The subcontrabass tuba is a rare instrument of the

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

family built an octave or more below the modern

contrabass tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and 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 on ...

. Only a very small number of these large novelty instruments have ever been built. Most are pitched in thirty-six-foot (36′) BBB♭ an octave lower than the BB♭ contrabass tuba, their fundamental note B♭ corresponding to a frequency of 15 Hz – such a slow vibration that it can scarcely be perceived as a note. HUB Tuba

History

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

Adolphe Sax Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (; 6 November 1814 – 7 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, and redesigne ...

. He built a in 52′ E♭ and exhibited it at the Paris

Exposition Universelle of 1867 The of 1867 (), better known in English as the 1867 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 1 April to 3 November 1867. It was the second of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. A number of nat ...

, 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 structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. 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 (music company), Besson brand in Paris, France, in 1837. Besson is credited with more than 50 original inventions. His alterations to the ...

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 military bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, ...

, who planned to tour with it in 1893. 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 ...

, 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 know ...

used one of the two 32′ CCC subcontrabass tubas built by German maker Rudolf Sander in the first of his comedic

Hoffnung Music Festival The Hoffnung Music Festivals were a series of humorous classical music festivals created by cartoonist and amateur tuba player Gerard Hoffnung and held in the Royal Festival Hall in London. The concerts consisted of humorous works specially com ...

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 performed in the festival. Another in BBB♭ was made in Kraslice by Bohland & Fuchs, probably during 1910 or 1911 and destined for 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. In 2010, a fully playable ''Riesentuba'' in 36 BBB♭ with four rotary valves was built and resides in the Markneukirchen Musical Instrument Museum, Germany. On the other extant examples, the valve tubing was intentionally built to be non-functional; they are made to look like tubas, but are essentially giant bugles that can only play a single harmonic series. One such display instrument, 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 music ...

, after spending several decades as the shop sign for

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instru ...

. Two instruments were built by Bohland & Fuchs in Bohemia in 1912 for Carl Fischer's New York and Chicago stores. The Chicago instrument was scrapped in 1942 for the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

war effort War effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and civilian—towards the support of a military force, particular during a state of war. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative si ...

, and the New York instrument, nick-named "Big Carl", is still owned by

Carl Fischer Music Carl Fischer Music is an American sheet music publisher. It was founded in 1872 in the East Village neighborhood of New York City as a musical instrument repair shop. Except for a brief period in the early 1930s, it has always been the family- ...

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Brass instruments Tubas B-flat instruments Brass instruments Contrabass instruments