The hyperbass flute is conceptually the largest and lowest-pitched instrument in the

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...

family, although it is extremely rare. It first appeared at the turn of the 21st century, and only two are known to exist. With tubing reaching over in length, it is pitched in C, four

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

s below the concert flute (three octaves below the

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, two below the

contrabass Contrabass (from it, contrabbasso) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass (which is the bass instrument in the orchest ...

, and one octave below the double contrabass). Its lowest note is C₀, one octave below the lowest C on a standard

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, which at 16

hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that o ...

is considered at or below the threshold of human hearing. The first playable example was built by Florentine craftsman Francesco Romei for

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

flautist

Roberto Fabbriciani Roberto Fabbriciani (born 13 June 1949 in Arezzo) is an Italian flautist and composer, best known for having invented the hyperbass flute. Since 1976, he has appeared on the recordings of composers Luigi Nono, Claudio Abbado, Luciano Berio, Ricca ...

, inventor and first performer of the instrument. He called it the hyperbass flute ( it, flauto iperbasso). This first instrument was made from PVC and wood, with wide tone holes made from standard tee fittings, but without keys; these are covered with the palms of the hands. Low flute specialist Peter Sheridan commissioned the first fully chromatic hyperbass flute, from the Dutch maker Jelle Hogenhuis in August 2010.

Repertoire

Roberto Fabbriciani with hyperbass flute

The first composition for the hyperbass flute with live electronics and magnetic tape is ''Persistenza della memoria'' by Alessandro Grego, published in 2001 by the ARTS label on the CD ''Flute XX vol.2''. In 2002, the

composer Nicola Sani composed ''Con Fuoco'' (for hyperbass flute and 8-track magnetic tape), which Fabbriciani recorded at the electronic studio of the

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

(WDR) in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

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. The track was released on a CD called ''Elements'' on the Stradivarius label. In March 2005 Fabbriciani released an entire CD of music for hyperbass flute and tape, ''Glaciers in Extinction'', on the Col Legno label. In 2010, Fabbriciani released another hyperbass flute CD entitled ''Winds of the Heart'', this time with tárogató player Esther Lamneck, on the Innova label. In 2013, Fabbriciani released another hyperbass flute CD entitled ''Alchemies'', on the Brilliant label. Peter Sheridan recorded ''Groaning Oceans'' for hyperbass flute and electronics by Dominy Clements in 2014, and played the hyperbass in ''Decodificando El Universo'' by Chilean composer Andrián Pertout in its première 2021 recording. He also performs and records on low flutes, including the hyperbass, in the Monash University Flute Ensemble.

References

External links

* Contrabass Compendium
Big Flutes
(archived)
Roberto Fabriciani on YouTube
featuring works for the ''flauto iperbasso'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyperbass Flute Side-blown flutes Contrabass instruments