View source for Contrabass trombone

{{Short description|Lowest-pitched instrument in the trombone family}}
{{good article}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=May 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox instrument
  | name           = Contrabass trombone
  | image          = Wessex contrabass trombone in F.jpg
  | image_capt     = Contrabass trombone in F
  | background     = brass
  | classification = {{hlist
    | [[Wind instrument|Wind]]
    | [[Brass instrument|Brass]]
    | [[Aerophone]]
  }}
  | hornbostel_sachs = 423.22
  | hornbostel_sachs_desc = Sliding aerophone sounded by lip vibration
  | developed      = Late 19th century
  | range          = <div style="text-align: center; background-color: white;">
  <score lang="lilypond">
    {
      \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }
      \clef bass \key c \major \cadenzaOn
      \ottava #-1 \tweak font-size #-2 fis,,,1 \finger \markup \text "poss."
      \ottava #0  c,,1 \glissando d'1
      \tweak font-size #-2 f'1
    }
  </score></div> Range of the contrabass trombone.{{sfn|Herbert|Myers|Wallace|2019|p=483|loc=Appendix 2: The Ranges of Labrosones}}
  | musicians      = {{hlist <!-- alphabetical by surname -->
    <!-- | Ben van Dijk -- TODO: major proponent, collaborated with Thein over decades, their F model named after him, should probably have his own article... -->
    | [[Bill Reichenbach Jr.|Bill Reichenbach]]
    | Phil Teele
  }}
  | builders       = {{hlist <!-- alphabetical -->
    | Finke
    | Haag
    | Kromat
    | Lätzsch
    | Leuchter
    | Miraphone
    | [[Michael Rath Trombones|Rath]]
    | Thein
    | Helmut Voigt
    | Jürgen Voigt
    | Wessex<ref name="manufacturers-F"/>
  }}
----
  Double slide: {{hlist
    | Miraphone
    | Thein<ref name="manufacturers-Bb"/>
  }}
----
  Historical: {{hlist
    | [[Jean Hilaire Asté|Halary]] (1830s)
    | [[Gustave Auguste Besson|Besson]] (1860s)
    | [[Boosey & Hawkes|Boosey & Co.]] (c. 1860–1910)
    | [[C. G. Conn|Conn]] (c. 1900)
    | Kanstul (1981–2020)
  }}
  | related        = {{hlist
    | [[Trombone]]
    | [[Bass trombone]]
    | [[Cimbasso]]
  }}
  | articles       =
}}

The '''contrabass trombone''' ({{langx|de|Kontrabassposaune}}, {{langx|it|trombone contrabbasso}}) is the [[Pitch of brass instruments|lowest-pitched]] instrument in the [[trombone]] family of [[brass instrument]]s. While modern instruments are [[pitch (music)|pitched]] in [[Eight-foot pitch|12-foot]] ({{prime|12}}) F with a single [[slide (wind instrument)|slide]], the first practical contrabass trombones appeared in the mid-19th century built in {{prime|18}} B♭ an [[octave]] below the [[tenor trombone]] with a double slide. German [[opera]] [[composer]] [[Richard Wagner]] notably called for this instrument in his ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' opera cycle in the 1870s, and contrabass trombone has since appeared occasionally in large orchestral works without becoming a permanent member of the modern orchestra.

Since the late 20th century, the double-slide contrabass has largely been supplanted by the less cumbersome bass-contrabass in F, a [[perfect fourth|fourth]] below the B♭ tenor and [[bass trombone]]s. In the 21st century the contrabass has enjoyed something of a revival, particularly in [[film score|film]] and [[video game music|video game]] [[soundtrack]]s.

== History ==

{{Broader|Trombone#History}}
[[File:Contra bass trombone by Georg Nikolaus Öller. M242 (crop 1, white).tif|thumb|left|''Octav-posaune'' in 18′ B♭ by Öller, 1639. [[Swedish Museum of Performing Arts|Scenkonst Museet]], [[Stockholm]]<ref name="octavposaune-sm"/>]]
The contrabass trombone first appeared in [[Renaissance music]] in the late 16th century.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|p=500}} Bass trombones of the time were the {{lang|de|quart-posaune}} [[pitch (music)|pitched]] in E, or the {{lang|de|quint-posaune}} in D, a fourth or fifth below the "common" tenor trombone in A.<ref name="pitch">Due to the higher [[concert pitch#History of pitch standards in Western music|church pitch]] used throughout parts of Renaissance Europe, tenor trombones were usually described as pitched in A, even though they are a similar size to modern B♭ tenor trombones. The first position A = 466 Hz in high pitch produces the B♭ in the modern [[A440 (pitch standard)|440 Hz pitch standard]].</ref> German music scholar [[Michael Praetorius]], writing {{circa|1620}}, also describes two types of {{lang|de|octav-posaune}} ({{lit.|octave trombone}}), one of which was a large [[sackbut]] built in A one octave below the tenor, with a very long [[Slide (wind instrument)|slide]] and an extension handle to reach the lower positions.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|pp=500–501}} One such instrument survives, built in [[Eight-foot pitch|18′]] B♭.<ref name="octavposaune-sm">{{Cite web |title=Kontrabasbasun |via=MIMO: Musical Instrument Museums Online |orig-date=1639 |publisher=[[Swedish Museum of Performing Arts|Scenkonstmuseet]] |publication-place=Stockholm |id=Accession: M242 |url= https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_SMS_MM_POST_242 |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=28 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230328221845/https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_SMS_MM_POST_242 |url-status=live }}</ref> Praetorius called this double-length instrument very rare.{{sfn|Praetorius|1620|p=43–44}} Canadian trombonist and early music specialist Maximilien Brisson proposes the other type was a large-bore {{lang|de|quint-posaune}} with an extra whole-tone [[Crook (music)|crook]], resulting in an instrument in C capable of playing down to G{{sub|1}}, the lowest open string of the [[Violone|G Violone]].<ref>{{cite web |title=A new type of bass sackbut |first=Maximilien |last=Brisson |work=maximilienbrisson.com |date=11 March 2024 |url= https://maximilienbrisson.com/bass-sackbut/ |access-date=26 June 2024}}</ref> These large instruments were seldom used and generally unsatisfactory with players, being unwieldy and taxing to play.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|p=498}}

[[File:Weber trombone slide diagram in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 1816.png|thumb|Gottfried Weber's trombone slide concept in ''[[Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung]]'', 1816<ref name="weber-slide-diagram"/>]]
The innovation that enabled a practical instrument was the ''double slide'', first documented nearly two centuries later in 1816 by German writer and composer [[Gottfried Weber]].<ref name="weber-slide-diagram">{{cite journal|first=Gottfried |last=Weber |author-link=Gottfried Weber |title=Bassposaune |journal=[[Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung]] |lang=de |volume=18 |number=44 |page=749-53 |date=30 October 1816 |url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8gYVAAAAQAAJ/page/n423/mode/2up |access-date=7 August 2022}} Cited in {{harvp|Guion|2010|pp=213–218}}.</ref> He proposed that it would lend greater facility to the bass trombone, and described the idea of using two joined outer slides moving on four inner tubes, halving the distances between slide positions. Makers soon applied the double slide to bass trombones in F and E♭ that would normally require a slide handle to reach the longest positions.{{sfn|Guion|2010|pp=62–63,213–218}} Newly invented models of contrabass trombone in low 16′ C and 18′ B♭ soon followed, and the first double-slide contrabass trombones were produced by Parisian maker [[Jean Hilaire Asté]] (known as Halary) in the 1830s.{{sfn|Yeo|2021|pp=36–37|loc="contrabass trombone"}}

=== First use in orchestral music ===

In France, composer [[Georges Bizet]] called for contrabass trombone in his opera {{lang|fr|La Coutes du Roi de Thulé}} (1869), and in his completion in the same year of ''[[Noé (opera)|Noé]]'', an unfinished opera by his father-in-law and French composer [[Fromental Halévy]].<ref name="dean1947">{{cite journal |first=Winton |last=Dean |author-link=Winton Dean |title=An Unfinished Opera by Bizet |date=October 1947 |journal=Music & Letters |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=347–363 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |url= https://academic.oup.com/ml/article-abstract/XXVIII/4/347/1061548 |jstor=855071 |doi=10.1093/ml/XXVIII.4.347 |access-date=12 March 2022 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=12 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220312020100/https://academic.oup.com/ml/article-abstract/XXVIII/4/347/1061548 |url-status=live }}</ref> Soon after, [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] notably employed contrabass trombone in his ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', a cycle of four operas commonly known as the ''Ring'' cycle, writing a fourth trombone part to double on bass and contrabass trombone. For the première in 1876, Wagner commissioned a contrabass in 18′ B♭ from Berlin instrument maker [[Carl Wilhelm Moritz]], who built it with a double slide.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|p=500}} The double slide and the pitch one octave lower means this instrument has the same seven positions as the tenor trombone, and a [[Range (music)|range]] to the low E{{sub|1}} in the "spear" [[motif (music)|motif]] in ''[[Das Rheingold]]'':

{{Image frame
  | align = center | width = 400 | innerstyle = background:white;padding:0.4em
  | caption = The "spear" [[motif (music)|motif]] intended for contrabass in the fourth trombone part of ''[[Das Rheingold]]'', the first opera in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner's]] ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Ring]]'' cycle.
  | content = <score lang="lilypond">
  \layout { ragged-right = ##t \context { \Score \omit BarNumber } }
  \relative g {
    \override DynamicTextSpanner.style = #'none
    \override Hairpin.minimum-length = #5
    \clef bass \key c \major
    g2~ \ff g8 f8 e8. d16
    c4 b a g  f e d c  \break
    b a g f  e1~ \dim\!  << e1~ { s2 s4 s4 \> } >>  e4 \! \p r4 r2
  }</score>}}

In Britain in the 1860s, London instrument maker [[Boosey & Hawkes|Boosey & Co.]] built a small number of ''"Basso Profundo"'' double-slide contrabass trombones in 16′ C.<ref name="Birmingham-contra-in-C">{{cite web |title=Contra-Bass Trombone in C |publisher=[[Birmingham Conservatoire]] |work=Historical Instrument Collection |volume=7 |issue=8 |url= https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/research/hic/the-collection/trombones/7-8 |access-date=3 August 2022 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230415164019/https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/research/hic/the-collection/trombones/7-8 |url-status=live }}</ref> These were intended for use in British orchestras performing Wagner's operas, and one surviving instrument built in 1898 was named "King Kong" by players.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Contrabass trombone in 16-ft C, case, Nominal pitch: 16-ft C. |work=Musical Instruments Museums Edinburgh |publisher=University of Edinburgh |publication-place=[[St Cecilia's Hall]] |url= https://collections.ed.ac.uk/mimed/record/18666 |access-date=11 October 2022 |archive-date=11 October 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221011013428/https://collections.ed.ac.uk/mimed/record/18666 |url-status=live }}</ref> At the turn of the 20th century, American instrument manufacturer [[C. G. Conn]] produced a small number of B♭ double-slide contrabass trombones.{{sfn|Yeo|2021|p=69|loc=Helleburg, Anders Christian August (August C.)}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trombone Photo Gallery |last=Yeo |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Yeo |work=yeodoug.com |date=2002 |orig-date=revised 2013 <!-- HTML source --> |url= https://yeodoug.com/articles/trombone_gallery/trombone_gallery.html |access-date=1 April 2023 |archive-date=1 April 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230401041643/https://yeodoug.com/articles/trombone_gallery/trombone_gallery.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Multiple image
  | total_width = 500px
  | align = center
  | image1 = MIMEd 6069. Contrabass trombone in 16-ft C by Boosey & Co 1898.wh.png
  | image2 = MIMEd 4215. Contrabass trombone, nominal pitch 18-foot B-flat.png
  | alt1 = Contrabass trombone in C
  | alt2 = Contrabass trombone in B♭
  | footer = Late 19th century contrabass trombones with double slides, ''left'': in 16′ C (London: Boosey & Co, 1898); ''right'': in 18′ B♭ (Paris: Courtois, {{circa|1890s}}). [[St Cecilia's Hall]], [[University of Edinburgh]].
  | footer_align = center
}}

=== 19th-century Italy ===

{{See also|Cimbasso}}
[[File:Cimbasso in Bb by Stowasser SCCHMM-95928 (white bg).jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|left|Cimbasso in B♭ by Stowasser, early 20th century. [[St Cecilia's Hall]], [[University of Edinburgh]] ]]
Italian composers for much of the 19th century specified the [[cimbasso]] as the bass voice of the brass section, a confusing term which over time referred to an [[upright serpent]], [[ophicleide]], or early variants of the [[tuba]]. In preparation for the [[La Scala]] première of ''[[Aida]]'' in 1872, Italian opera composer [[Giuseppe Verdi]] expressed his displeasure about "that devilish {{lang|it|bombardone}}" (referring to the tuba) as the bass of the trombone section, preferring a "{{lang|it|trombone basso}}".{{sfn|Bevan|2000|pp=406–413}} In 1887 for ''[[Otello]]'', [[Milan]] instrument maker {{Ill|Pelitti|it}} produced the {{lang|it|trombone basso Verdi}} (or sometimes, {{lang|it|trombone contrabbasso Verdi}}), a [[brass instrument valve|valved]] contrabass trombone in low B♭. This instrument blended with the usual Italian trombone section of the time—three tenor [[valve trombone]]s in B♭—and became the prototype for the modern cimbasso.{{sfn|Meucci|1996|pp=158–159}} Verdi and Italian opera composer [[Giacomo Puccini]] both wrote for this instrument in their later operas, although confusingly they often referred to it as simply {{lang|it|trombone basso}} to distinguish it from the tenor trombones.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|p=414}}

=== Later innovations ===

In 1921, Ernst Dehmel, a Berlin trombonist, [[patent]]ed a new design of contrabass trombone that added two independent [[rotary valve]]s to the old bass trombone in F, still found in [[Prussia]]n [[military band]]s of the time. The valves provide a fully [[chromatic scale|chromatic range]] by supplying missing low register notes between the [[pedal tone|pedal]] F{{sub|1}} in first position and the [[Harmonic series (music)#Partial|second partial]] C{{sub|2}} in sixth (slide fully extended, without using a handle). The valves also provide alternatives for other notes in long slide positions, thus neither a longer slide with a handle nor a cumbersome double slide are needed. Dehmel's bass-contrabass instrument was the prototype for the modern F contrabass trombone designs that followed.{{sfn|Yeo|2021|pp=36–37|loc="contrabass trombone"}} In 1959, German organologist Hans Kunitz took Dehmel's instrument and filed a patent for a design with improved paddles allowing the use of the middle or fourth finger to engage the second valve.<ref name="kunitz-patent">{{Cite patent |title=Zugposaune |country=DE |number=1225033 |status=patent |fdate=21 November 1959 |gdate=15 September 1966 |inventor1-first=Hans |inventor1-last=Kunitz }}</ref> These instruments were first built as {{lang|de|Cimbasso-Bassposaune}} in the 1960s by [[Gebr. Alexander]] in Germany, and subsequently by other German and Bohemian makers.

{{Multiple image
  | total_width = 350px
  | align = center
  | image1 = MIMEd.3208.Contrabass trombone by Sprinz c.1930.png
  | alt1 = Contrabass trombone in F
  | footer = Contrabass trombone in F, built {{circa|1930}} by Sprinz, after the Dehmel design; [[St Cecilia's Hall]], [[University of Edinburgh]]
}}

=== Contemporary use ===

Since the 1990s, the contrabass trombone in F with two valve attachments has all but replaced the double slide B♭ instrument.{{sfn|Yeo|2021|pp=36–37|loc="contrabass trombone"}}
The contrabass trombone is increasingly called for in large orchestral works by modern composers, and routinely since the late 1990s in [[film score|film]] and [[video game music|video game]] [[soundtrack]]s.{{sfn|Kifer|2020|p=48}}

== Construction ==

{{Broader|Trombone#Construction}}
{{See also|Bass trombone#Dependent and independent valves}}
Instruments in F are built with two [[Bass trombone#Dependent and independent valves|independent]] ("in-line") valves. These valves are usually tuned two ways. A "traditional" configuration common with European manufacturers has a first valve lowering the instrument a [[minor third]] into D, and a second that lowers it a [[perfect fifth|fifth]] into B♭, which when used together lower the instrument a [[major sixth]] into A♭. The "American" style commonly favoured by American manufacturers and players has valves in C and D♭, combining to give A.{{sfn|Yeo|2021|pp=36–37|loc="contrabass trombone"}} This results in a contrabass with valves using the same intervals (F/C/D♭/A) as a two-valve bass trombone (B♭/F/G♭/D). Some instrument makers provide sets of tuning slides that allow changing between both configurations.<ref name="colomer2012">{{Cite book |last1=Colomer |first1=Javier |title=El Mundo del Trombón Contrabajo |last2=Thein |first2=Heinrich |publisher=Javier Colomer |year=2012 |isbn=978-84-616-2483-6 |location=Cocentaina, Spain |trans-title=The World of the Contrabass Trombone |oclc=1001569788}}</ref>

The [[Wind instrument#Bell|bell]] diameter is similar to or slightly larger than a bass trombone, at around {{convert|9+1/2|to|11|in}}. The bore is typically at least as wide as the {{convert|0.562|in|mm}} version usually used in modern bass trombones, and is commonly around {{convert|0.576|to|0.605|in|mm}} in size. Some models employ a dual-bore slide, and many models are now made using [[Axial flow valve|Axial]] or [[Hagmann valve]]s. An inexpensive model similar to Thein's "Ben van Dijk" model contrabass is also made in China by Jinbao. It is also resold as a stencil instrument by several suppliers, including Dillon, O'Malley and Schiller.<ref name="manufacturers-F">{{Multiref2
  | {{Cite web |title=Posaunen |publisher=Finke Horns |publication-place=Vlotho, Germany |language=de |url= https://finkehorns.de/metallblasinstrumente-von-finke-horns/produkte/posaunen/ |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230329110856/https://finkehorns.de/metallblasinstrumente-von-finke-horns/produkte/posaunen/ |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=Kontrabassposaunen |trans-title=Contrabass trombones |publisher=Haag Brass |publication-place=Weinfelden, Switzerland |language=de |url= https://haagbrass.com/collection/kontrabassposaunen/ |access-date=7 August 2022 |archive-date=7 August 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220807023204/https://haagbrass.com/collection/kontrabassposaunen/ |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=JBSL-850倍低音变调长号F/D/bB/#G |publisher=Jinbao |publication-place=Tianjin |language=zh |url= http://www.jinbaomusic.com/index.php?s=index/show/index&id=894 |access-date=17 November 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220812003702/http://www.jinbaomusic.com/index.php?s=index/show/index&id=894 |archive-date=12 August 2022 }} Also resold as a stencil instrument by several instrument suppliers including Dillon, O'Malleys, and Schiller.
  | {{Cite web |title=F contrabass trombone with E♭/B♭ or C/D attachment axial-valves |publisher=Kromat Brass Instruments |publication-place=Wilstedt, Germany |url= http://www.kromatbrass.de/E-kromatbrass_de/E-instruments/E-tenor_trombone_in_Bb/E-tenor_trombone_with_F-attach/E-tenor_trombone_with_F-attach/e-f-contrabass_trombone_with_e1.html |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230329110854/http://www.kromatbrass.de/E-kromatbrass_de/E-instruments/E-tenor_trombone_in_Bb/E-tenor_trombone_with_F-attach/E-tenor_trombone_with_F-attach/e-f-contrabass_trombone_with_e1.html |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=Kontrabass Posaunen |publisher=Lätzsch Custom Brass |publication-place=Bremen, Germany |language=de |url= https://www.xn--ltzsch-shop-l8a.com/de/16-kontrabass-posaunen |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230415164020/https://www.xn--ltzsch-shop-l8a.com/de/16-kontrabass-posaunen |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=Kontrabassposaune in F/C/Db |publisher=Metallblasinstrumentenbau Markus Leuchter |publication-place=Herzogenrath, Germany |language=de |url= https://m-leuchter.de/de/3.html |access-date=23 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230329110852/https://m-leuchter.de/de/3.html |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=Contrabass Trombones |publisher=[[Michael Rath Trombones]] |publication-place=Huddersfield |url= https://rathtrombones.com/trombones/contrabass-trombones/ |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220529001055/https://rathtrombones.com/trombones/contrabass-trombones/ |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=Ben van Dijk Model |publisher=Thein Brass oHG |publication-place=Bremen, Germany |url= https://thein-brass.de/en/instrument/b-v-d-model/ |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220307015817/https://thein-brass.de/en/instrument/b-v-d-model/ |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=Kontrabassposaunen |publisher=Helmut Voigt |publication-place=Markneukirchen, Germany |url= https://helmut-voigt.com/de/contrabass-trombones/ |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230329110845/https://helmut-voigt.com/de/contrabass-trombones/ |url-status=live }} Can be built with a long, seven-position slide with a handle.
  | {{Cite web |title=Contrabass-Trombone J-173 |publisher=Jürgen Voigt Meisterwerkstatt für Metallblasinstrumentenbau |publication-place=Markneukirchen, Germany |url= https://shop.voigt-brass.de/en/MASTER-INSTRUMENTS/TROMBONES/CONTRABASS-CIMBASSO/Contrabass-Trombone-J-173.html |access-date=11 October 2022 |archive-date=11 October 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221011045023/https://shop.voigt-brass.de/en/MASTER-INSTRUMENTS/TROMBONES/CONTRABASS-CIMBASSO/Contrabass-Trombone-J-173.html |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=Professional F Contrabass Trombone |publisher=Wessex Tubas |publication-place=Andover |url= https://www.wessex-tubas.com/products/f-contrabass-trombone-pf588 |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230329110854/https://www.wessex-tubas.com/products/f-contrabass-trombone-pf588 |url-status=live }}
}}</ref>

=== Double slide instruments ===

<!-- Thein declined to release their image under Creative Commons so I have removed it from Commons; in the meantime, here is a cheap Chinese instrument. -->[[File:WANZ Instrument 2024-09 IMG 7790 contrabass trombone crop3.jpg|thumb|Contrabass trombone in B♭ with double slide]]
Double slide contrabass trombones are still made by German makers Thein and Miraphone, in 18′ B♭ (Miraphone also offer one built in 16′ C). The bore is large, varying from {{convert|0.587|in}} up to {{convert|0.615|in}} for the largest Miraphone models. An inexpensive model similar to the Miraphone is also made in China by Jinbao.<ref name="manufacturers-Bb">{{Multiref2
  | {{Cite web |title=JBSL-741倍低音变调长号bB/F |publisher=Jinbao |publication-place=Tianjin |language=zh |url= http://www.jinbaomusic.com/index.php?s=index/show/index&id=886 |access-date=17 November 2023 }} Also resold as a stencil instrument by several instrument suppliers including Dillon, O'Malleys, and Schiller.
  | {{Cite web |title=Slide trombones: Model 67 contrabass |publisher=Miraphone eG |publication-place=Waldkraiburg, Germany |url= https://www.miraphone.de/instruments/slide-trombone.html?m_model_no=5731 |access-date=2 March 2023 |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230302023857/https://www.miraphone.de/instruments/slide-trombone.html?m_model_no=5731 |url-status=live }}
  | {{Cite web |title=Contrabass Trombone in Bb with Double Slide |publisher=Thein Brass oHG |publication-place=Bremen, Germany |url= https://thein-brass.de/en/instrument/contrabass-trombone-in-bb-with-double-slide/ |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220307015819/https://thein-brass.de/en/instrument/contrabass-trombone-in-bb-with-double-slide/ |url-status=live }}
}}</ref> They are all built with at least one valve that lowers the instrument a fourth (i.e. B♭/F or C/G), and the Miraphone C model has a second independent valve tunable to A or A♭.<ref name="manufacturers-C">{{Cite web |title=Slide trombones: Model 67 contrabass in CC |publisher=Miraphone eG |publication-place=Waldkraiburg, Germany |url= https://www.miraphone.de/instruments/slide-trombone.html?m_model_no=5731&m_tuning=5950 |access-date=11 October 2022 |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230302023857/https://www.miraphone.de/instruments/slide-trombone.html?m_model_no=5731&m_tuning=5950 |url-status=live }}</ref> The second valve can also be fitted with a smaller B♭ tuning slide, and has a reversible linkage to place the instrument in B♭, raising it to C when engaged.<ref name="hornguys-miraphone-C">{{Cite web |title=Miraphone 670 CC Contrabass Trombone |author-first=Steve |author-last=Ferguson |publisher=The Horn Guys |publication-place=Pasadena, California |url= https://www.hornguys.com/collections/contrabass-trombones/products/miraphone-670-contrabass-trombone |access-date=11 October 2022 |archive-date=11 October 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221011034828/https://www.hornguys.com/collections/contrabass-trombones/products/miraphone-670-contrabass-trombone |url-status=live }}</ref>

The ''double slide'' can be conceived of as two regular trombone slides operating as one, i.e. two outer slide bows braced together, moving on four parallel inner slides. Although it eliminates the need for a long slide with a handle, it doubles the weight, the friction of movement, and the length of the air column that must be strictly cylindrical.{{sfn|Guion|2010|p=63}}

Older double slide instruments from the 19th and early 20th centuries were made in small numbers by several manufacturers, including Conn, Boosey & Co., and French makers Courtois and [[Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy]]. They had no valves, were built with narrower bores, and some instruments only have six usable slide positions, instead of the seven that would be expected.<ref name="rbb"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Contrabass Slide Trombone (Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy, France) |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |publication-place=[[New York City|New York]] |publication-date=1989 <!--accession date--> |orig-date=Built {{circa|1880}} |id=[[Accession number (cultural property)|Accession Number]]: 89.4.2071 |url= https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/502638 |access-date=31 March 2023 |archive-date=30 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230330234541/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/502638 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Courtois-contrabass">{{Cite web |title=Contrabass trombone, nominal pitch 18-ft B♭ |work=Musical Instruments Museums Edinburgh |publisher=University of Edinburgh |publication-place=[[St Cecilia's Hall]] |id=[[Accession number (cultural property)|Accession Number]]: 4215 |url= https://collections.ed.ac.uk/mimed/record/17959 |access-date=9 September 2024 }}</ref>

== Range ==

{{Image frame | width = 350 | caption = Range of the F contrabass trombone.{{sfn|Herbert|Myers|Wallace|2019|p=483|loc=Appendix 2: The Ranges of Labrosones}}
  | content = <score lang="lilypond"> {
    \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }
    \clef bass \key c \major \cadenzaOn
    \ottava #-1 \tweak font-size #-2 fis,,,1 \finger \markup \text "poss."
    \ottava #0  c,, \glissando d'
    \tweak font-size #-2 f'
    \ottava #-1
    \tweak font-size #-2 f,,  ^ \markup "pedals"
    \glissando
    \relative c,,, { \tweak font-size #-2 fis! }
  }</score> | innerstyle = background:white;}}
The range of a modern F contrabass trombone with two valves is fully chromatic from at least C{{sub|1}} to F{{sub|4}}, with a comfortable working range of approximately E{{sub|1}} to D{{sub|4}}.{{sfn|Herbert|Myers|Wallace|2019|p=483|loc=Appendix 2: The Ranges of Labrosones}} Pedal tones are distinct and resonant, and can be obtained to C{{sub|1}} with the six reachable open slide positions. In theory the range extends as far as F♯{{sub|0}} using both valves, but in practice very low pedal tones become increasingly difficult to produce on [[cylindrical-bore]] brass instruments due to their inherent [[Musical acoustics|acoustical]] limitations.{{sfn|Campbell|Gilbert|Myers|2021||pp=192–193}}

{{Image frame | width = 400 | caption = Range of the B♭ contrabass trombone; notes marked "V" require an F valve.
  | content = <score lang="lilypond"> {
    \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }
    \clef bass \key c \major \cadenzaOn
    \tweak font-size #-2 c,,1 \finger \markup \text "V"
    e,,1 \glissando g1
    \tweak font-size #-2 bes1
    \ottava #-1
    \tweak font-size #-2 bes,,,1 ^ \markup "pedals" \finger \markup \text "1"
    \glissando
    \tweak font-size #-2 e,,,1   \finger \markup \text "7 (poss.)"
    \tweak font-size #-2 c,,,1 \finger \markup \text "V (poss.)"
  }</score> | innerstyle = background:white;}}
The range of the original B♭ contrabass trombone demanded by Wagner extends to E{{sub|1}}.{{sfn|Herbert|Wallace|1997|p=167}} With a valve in F the range extends to C{{sub|1}}, although some instruments with a shorter slide cannot always reach the C{{sub|1}} at full extent, and B{{sub|0}} above the B♭{{sub|0}} pedal is unobtainable.<ref name="rbb"/> These notes are not missing on the modern F contrabass, which can access the lowest useful range of the double slide contrabass.{{sfn|Yeo|2021|pp=36–37|loc="contrabass trombone"}}

== Repertoire ==

After Wagner's reinvention of the B♭ contrabass trombone for the ''Ring'' cycle, it has occasionally been used by other 20th century composers. In Germany, composer [[Richard Strauss]] wrote for it in his opera ''[[Elektra (opera)|Elektra]]'' (1908), and [[Arnold Schoenberg]] scored ''[[Gurre-Lieder]]'' (1913) for a section of seven trombones including alto and contrabass.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|pp=500–501}} French composer [[Vincent D'Indy]], inspired by performances of Wagner's ''Ring'' cycle, wrote for it in several of his later works, including his last two [[symphony|symphonies]]. It has also been called for in works by composers [[Gustav Holst]], [[Havergal Brian]], [[Alban Berg]], [[Anton Webern]], [[Edgard Varèse]], [[György Ligeti]], and [[Pierre Boulez]]. Despite this, the contrabass trombone did not earn a permanent seat in the opera or symphony orchestra.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|pp=500–501}}

Since the late 1980s the contrabass trombone has appeared in orchestral works by [[Harrison Birtwistle]], [[Sofia Gubaidulina]], [[Hans Werner Henze]], and [[Manfred Trojahn]].{{sfn|Kifer|2020|pp=69–71|loc=Appendix A: Orchestral works including contrabass trombone}} It has also enjoyed a revival particularly in [[Film score|film]] and [[Video game music|video game]] [[soundtrack]]s, due to the influence of [[Los Angeles]] session players Phil Teele, [[Bill Reichenbach Jr.|Bill Reichenbach]], Bob Sanders and others. The contrabass trombone first appeared in film music in [[Jerry Goldsmith]]'s score for ''[[Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|Planet of the Apes]]'' (1968), played by Phil Teele.{{sfn|Kifer|2020|p=48}} The popularisation of loud, low-brass heavy orchestral music in films and video games like the remake of ''[[Planet of the Apes (2001 film)|Planet of the Apes]]'' (2001), ''[[Call of Duty (video game)|Call of Duty]]'' (2003) and ''[[Inception]]'' (2010) has made the contrabass trombone nearly ubiquitous, and bass trombonists are now routinely required to double on contrabass for soundtrack session work.{{sfn|Kifer|2020|p=48}}

In [[jazz]], the contrabass trombone can sometimes be employed to play the fourth (bass) trombone parts in big bands. American jazz composer [[Maria Schneider (musician)|Maria Schneider]] has written for it in several of her works, featuring on her 2007 ''Sky Blue'' and 2017 ''[[The Thompson Fields]]'' albums.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maria Schneider Orchestra: Sky Blue |work=Discogs |url= https://www.discogs.com/release/2507688-Maria-Schneider-Orchestra-Sky-Blue |access-date=28 March 2023 |archive-date=28 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230328084449/https://www.discogs.com/release/2507688-Maria-Schneider-Orchestra-Sky-Blue |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Performance ==

The double-slide contrabass trombone in B♭ is taxing to play, even with modern instruments.{{sfn|Bevan|2000|p=500}} It is unwieldy, being about twice as heavy as a tenor or bass trombone, and its cylindrical bore is less efficient than a similar-pitched tuba, requiring more air to produce a good sound.<ref name="rbb">{{Cite web |url= https://rosevillebigband.org/personnel/MoreGN/ContrabassTrombone.htm |title=Contrabass Trombone |website=Roseville Big Band |access-date=13 November 2018 |archive-date=30 July 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210730012636/https://rosevillebigband.org/personnel/MoreGN/ContrabassTrombone.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The F contrabass is more agile, since for much of its range it has a shorter air column and, like the bass trombone, has two valves which allow access to more alternate positions. Nonetheless, like the tuba, the instrument is better suited as the contrabass voice of harmonic material in an ensemble, rather than virtuoso or solo passages.<ref name="bandestration">{{Cite web|url= https://bandestration.com/2015/10/04/contrabass-trombone/ |title=Contrabass Trombone |last=Newton |first=Bret |date=4 October 2015 |website=Bandestration |access-date=13 November 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151005124522/http://bandestration.com/2015/10/04/contrabass-trombone/ |archive-date=5 October 2015}}</ref>

The use of a contrabass trombone in an orchestra is usually as an additional fourth player to the standard section of three trombones. In the past, the lack of good instruments, and players able to play them, meant that contrabass trombone parts were often played on a tuba or bass trombone (as can be heard on many 20th century recordings of Wagner, Verdi and Puccini).{{sfn|Herbert|2006|p=203}} Since the start of the 21st century, it is considered unacceptable to use anything but a contrabass trombone to play them, at least in professional settings.{{sfn|Yeo|2017|p=246}} Most [[opera house]] orchestras and some [[symphony orchestra]]s require the bass trombonist to double on the contrabass trombone.<ref name="colomer2012"/>

== References ==
{{reflist|25em}}

=== Bibliography ===
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| {{Cite Q|Q111040769|last=Bevan |first=Clifford |author-link=Clifford Bevan |date=2000 }}
| {{Cite Q|Q117322059|author1-last=Campbell |author1-first=Murray |author2-last=Gilbert |author2-first=Jöel |author3-last=Myers |author3-first=Arnold |date=2021 }}
| {{Cite Q|Q111039945|last=Guion |first=David M. |date=2010 }}
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| {{Cite thesis |last=Kifer |first=Shelby Alan |date=May 2020 |title=The Contrabass Trombone: Into the Twenty-First Century |publisher=University of Iowa |degree=DMA |url=https://iro.uiowa.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/The-Contrabass-Trombone-Into-the-Twenty-First/9983956197502771 |access-date=21 April 2022 |doi=10.17077/etd.005304|url-access=subscription }}
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| {{Cite Q|Q126794034|last=Praetorius |first=Michael |publication-place=unset |date=1620}} <!-- Crookes English translation, OUP 1986 -->
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}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{commons-inline}}
* {{cite AV_media |people=Crewe, Murray (bass trombone) |interviewer=Bob Lauver |date=23 May 2007 |title=A Rare Beast |time=1 min, 16 sec |time-caption=Interview at |via=YouTube |format=video |location=[[Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts]], Pittsburgh |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v838GN1Z-I |access-date=9 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160310040447/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v838GN1Z-I |archive-date=10 March 2016}}

{{Brass instruments|state=collapsed}}
{{Bass (sound)}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Contrabass instruments]]
[[Category:Bass (sound)]]
[[Category:Orchestral instruments]]
[[Category:Trombones]]