in the world to own and use octobasses in their performances.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/11590/montreal-symphony-orchestra-new-octobass |title=The Montreal Symphony Orchestra's new octobass has arrived |website=CBC Music |access-date=18 April 2021}}{{cite AV media |url=http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/arts_et_spectacles/2016/10/18/001-osm-octobasse-premier-concert.shtml |title=Un géant entre à l'OSM |work=Le Téléjournal, Radio Canada |access-date=18 October 2016}} The first of these instruments was made by the luthier Jean-Jacques Pagès of Mirecourt, France, in 2010.{{Cite web |url=http://www.lapresse.ca/la-tribune/arts/201606/16/01-4992667-canimex-acquiert-une-octobasse-pour-losm.php |title=Canimex acquiert une octobasse pour l'OSM |website=www.lapresse.ca}}{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161211000911/http://www.lapresse.ca/la-tribune/arts/201606/16/01-4992667-canimex-acquiert-une-octobasse-pour-losm.php |date=2016-12-11 }} (in French)

Two other octobasses are known to exist with private owners. The first was made in 1995 by the luthier Pierre Bohr, which belongs to the Italian musician Nicola Moneta. The instrument is a copy of those made by Vuillaume, but with innovative elements, especially in the mechanics, and of which a library of samples from Daniele Bertinelli and Giorgio Riolo was created in collaboration with SoundIron.{{Cite web |url=https://soundiron.com/collections/strings/products/hyperion-strings-oktobass |title=Hyperion Strings Oktobass |website=SoundIron |access-date=17 October 2023}}

The second octobass is owned by Guro Moe, an experimental musician who commissioned the instrument to the German luthier Wolfgang Staab.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

According to Berlioz, the three open strings were tuned C{{sub|1}}, G{{sub|1}}, and C{{sub|2}}. This tuning gave it a low range one octave below the cello and equal to the modern double bass with low C extension. However, at the time when the octobass was invented, the double bass lacked this extension and could descend only to E{{sub|1}} or G{{sub|1}}. The mechanism enabled each string to chromatically cover the range of a perfect fifth and gave the instrument a high range to G{{sub|2}}.{{cite book |last=Berlioz |first=Hector |date=1848 |title=Treatise on Instrumentation |location=Mineola, NY |publisher=Dover Publications |page=405 |isbn=0486269035}} The instrument at the Musée de la Musique in Paris, which uses period-accurate gut strings, is tuned thus (though on at least some recordings the overall tuning is a half-step flat).{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BSs3FYQm5E |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/9BSs3FYQm5E |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live |website=www.youtube.com |title=Octobasse @ Cité de la musique, Paris |access-date=20 October 2016}}{{cbignore}}

File:Octobass Range (Berlioz).png

The instrument at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, which uses modern wound metal strings, is tuned C{{sub|0}}, G{{sub|0}}, D{{sub|1}}. This tuning gives it a low range two octaves below the cello and one octave below the modern double bass with low C extension. Berlioz specifically noted this tuning in his orchestration treatise, but considered it erroneous. As on the Paris instrument, the mechanism allows each string to cover a perfect fifth, giving it a high range to A{{sub|1}}. The fundamental frequencies of the lowest notes in this tuning lie below 20 Hz—the commonly-stated lower bound of human hearing range—but these notes are nevertheless audible due to the overtones they produce.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12X-i9YHzmE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/12X-i9YHzmE |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live |title=Up Close With A Curator: Octobasse |website=www.youtube.com |access-date=20 October 2016}}{{cbignore}} (An organ's 32′ stop also exceeds the supposed 20 Hz limit.)

File:Octobass Range (MIM).png

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra octobass uses gut strings, is tuned A{{sub|0}}, E{{sub|1}}, B{{sub|1}} and has a high range to F{{music|#}}{{sub|2}}.{{cite AV media |url=http://www.osm.ca/en/octobassb|title=OSM Octobass |website=www.osm.ca |access-date=20 October 2016}}

File:Octobass Range (Montreal Symphony).png

• Triple contrabass viol

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/octobass Octobass] on Atlas Obscura
• [https://www.osm.ca/en/octobass/ Octobass] on the OSM website
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCEYPyUBDAU Amazing Grace, Amazing Octobass] YouTube video of Amazing Grace performed on an Octobass

{{Violin family}}

{{Bass (sound)}}

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Category:Violin family instruments

Category:Contrabass instruments

Category:1850 introductions