tpter1

Can anyone identiffy what this thing that looks like a contrabass English horn is?

http://www.pbase.com/pippington/image/39924760

__________________
-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting

BigBadWolf

Bass oboe

__________________
Kevin

Solar Bell

All oboes are base!

-cw-

__________________
Chuck Willard
The Willard of Oz

"Don't be afraid to see what you see."
Ronald Reagan

davidjohnson

ah ha!!! devil horn model 666.

seriously, i, too, think it is a bass oboe. i've seen pix before, but never in person. isn't it kin to the heckelphone?

dj

wiseone2

The instrument is a heckelphone. Great name
http://www.contrabass.com/pages/heckel.html
Wilmer

__________________
Be sure Brain is engaged before putting Mouthpiece in gear.
S.Suark 1951

Manny Laureano

Yeah, bass oboe is smaller. If you want to hear one, there are a few movements of the planets playing fast and slow licks. The best example is in Saturn, Bringer of Old Age.

Aside from that, I don't know what piece you'd have to hear to hear the heckelphone off the top of my head.

Ooh, that would hurt. Pointy little stick on the bottom, you know.

Wishing my syntax didn't suck,

ML

tpter1

Wilmer- Thanks! At first my wife thought you were joking...it IS a funny name.

Thanks for the chuckle, Manny!

From that same site Wilmer directed me to, here is some other rep (copied and pasted):

There are solo parts written for Heckelphone in Richard Strauss's Salome, and Elektra, as well as his Alpensymphonie and Josefslegende. Hindemith's Op. 47 Trio for Viola, Heckelphone and Piano is one of the best works composed for the instrument (or for viola, for that matter). Other works with Heckelphone parts include: Dollar Symphony in C Minor by Kurt Atterberg, Symphony No. 1 by A. Bax; "Fennimore and Gerda", "Paris", and the Dance Rhapsody by F. Delius; "The Planets" by G. Holst; "Sonnengeist" by R. Klose; 3rd Symphony in F by Franz Moser; "Moloch" and "Mona Lisa" by Max Schillings; the London Symphony by W. Vaughan; and the Symphony No. 3 by F. Weingartner. For the full list, see Peter Hurd's Heckelphone/bass oboe Repertoire

On that page are also some sound samples as well, including some Paul Winter, a sample of it playing the Promenade from Pictures (now THAT's just wrong!), etc. Great info!

__________________
-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting

Manny Laureano

Oh.. so, does that mean we're wrong about them being two different instruments? Shoot, terribly sorry for misinformation, in that case!

ML

tpter1

Manny- According to the info on the site, bass oboe and Hecklephone are in fact 2 different instruments. No misinformation there.

The web site says:
"The Heckelphone is broader and more robust than the bass oboe, which tends to sound thinner and more reedy by comparison. Some commentators have opined that even where composers have indicated the bass oboe, the Heckelphone was actually intended. Some of the Repertoire selections here are indicated as "bass oboe": there is some disagreement as to the composer's actual intentions..."

I should have included the last phrase in my copy. Sorry for that.

There is also a piccolo Hecklephone, in F, and an octave higher than English horn.

Pretty rare, I would think, that that would be needed.

__________________
-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting

Rgale

I know a fellow in Seattle area that owns several heckelphones . How's that for the ultimate in geekiness? Worse than most trumpet players.

__________________
Listen to your inner voice before it says ,"I told you so".