Images(3)

Contrabassoon, C

Alternate name(s)

Bassoon

Maker Franz Hell

Date1830 ca.

Place MadeCzechoslovakia, Europe

Place MadeBrno, Czech Republic, Europe

Serial No.none

SignedStamped on butt, long, and wing joints: [eagle] / F. HELL / BRUNN / [star]MarkingsnoneDescriptionDark-brown-stained maple in 6 sections: crook, wing joint in 2 parts, butt, long, and bell joints. Brass bell, crook, ferrules and keywork. 7 keys with cupped, round key covers, mounted in grooves on the body with brass pins. Flat springs attached to keys. Thumb-hole bushing, possibly of horn. Brass bocal (not original).

Contrabassoons, like this one, were the primary bass wind instrument used in Prague and Vienna at the time of Beethoven (for example, in the finales of his Symphony No. 5 and No. 9). In Paris, where the ophicleide was more often used, Berlioz wrote parts for the contrabassoon only twice. Even then, the instrument may not actually have been used.
DimensionsHeight: 1696 mm
Long joint: 600 mm
Wing joint: 590 mm
Bell joint: 323 mm
Butt joint: 763 mm
Overall length: 1686 mm
All measured without tenons
ProvenancePurchased from Tony Bingham, London, England, 1982, who purchased it in Germany. It was perhaps used as a wall decoration, and may well have spent many years hanging on the wall of a tavern, because when it first came to the museum, it smelled heavily of tobacco smoke, which took several years to dissipate.
Published References"Behind the Scenes . . . The Art of the Conservator." _Shrine to Music Museum, Inc. Newsletter_ 9, no. 4 (July 1982): 3.

Larson, André P. _Beethoven: Musical Treasures from The Age of Revolution and Romance_. With essays by John Eliot Gardner, William Meredith, and Gerhard Stradner. Exhibition catalog, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, California, January 30-March 21, 1999. Santa Ana: The Bowers Museum, 1999. (p. 14)

Larson, André P. _Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848_. With essay by John Koster. Exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003. Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003. (p. 51)

Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1982

Object number03073

On View

Not on view