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Octobass
	Photo of an Octobass at Musée de la Musique, Paris.
Classification	Bowed string instrument;
Inventor(s)	Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume
Related instruments
	Double bass;

The octobass is an extremely large and rare bowed string instrument first built around 1850 in Paris by the French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1798–1875). It has three strings and is essentially a larger version of the double bass – the specimen in the collection of the Musée de la Musique in Paris measures 3.48 metres (11 ft 5 in) in length, whereas a full-size double bass is generally approximately 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length.

Usage

Because of the extreme fingerboard length and string thickness, the musician plays it using a system of levers and pedals. The levers serve to engage metal clamps that are positioned above the neck at specific positions. These clamps act as fretting devices when the performer presses the levers. It has never been produced on a large scale or used much by composers. Hector Berlioz wrote favorably about the instrument, however, and proposed its widespread adoption.^[1]

The only known work from the 19th century that specifically calls for the octobass is Charles Gounod's Messe solennelle de Sainte-Cécile. In this work, the octobass only appears in the "Benedictus" and the "Agnus Dei" and is specified to be tuned B♭₀, E♭₁, and B♭₁. It typically plays one octave below the double bass.^[2]

In addition to the Paris instrument, octobasses exist in the collections of the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, made in 2007 by the Italian luthier Antonio Dattis, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.^[3] The Montreal Symphony Orchestra is currently the only orchestra in the world to own and use octobasses in their performances.^[4]^[5] The first of these instruments was made by the luthier Jean-Jacques Pagès of Mirecourt, France, in 2010.^[6]

Two other octobasses are known to exist with private owners. The first was made in 1995 by the luthier Pierre Bohr, which belongs to the Italian musician Nicola Moneta. The instrument is a copy of those made by Vuillaume, but with innovative elements, especially in the mechanics, and of which a library of samples from Daniele Bertinelli and Giorgio Riolo was created in collaboration with SoundIron.^[7]

Range and tuning

According to Berlioz, the three open strings were tuned C₁, G₁, and C₂. This tuning gave it a low range one octave below the cello and equal to the modern double bass with low C extension. However, at the time when the octobass was invented, the double bass lacked this extension and could descend only to E₁ or G₁. The mechanism enabled each string to chromatically cover the range of a perfect fifth and gave the instrument a high range to G₂.^[8] The instrument at the Musée de la Musique in Paris, which uses period-accurate gut strings, is tuned thus (though on at least some recordings the overall tuning is a half-step flat).^[9]

The instrument at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, which uses modern wound metal strings, is tuned C₀, G₀, D₁. This tuning gives it a low range two octaves below the cello and one octave below the modern double bass with low C extension. Berlioz specifically noted this tuning in his orchestration treatise, but considered it erroneous. As on the Paris instrument, the mechanism allows each string to cover a perfect fifth, giving it a high range to A₁. The fundamental frequencies of the lowest notes in this tuning lie below 20 Hz—the commonly-stated lower bound of human hearing range—but these notes are nevertheless audible due to the overtones they produce.^[10] (An organ's 32′ stop also exceeds the supposed 20 Hz limit.)

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra octobass uses gut strings, is tuned A₀, E₁, B₁ and has a high range to F♯₂.^[11]

References

^ Berlioz, Hector (1948). Treatise on Instrumentation (PDF). p. 405. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
^ Arenas, Erick G. (August 2004). A historical Study of Charles Gounod's Messe Solennelle de Sainte-Cecile (Thesis). hdl:1794/23902.
^ McDonald, Hugh; Berlioz, Hugh (2002). Berlioz's Orchestration Treatise : a Translation and Commentary. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. p. 318. ISBN 978-1-139-43300-6.
^ "The Montreal Symphony Orchestra's new octobass has arrived". CBC Music. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
^ Un géant entre à l'OSM. Le Téléjournal, Radio Canada. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
^ Canimex acquiert une octobasse pour l'OSM Archived 2016-12-11 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
^ "Hyperion Strings Oktobass". SoundIron. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
^ Berlioz, Hector (1848). Treatise on Instrumentation. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. p. 405. ISBN 0486269035.
^ Octobasse @ Cité de la musique, Paris. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
^ Up Close With A Curator: Octobasse. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
^ OSM Octobass. Retrieved 20 October 2016.