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I have just bought the books 'The History of British Military bands' (by Gordon Turner & Alwyn Turner) which are very interesting indeed! In one photo is the Band of the Green Howards in 1908. As well as a couple of normal top valve tubas there is a helicon and a brass bass instrument which looks keyed like an ophicleide, but seems to have too much piping to be one, unless it is lower pitch than the normal C or Bb. Anyone can identify? It is top left in photo.

Contrabass sarrusophone, I think.

KiltieTuba wrote:Sarrousaphone indeed.

Look at the key work for the left hand.

+1
Mark

Here's a photo I just found of the University of Illinois Sarrusophone section. Image... this group, plus Ian's EEb tuba, plus... man, that must have been something. Think there are any old recordings of the full instrumentation of this band?

Or could be a "reed contrabass."



Similar idea, but kind of like tuba vs. saxhorns - no family, just the contrabass, and its proportions are a bit more generous. And the keywork is less complex.

Donn wrote:Or could be a "reed contrabass."

A sarrousaphone was a reed instrument to the best of my knowledge.

I've learnt something - thanks guys! That is a new instrument on me I have never seen before!

hbcrandy wrote:

Donn wrote:Or could be a "reed contrabass."

A sarrusophone was a reed instrument to the best of my knowledge.

Yes, and so is a bass saxophone, so "reed contrabass" probably wasn't the best name for it, but that's all we have, unless it helps to translate the same phrase into Italian or French. http://www.contrabass.com/pages/anche.html

Good link!

I have seen 1 or 2 reed basses surface on eBay over the last 12 years.

Klaus

A "reed contrabass" (contrabass a anche) is a different instrument than the contrabass sarrusophone. It has closed-standing keyed and a wider bore. The picture is of a contrabass sarrusophone

J.c.S.

J.c. Sherman wrote:A "reed contrabass" (contrabass a anche) is a different instrument than the contrabass sarrusophone. It has closed-standing keyed and a wider bore. The picture is of a contrabass sarrusophone

Here's article on Kaiser Wilhelm's Musikcorps I. Garde-Regiment zu Fuss, as seen in a souvenir postcard that sort of features the instrument front and center. The author made the same error but corrects himself in an update.

In an image search, I was surprised to see a Besson contrebasse a anche that apparently was for sale at Dillon's years ago. I copy it here from Google's cache. Not that there's enough detail to see anything interesting, but just thought it was interesting that Besson was making these things (also Boosey.)

As for the Besson reed contrabass it could have been made by the original French branch of the Besson family.

When I was in high school I played in a community band where one of the sax players occasionally brought a sarrusophone. (I believe it was a bass.) One of the other band members described it as sounding like you should say "excuse me" after every note.