The contrabass trumpet is the lowest-pitched member of the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

family, sounding below the bass trumpet. A very rare novelty instrument, only a small number of instruments exist. It first appeared in the mid 20th century and has no orchestral or jazz repertoire. Usually built in 12' F a perfect fourth below the B♭ bass trumpet, it has the same length as the F contrabass trombone,

cimbasso The cimbasso is a low brass instrument that developed from the upright serpent over the course of the 19th century in Italian opera orchestras, to cover the same range as a tuba or contrabass trombone. The modern instrument has four to six rotary ...

or tuba. Some (sometimes called the subcontrabass trumpet) are built larger in 18' B♭ an octave below the bass trumpet, two octaves below a standard B♭ trumpet.

History

A "contrabass trumpet" in 18' B♭ played by tuba player

Don Butterfield Don Kiethly Butterfield (April 1, 1923 – November 27, 2006) was an American jazz and classical tuba player. Biography Butterfield began to play the tuba in high school. He wanted to play trumpet, but the band director assigned him to tuba inst ...

appeared in 1962 on the TV show ''

I've Got a Secret ''I've Got a Secret'' is an American panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show, ''What's My Line ...

''. The instrument was loaned to the show from a Claremont College University musical instrument collection, which is now at the Musical Instrument Museum in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. In 1967

Roger Bobo Roger Bobo (born June 8, 1938) is an American tuba virtuoso and brass pedagogue. He retired from active tuba performance in 2001 in order to devote his time to conducting and teaching. He gave what is reputed to be the first solo tuba recital in ...

, tuba player with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

, commissioned a contrabass trumpet from instrument maker George Strucel. Unhappy with the sound of the contrabass trombone in recording the ''Canzoni e Sonate'' by Gabrieli, they built an instrument in 12' F in the shape of a large bass trumpet, out of spare tubing and a bass trombone bell from the Bach factory. Tuba player Carl Kleinsteuber made four similarly configured contrabass trumpets in F in the 1990s. He made them cheaply out of spare brass instrument parts as "fun" instruments, acknowledging the absence of any known repertoire. In the early 2000s,

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n trombonist Vairis Nartišs built four instruments in 18' B♭ which he called "subcontrabass trumpets", two of which are now in museums.

Performance

Contrabass trumpets have not gained wide appeal, and very few instrument makers offer a contrabass trumpet today; Lars Gerdt in Sweden offers a model in F based on the Strucel/Bobo instrument. Their unwieldy shape and weight can make contrabass trumpets difficult or impractical to play. The timbre from their cylindrical-bore construction, use of valves and similar range allow them to be readily substituted with a cimbasso.

References

{{Trumpets Contrabass instruments Trumpets