OCTOBASS

Updated 04-May-2020.

Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about OCTOBASS!

The Giant Octobass Plays Notes So Low Humans Can’t Hear Them: There are only seven known examples of this rare string instrument in the world.

Up Close With A Curator: Octobasse: Join curator Colin Pearson on a descriptive journey of one of the most famous objects at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The World’s …

Octobasse @ Cité de la musique, Paris: Octobasse Jean-Marc Pagès, fac-similé. Contenu proposé en exclusivité à l’occasion de la #MuseumWeek 2014

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s new octobass has arrived: Standing at more than 12 feet tall, this octobass will become part of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in October.

My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: the octobass was first built around 1850 in Paris by the french luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1798–1875) it has three strings and is essentially the only known work from the Nineteenth Century that specifically calls for the Octobass is Charles Gounod’s Messe solennelle de Sainte-Cécile . octobasses the Montreal Symphony Orchestra is the only orchestra in the world to own an octobass . the instrument was made by the luthier Jean-Jacques Pagès of Mirecourt, France in 2010 . on some recordings the overall tuning is a half-step flat . the instrument at the Musée de la Musique in Paris uses period-accurate gut strings . Berlioz specifically noted this tuning in his orchestra the Montreal Symphony Orchestra octobass uses gut strings, is tuned A0, E1, B1 and has a high range to F2.