The rothphone (german: Rothphon, it, ròthfono; also rothophone, rothaphone, or saxsarrusophone) is a metal

double reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece and c ...

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 ...

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

similar to the

sarrusophone The sarrusophones are a family of metal double reed conical bore woodwind instruments patented and first manufactured by Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. Gautrot named the sarrusophone after French bandmaster Pierre-Auguste Sarrus (1813–1876), who ...

, but built with a

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

shape.

History

The rothphone was invented by and named after Friedrich Roth, and manufactured by Bottali in Milan when they took over the Roth workshop in 1898. Like the sarrusophone, it was intended to replace oboes and bassoons in military bands. The rothphone gained some popularity in Italian wind and military bands between

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but remained almost completely unknown outside Italy. When Bottali folded in the mid 1930s and was taken over by Milan instrument manufacturer

Orsi Orsi is an italian surname, and may refer to: Last name * Adolfo Orsi (1888–1972), Italian industrialist, owner of Maserati * Anaïs Orsi, climate scientist * Benedetto Orsi (died 1680), Italian painter * Carlo Orsi (fl. 1884–1894), Italian ...

, Orsi sold their stock of Bottali-made rothphone instruments as the "saxrusofono".

Construction

Rothphones were patented and introduced in five sizes in 1912 by Bottali, their only significant manufacturer: * Soprano rothphone in B♭ * Alto rothphone in E♭ * Tenor rothphone in B♭ * Baritone rothphone in E♭ * Bass rothphone in B♭ Each instrument corresponded in range to the similar-sized sarrusophone or saxophone, and all are

transposing instrument A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which music notation is not written at concert pitch (concert pitch is the pitch on a non-transposing instrument such as the piano). For example, playing a written middle C on a transposing i ...

s notated in treble clef. A contrabass was never built due to the similarity to the already established

contrabass sarrusophone The contrabass sarrusophone is the deepest of the family of sarrusophones, and was made in three sizes. The EE version was the only sarrusophone that was ever mass-produced in the United States. It was made by companies such as Gautrot, Couesnon, ...

in bands of the time. The bore of the rothphone is narrower than that of either the sarrusophone or saxophone.

References

{{authority control Double-reed instruments