Bass Music

          Wade-Matthews states that it “was only in the nineteenth century that composers started to write distinctive double bass parts” (page 113, The World Encyclopaedia of Musical Instruments, 2002, London, Hermes House). Previously, the bass shared the cello part, mostly playing one octave below the cello. The double bass assumed more popularity as a solo instrument by the early-nineteenth century with composers creating more open passages for the instrument. Schubert employed the double bass in his Trout Quintet (1819).

          Saint-Saëns portrayed the elephant in Le Carnival des Animaux (1886) using the double bass. Enjoy the double bass here, after the brief introduction from Roger Moore :  

The double bass has been made in various sizes. In the early Baroque period a full-size version was used. With development of the overwound gut string, instrument makers reduced the dimensions to become more manageable.

          I made a Bucket Bass version this week using a bucket, pole, line and eye-screw. The process is shown below.

The double bass is the lowest pitched bowed string instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra. A standard member of the string section in the symphony orchestra and smaller string ensembles in Western classical music, the double bass is also employed in other genres such as jazz, tango, rock’n’roll and country and western music.

The double bass can be played with a bow (arco) or by plucking the strings (pizzicato). Some enormous double basses have also been built, such as Vuillaume’s octobasse (1849), which was over 4 metres high and tuned an octave below conventional double bass. A system of levers and pedals was required to be used by two people in order to stop the strings.

Vuillaume’s Octobasse

Domenico Dragonetti (1763 – 1846) was a Venetian double bass virtuoso. A friend and admirer of Beethoven, Dragonetti penned several concertos and other works for the double bass. Freeing the instrument from always doubling the cello, Dragonetti pushed double bass technique to new standards and helped secure its place in the orchestra.  Here is one example of Dragonetti’s composition.

Giovanni Bottesini (1822-1829) extended the range of the double bass and was referred to as “Paganini of the double bass”.  He used high harmonics and composed large works for the double bass. Bottesini was friends with Verdi, conducting Verdi’s opera Aida, in 1871, in Cairo. Touring Europe, Russia and the United States of America as a double bass soloist, Bottesini also wrote a significant book about the double bass.  Enjoy Giovanni Bottesini’s Gran Duetto No 2 Finale with Boguslaw Furtok and Johannes Stähle.