The octavin (also spelled oktavin) is a 19th century

woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and r ...

with a conical bore and a single reed.

Design

The octavin resembles a

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

: its range is similar to that of a soprano saxophone. However, the octavin differs in three respects: first, its

conical bore In music, the bore of a wind instrument (including woodwind and brass) is its interior chamber. This defines a flow path through which air travels, which is set into vibration to produce sounds. The shape of the bore has a strong influence on t ...

has a smaller taper than that of a saxophone; second, its body is made of wood, rather than metal; third, its usual shape is more similar to that of a bassoon, having two parallel straight sections joined at the bottom, with the mouthpiece attached to the top of one section and a metal bell to the top of the other. A few straight octavins exist, having a wooden bell; in this configuration it resembles a tarogato but has a smaller taper. The instrument was produced in B♭, C and F. One writer (Altenberg) mentions a bass octavin but no such instrument is known to have been produced. The (written) range of the octavin is from G♯₃ to G₆.

Production

The octavin was invented in 1881 by Julius Jehring, a bassoon maker. It was later patented in 1893 by Oskar Adler and Hermann Jordan of

Markneukirchen Markneukirchen () is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in Saxony, Germany, close to the Czech border. It lies in between the Erzgebirge and the Fichtelgebirge in the Elstergebirge, southeast of Plauen, and northeast of Aš (Czech Republic ...

, Germany.

Legacy

The octavin was a commercial failure and is now extremely rare, being considered a curiosity by collectors. However, the octavin is memorialized by the organ stop bearing its name. Repertoire for the instrument is scarce: one of the only pieces for the octavin is a sonatina composed by Jeff Britting (b. 1957).

References

* * {{Single reeds Single-reed instruments German musical instruments