Ophicleide

Ophicleide

An ophicleide
Brass Instrument
Classification	Keyed brass Brass instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	? (?)
Developed	18th century
Playing range
(same as trombone's)[1]
Related instruments
Trombone

Valved "ophicleide" built by Leopold Uhlmann, Vienna, 1838–40, now in MOMA.

The ophicleide ( /ˈɒfɨklaɪd/) is a family of conical bore, brass keyed-bugles. It has a similar shape to the sudrophone.

History

The ophicleide was invented in 1817 and patented in 1821 by French instrument maker Jean Hilaire Asté (also known as Halary or Haleri) as an extension to the keyed bugle or Royal Kent bugle family. It was the structural cornerstone of the brass section of the Romantic orchestra, often replacing the serpent, a Renaissance instrument which was thought to be outdated. Its long tubing bends back on itself, and it is played with a cupped mouthpiece similar to modern trombone and euphonium mouthpieces. It originally had nine keys, later expanded to as many as twelve keys, covering the large tone holes. The various members of the ophicleide family may be pitched in B♭and C (bass), or E♭ or F (alto). Contrabass members were known, but rare. The most common members are the bass ophicleides pitched in B♭ or C. Adolph Sax and the modern maker Robb Stewart have also created soprano ophicleides an octave above the bass, and a modern contrabass in Eb was built by Mr. Stewart as well.

The bass ophicleide was first scored for in the opera Olimpie by Gaspare Spontini in 1819. Other famous works which employ it include Felix Mendelssohn's Elias and Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream (originally scored for English Bass Horn), as well as Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, which was originally scored to include both an ophicleide and a serpent. The instrument was standard in French mid-19th century serious operas by Meyerbeer, Halevy, and Auber, as well as English operas by Michael Balfe, Vincent Wallace, and others. Verdi and Wagner also composed for the ophicleide as did Sir Arthur Sullivan in his Overture Di Ballo (which, like Wagner's Rienzi, also has an additional part for serpent).

The ophicleide (oficleide) was used in Brazilian choro bands well into the 20th century—soloist Irineu de Almeida was the major performer on the instrument—until it was superseded by the saxophone.^[2]

Eclipse

The ophicleide was eventually succeeded by the tuba and euphonium through careful and deliberate marketing, although it remained popular in Italy until the early twentieth century. One of the last great ophicleide players was the English musician Sam Hughes. The instrument has also been considered a direct ancestor of the saxophone: anecdotally, Adolphe Sax, while repairing an ophicleide, put a woodwind mouthpiece on the instrument and liked the sound, leading to the saxophone's later creation; however, this story is not considered plausible, since the developmental history of the saxophone is well documented, and the ophicleide and saxophone are only superficially similar to each other—in particular their wide conical bore, and large tone holes.

Name

The instrument's name comes from the Greek word ophis (ὄφις)"serpent" + kleis (κλείς) "keys", since it was conceived of as a serpent with keys. Like the serpent, some found it difficult to play, and early twentieth century musicians felt it had a somewhat unpredictable sound, leading to the doggerel:

"The Ophicleide, like mortal sin

Was fostered by the serpent."

Playing

The ophicleide, like the keyed bugle and quinticlave (the other two members of its 'family') has a fingering system like no other wind instrument. All keys except one are normally closed, opening only when a finger presses the associated key lever. Just below the bell is the largest of the key-covered tone holes, but this one is normally open, closing only when the lever is pressed. On an ophicleide in C, this normally open tone hole is the acoustic bell, with the bell itself having little effect on sound or pitch, and the sound produced with no key levers pressed is a C. If the player presses the lever for this normally open tone hole, that hole is closed and now air column extends past this hole up to the bell, lowering the pitch by one half step to B (On a B-flat instrument, the "all fingers off" pitch is B-flat, and with the normally open hole closed the pitch is lowered to A). In general, the player can obtain all the "partial" pitches available for a given air column length. To play a higher series of partials, he opens one of the normally closed tone holes, effectively making that hole the "bell" of the instrument, with a corresponding shorter air column and higher series of pitches. The left hand controls three such tone holes plus the normally open one below the bell. Most pitches over the range of the instrument can be obtained by using only the left hand's set of tone holes, and the right hand can hold and stabilize the instrument. At the point where the air column is shortened by opening all of the left hand tone holes, there comes a difficult couple of notes that can best be played by continuing to shorten the air column with two fingers of the right hand, before the series of partials "wraps" and the left hand is used again for another set of notes. This repeats until about one half octave in the lowest register, where the pitches cannot be obtained very well using the holes closer to the bell, whether left or right hand controlled. For these few notes only, the other fingers of the right hand can open a few more tone holes that are relatively closer to the mouthpiece than to the bell. With the exception of these special few pitches in the low octave, the combinations of partials on various sets of opened tone holes results in the left hand fingers going through something very similar to what they would be doing to manipulate the valves on a modern brass instrument. This system is very unlike any other key-and-tone-hole instruments, including woodwinds.

As of 2008, there are only four contrabass ophicleides known to exist. Three are in museums, and the fourth (also the only one being played) currently resides in Cooperstown, New York.

See also

• Ophicleide (organ stop)

Notes

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ de:Irineu de Almeida

External links

• The Ophicleide—contains photos and a fingering guide
• John's Ophicleide Directory—photographic directory of ophicleide players
• Nick Byrne's Wonderful World of the Ophicleide—dedicated to the performance and study of the ophicleide, with pictures and audio examples
• The Serpent Website—contains photos, history, fingering guides, discography, etc. (focuses mostly on the serpent, but has information on ophicleides as well)
• "A Lament for Sam Hughes", by Trevor Herbert
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Ophicleide". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• [2], by Nick Byrne, virtuoso and authority on the ophicleide.
• [3]

Audio

• Ophicleide audio samples