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Contrabass trumpet
	Contrabass natural trumpet in E♭ built c. 1920 by Evette & Schaeffer. St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh
Brass instrument
Classification	Wind; Brass; Aerophone;
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	423.233; (Valved aerophone sounded by lip vibration)
Related instruments
	Bass trumpet; Contrabass trombone; Cimbasso; Contrabass bugle;
Musicians
	Roger Bobo; Vairis Nartišs;
Builders
	Lars Gerdt;

The contrabass trumpet is the largest and lowest-pitched member of the trumpet family, sounding below the bass trumpet. Only a few exist. The instrument appeared in the mid-20th century and has no orchestral or jazz repertoire.^[1] Usually built in 12′ F a perfect fourth below the B♭ bass trumpet, it has the same length as the F contrabass trombone, cimbasso, or tuba. Some (sometimes called the subcontrabass trumpet) are built larger in 18′ B♭— an octave below the bass trumpet and two octaves below the standard B♭ trumpet.

History

A contrabass trumpet in 18′ B♭ played by tuba player Don Butterfield appeared in 1962 on the TV show I've Got a Secret.^[3] The instrument was loaned to the show from a Claremont College University musical instrument collection, which is now at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.^[4]^[2]

In 1967, Roger Bobo, tuba player with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, commissioned a contrabass trumpet from instrument maker George Strucel. Unhappy with the sound of the contrabass trombone in recording the Canzoni e Sonate by Gabrieli, they built an instrument in 12′ F in the shape of a large bass trumpet, out of spare tubing and a bass trombone bell from the Bach factory.^[5] Tuba player Carl Kleinsteuber made four similarly configured contrabass trumpets in F in the 1990s. He made them cheaply out of spare brass instrument parts as "fun" instruments, acknowledging the absence of any known repertoire.^[6] In the early 2000s, Latvian trombonist Vairis Nartišs built four instruments in 18′ B♭ which he called "subcontrabass trumpets", two of which are now in museums.^[7]^[8]

Repertoire

The contrabass trumpet has no historical repertoire in classical music or jazz. Whilst they have not gained wide appeal, they do occasionally appear in contemporary works. Slovenian composer Igor Krivokapič has scored a contrabass trumpet part in his 2021 Symphony No. 5 Sedem trobent Apokalipse (lit. 'Seven Trumpets of the Apocalypse').^[9]

Performance

Very few instrument makers offer a contrabass trumpet today. Lars Gerdt in Sweden offers a model in F based on the Roger Bobo instrument.^[10] Their weight and unwieldy shape make contrabass trumpets difficult to hold up like a regular trumpet, so they are often played mounted to an adjustable floor rod. The timbre from their cylindrical-bore construction, use of valves and similar range allow them to be readily substituted with a cimbasso.^[5]

References

^ Leeman, Dan (27 July 2020). "What In The World Is A Contrabass Trumpet?". Notestem. Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b KontrabassTubaMann (25 September 2021). "r/Tuba: The Contrabass trumpet at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ. Hilariously impractical and awesome". Reddit. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
^ Butterfield, Don (contrabass trumpet); Moore, Gary (presenter) (2016) [Recorded 21 May 1962]. I've Got a Secret - Arlene Francis hands out Emmys! (Television episode). New York: CBS Television. Segment begins at 5 min, 43 sec. Retrieved 3 August 2022 – via YouTube, cited in Leeman (2020).{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ Gordon, Larry (21 April 2008). "A departure sadly noted". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b Bobo, Roger (16 November 2012). "Strucel Contrabass Trumpet in F". Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
^ Kleinsteuber, Carl (13 January 1997). "Re: Contrabass trumpet". Contrabass-L list archive. Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
^ Nartiss Latvia (2021). "Subcontrabass Trumpet Nartiss NATU711-1". Reverb. Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
^ Nartišs, Vairis. "Lowest Trumpet in the world: Subcontrabasstrumpet Nartišs Latvia". Showbrass.lv. Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
^ "7 Trumpets of the Apocalypse". Ljubljana: Cankarjev dom. 13 September 2022. Archived from the original on 23 June 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
^ "Kontrabastrumpet i F mod. GS" (in Swedish). Stockholm: Lars Gerdt AB. Retrieved 6 June 2024.