bombardon

[MikeW]

Arising from Bloke's epic thread about Verdi's bombardon phobia:

I Googled bombardon, and found that the word derives from "bombard" plus the Italian "-one" suffix, meaning a big one. The word bombard itself may come from Latin "bombus", meaning a buzz or humming sound (cf "bumble bee"), or a booming sound (cf. "boom" or "bomb" -- Early cannons were also called "bombards"). The bombardon tag has drifted from instrument to instrument over the years/centuries, and may apply to various different instruments, such as:

1. A fairly modern looking tuba (1872). I have seen brass band parts for bombardon in Eb and bombardon in Bb.
2. a narrow bore, mostly cylindrical, brass bass instrument much like an upright cimbasso
3. an instrument described as a valved ophicleide
4. a "great bass" (contrabass ?) shawm, with a double reed, played with a pirouette.

The dynamics of the shawm were notorious ( zero or fff ) so it could well have been regarded as "impossible" in an orchestra. Purely out of curiosity, does anyone know for certain exactly which bombardon Verdi reacted to ?