# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bombardon

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​BOMBARDON, or Bass Tuba, the name given to the bass and contrabass of the brass wind in military bands, called in the orchestra bass tuba.
The name of bombardon is unquestionably derived from bombardone, the Italian for contrabass pommer (bombard), which, before the invention of the fagotto, formed the bass of medieval orchestras; it is also used for a bass reed stop of 16 ft. tone on the organ. The bombardon was the very first bass wind instrument fitted with valves, and it was at first known as the corno basso, clavicor or bass horn (not to be confounded with the bass horn with keys, which on being perfected became the ophicleide). The name was attached more to the position of the wind instruments as bass than to the individual instrument. The original corno basso was a brass instrument of narrow bore with the pistons set horizontally. The valve-ophicleide in F of German make had a wider bore and three vertical pistons, but it was only a “half instrument,” measuring about 12 ft. A. Kalkbrenner, in his life of W. Wieprecht (1882), states that in the Jäger military bands of Prussia the corno basso (keyed bass horn) was introduced as bass in 1829, and the bombardon (or valve-ophicleide) in 1831; in the Guards these instruments were superseded in 1835 by the bass tuba invented by Wieprecht and J. G. Moritz.
The bombardons possess a chromatic compass of 31/2 to 4 octaves. The harmonic series consists of the harmonics from the 1st to the 8th.
Bombardon in E Flat.
Harmonic Series of the Contrabass Bombardon in C.*
The lowest notes produced by the valves are very difficult to obtain, for the lips seldom have sufficient power to set in vibration a column of air of such immense length, at a rate of vibration slow enough to synchronize with that of notes of such deep pitch. Even when they are played, the lowest valve notes can hardly be heard unless doubled an octave higher by another bombardon.
Bombardons are generally treated as non-transposing instruments, the music being written as sounded, except in France and Belgium, where transposition is usual. The intervening notes are obtained by means of pistons or valves, which, on being depressed, either admit the wind into additional lengths of tubing to lower the pitch, or cut off a length in order to raise it. Bombardons usually have three or four pistons lowering the pitch of the instrument respectively 1, 1/2, 11/2 and 21/2 tones (in Belgium, 1, 1/2, 2 and 3 tones). The valve system, disposal of the tubing and shape and position of the bell differ considerably in the various models of well-known makers. In Germany and Austria what is known as the cylinder action is largely used; for the piston or pump is substituted a four-way brass cock operated by means of a key and a series of cranks.
In order to obtain a complete chromatic scale throughout the compass, there must be, as on the slide-trombone, seven different positions or lengths of tubing available, each having its harmonic series. These different lengths are obtained on the bombardon by means of a combination of pistons: the simultaneous use of Nos. 2 and 3 lowers the pitch two tones; of Nos. 1, 2 and 3, three tones; of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, five and a half tones, &c. A combination of pistons, however, fails to give the interval with an absolutely correct intonation, since the length of tubing thrown open is not of the theoretical length required to produce it. Many ingenious contrivances have been invented from time to time to remedy this inherent defect of the valve system, such as the six-valve independent system of Adolphe Sax; the Besson Registre, giving eight independent positions; the Besson compensating system Transpositeur; the Boosey automatic compensating piston invented by D. J. Blaikley, and V. Mahillon’s automatic regulating pistons. More recently the Besson enharmonic valve system, with six independent tuning slides and three pistons, and Rudall, Carte & Company’s new (Klussmann’s patent) bore, conical throughout the open tube and additional lengths, have produced instruments which leave nothing to be desired as to intonation. (See Valves and Tuba.)  (K. S.)
* ↑ See Dr E. Schafhäutl’s article on Musical Instruments, section 4 of Bericht der Beurtheilungscommission bei der Allg. deutschen Industrie-Ausstellung, 1854 (Munich, 1855), pp. 169-170; also Friedr. Zamminer, Die Musik und die Musikinstrumente in ihrer Beziehung zu den Gesetzen der Akustik (Giessen, 1855), p. 313.
* ↑ V. C. Mahillon, Eléments d’acoustique musicale et instrumentale (Bruxelles, 1874), p. 153.
* ↑ The bombardon is used in the military bands of Austria, but in those of Germany it has been superseded by a bass tuba differing slightly in form and construction from the bombardons and bass tubas used in England, France, Belgium and Austria.