Ophicleide
| Ophicleide | |
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| English ophicleide , Italian oficleide | |
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| Bass Ophicleide | |
| classification |
Aerophone brass instrument |
The Ophikleide [ ofikleˈiːdə ] ( Greek ὄφις ophis 'snake', κλείς kleis 'flaps') is a historical brass instrument from the family of keyed horns , with keys and an upward-pointing bell . Its shape is similar to that of the bassoon and it has nine to twelve keys. Eleven keys are required for full chromatic playing of the range (for Bb instruments from A to b 1 ).
The instrument was invented by Halary ( Jean-Hilaire Asté ) in Paris around 1817 . Before the valve tuba caught on because of its better suitability in military music, the ophicleide was used as a bass instrument in symphony orchestras , in brass bands and in church music . The ophi dress solo in Hector Berlioz ' Symphonie fantastique ( Dies irae quote) became particularly famous .
After the brass instrument, a mostly extremely loud organ - tongue register of 8 ', 16' or 32 'is named.
history
At the beginning of the 19th century the problem was that there was a lack of full-sounding bass instruments that could provide a sufficient foundation for the new, more voluminous orchestral sound. The Serpent , which still came from the Renaissance, no longer suited the modern sound ideal, and the bass horn in its various designs was also not necessarily convincing. The woodwind instruments, contrabassoon and bass clarinet , however, were not loud enough. That is why new low-pitched wind instruments were developed. Of these, the ophicleide prevailed right up to the introduction of the tuba in military music, as evidenced by the many ophicle schools that appeared between 1820 and 1840.
Like all conical brass instruments, it has an easy response. The playability of old ophicleids is somewhat impaired by the lack of precision of the 19th century instrument makers in the barrel and in the valve seat. The virtuosity of the solo pieces, the solos in orchestral works, operas and chamber music speak for the technical agility of this instrument.
In the German-speaking countries, the ophicleide was unable to establish itself due to the rapid introduction of the tuba into military music. However, it remained in use in France, Italy and Great Britain throughout the 19th century. Well-known music examples by German composers are Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's incidental music for Midsummer Night's Dream, op. 61, the oratorio Elias and his second version of Athalie . Richard Wagner's operas Rienzi and Der Fliegende Holländer are generally known, and Robert Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri . Gaetano Donizetti uses the ophicleide from 1839 in almost all of his series operas.
The oldest construction of the tuba (1835 in Berlin) and the first patent specification of the saxophone clearly prove the precursor function of the ophicleide for these instruments.
In the 20th century there was hardly any composition for the ophicleide; one of the last composers to use them regularly was Heitor Villa-Lobos . Up until the Second World War, the ophicleide was found regularly as an important bass instrument in the Brazilian choro and the Cuban danzón , and in individual cases up to the end of the 20th century.
With the growing interest in musical performance practice of the 19th century, in the composers' sound conception and the steadily increasing number of performances with original instruments or their replicas, a market has emerged so that ophikleiden can be rebuilt and further developed.
Characteristic
The sound of the ophicleide can be described between French horn and bassoon. In the sound spectrum of the Ophikleide, only two overtones emerge clearly, which creates its characteristic sound and its good suitability for mixing with other instruments.
In his Grand traité d'instrumentation in 1844, Berlioz polemicized the bass ophicleide:
“The sound of the low notes is rough, but in certain cases, among masses of brass instruments, it works wonders. The very high notes have a wild character, which, however, has not yet been used in the right way. The middle register is too reminiscent of the tone of the serpent and the tines , especially if the wind player is not very skilled . There is nothing clumsy [...] than those more or less rapid passages that are performed in certain modern operas as solos in the middle register of the Ophikleïde: It is just as if a bull ran away from the stable in the middle of one Salon made its great jumps. "
It is possible that Berlioz's criticism relates less to French opera literature ( Grand opéra and Opéra comique ) than to the performance practice of vocal accompaniment in churches. A recent review of a performance of Donizetti's La favorite (1840) in Zurich confirms the preference of the ophikleide over the tuba in the opera orchestra: "Instead of the tuba, a lighter and more elegant sounding 'ophikleide' is used as a bass instrument."
Contemporary works for the ophicleide
- Hans Werner Henze : The raft of the Medusa
- Falk Huebner : Disorder for Solo-Ophikleide
- Falk Hübner: Present tense for Solo-Ophikleide
- Johannes Wallmann : Antiphon for solo ophicleide or as a duo with organ
- Clifford Bevan : Sonata for solo ophicle and piano
Remarks
- ^ Hector Berlioz, Instrumentationslehre , supplemented and revised by Richard Strauss, Part II, Leipzig: Peters 1955, p. 361
- ↑ Sibylle Ehrismann : Hollow Phrases Belcanto sung . In: Zurich Oberland . March 21, 2006 ( online transcript [accessed March 23, 2017]).
See also
Web links
- Repertoire for Ophikleide
- Website by Erhard Schwartz with information about the Ophikleide
- Stephen J. Weston, Edward Solomon: Friends and Relations: The Ophicleide ( September 12, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive ). In: britishtrombonesociety.org , May 28, 2008 (English).