The subcontrabass tuba is a rare instrument of the

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

family built an octave or more below the modern

contrabass tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

. Only a very small number of these giant novelty instruments have ever been built. Most are pitched in 36’ BBB♭ an octave lower than the BB♭ contrabass tuba, its fundamental B♭ corresponding to a practically inaudible 15 Hz. HUB Tuba

History

The first instrument of this sort was designed by Parisian instrument maker

Adolphe Sax Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (; 6 November 1814 – 4 February 1894) was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba. He played the f ...

. He built a in 52’ E♭ and exhibited it at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867, although there is evidence that it was in fact built some years earlier, and possibly appeared at the 1851

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. An instrument built by French instrument maker

Gustave Auguste Besson Gustave-Auguste Besson (1820-1874) was a musical instrument manufacturer and innovator. He created the Besson brand in Paris, France, in 1837. Besson is credited with more than 50 original inventions. His alterations to the cornet were particular ...

was brought to the United States by Carl Fischer on the suggestion of American bandmaster

Patrick Gilmore Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (December 25, 1829 – September 24, 1892) was an Irish-born American composer and bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, Gilmor ...

, who planned to tour with it in 1893. The only surviving playable example, it is now owned by the

Harvard University Band The Harvard University Band (HUB) is the official student band of Harvard University. The Harvard Wind Ensemble, the Harvard Summer Pops Band, and the Harvard Jazz Bands also fall under the umbrella organization of HUB. Currently, the band plays f ...

who have restored it and feature it occasionally in their concerts. Dh-musikantenlandmuseum-03

In 1956 British musician

Gerard Hoffnung Gerard Hoffnung (22 March 192528 September 1959) was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works. Raised in Germany, Hoffnung was brought to London as a boy, to escape the Nazis. Over the next two decades in England, he became kno ...

used a 32’ C subcontrabass tuba built in 1899 in the first of his comedic

Hoffnung Music Festival The Hoffnung Music Festivals were a series of three humorous classical music festivals held in Royal Festival Hall, London in 1956, 1958 and 1961 (and a reprise in 1988). They were created by cartoonist and amateur tuba player Gerard Hoffnung. ...

s. He commissioned a work for it, ''Variations on "Annie Laurie"'' by

Gordon Jacob Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE (5 July 18958 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about ...

, which he then performed in the festival. A tuba pitched in FFF was made in Kraslice by Bohland & Fuchs probably during 1910 or 1911 and was destined for the World Exhibition in New York in 1913. This tuba is "playable" but two players are needed: one to operate the valves, and one to blow into the mouthpiece. Finally, Dr. Frederick Young plays a King BB♭ tuba that was converted into a double tuba (in BB♭ and EEE (natural)) by Dietrich Kleine-Horst (of the Herbert Gronitz Brass Instrument Company in Hamburg, Germany) in 1990. The BB♭ side is a contrabass tuba, and the EEE side is a subcontrabass tuba. Other examples exist with non-functional valve tubing to provide the look of a tuba, but are essentially giant bugles with a single harmonic series. One built by Besson survives at the

Horniman Museum The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a museum in Forest Hill, London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Modern Style. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and musical ...

, after spending several decades as the shop sign for

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 throu ...

. Another built by Bohland & Fuchs in 1912 for Carl Fischer is nick-named "Big Carl" and still owned by

Carl Fischer Music Carl Fischer Music (founded in 1872) is a sheet music publisher based in New York City's East Village. The company has since moved to the Wall Street area in 2013. After 140 years, the company remains a family-owned business, publishing both perf ...

References

{{Brass instruments Tubas B-flat instruments

History

See also

References