THE DOUBLE-BASS
_Strings and compass of the double-bass; double-bass a
descendant of the violone; voice of the double-bass; how
Gluck, and Mozart treated the double-bass; Beethoven makes the
double-bass a solo instrument; Verdi’s use of the double-bass
in “Otello”; Wagner’s part for the double-bass in “Die
Meistersinger”; Dragonetti and Bottesini; double-basses by the
Cremonese makers._
The double-bass plays the lowest notes of all the Strings. It _doubles_,
that is to say, it plays in the lower octave the bass part given to
the bass voice, whether this be the violoncello, bassoon, or any other
instrument.
Its strings are E, A, D and G. They are very coarse, thick and heavy. The
music for the double-bass is written in the F, or Bass, Clef, an octave
above the real sound of the notes. This is done to avoid the use of the
ledger lines.
To understand what the double-bass is we have to go back to the Viol
Family again. We saw that the viol was made in four sizes to make the
quartet:—tenor or discant; _viola da braccio_; _viol da gamba_; and
_violone_. We also saw that the violin gradually developed from the tenor
viol; that the _viola da braccio_ became the viola; and that the _viola
da gamba_ became the violoncello. Each passed through many changes until
the modern instrument was perfected. Strange to say, the double-bass made
on the violin pattern did not find favor; and the makers, therefore, went
back to the viol type.
So the double-bass is practically the old _violone_ with a very few
slight changes. It still retains some of the characteristics of the old
Viol Family; for instance, its flat back (instead of the new arched back
of the new Violin Family) and its slanting shoulders; but it has yielded
to the new style in its _f_-holes and its four corner blocks. We may call
the double-bass a combination of the models of the violin and the _viola
da gamba_ and not be far wrong. Compare the double-bass facing this
page and the _viola da gamba_ facing page 60, and you will see the same
slanting shoulders and general form. The double-bass also follows the
habit of the Viol Family in being tuned in _fourths_ instead of fifths.
If we look at the row of double-basses in the Orchestra, we will notice
that some of the men are playing on instruments with three strings and
others on instruments with four strings; but the work they have to do is
practically the same. It is fascinating to watch the players whose hands
move so rapidly up and down the long neck of the instrument and whose
fingers fall so intelligently and firmly upon the right places, while the
short, thick, black-haired bow looks sometimes as if it would saw the
double-bass in two.
We seldom hear a solo from the double-bass; for composers do not
encourage him. His voice in spite of his huge size lacks substance.
[Illustration: FIRST DOUBLE-BASS, SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK
_Morris Tivin_]
We cannot imagine the double-bass whispering a tender love-song, or
indulging in any sweet sentiment. It is essentially an orchestral
instrument. Its heavy notes are for the good of the community. They help
make a fine, firm background for the melodies and harmonies of the more
delicate instruments.
The best effects of the double-bass are obtained on his open strings; and
it can (and often does) produce harmonics.
No composer ever thought of taking any special notice of it until Gluck
saw its possibilities and made it imitate the hoarse barking of Cerberus
in his opera of _Orfeo_. On the words “At the dire howling of Cerberus,”
the double-basses are doubled with the violas and violoncellos and make a
wonderful effect in depicting the three-headed dog of the lower regions.
Mozart used the double-bass with great skill in _Don Giovanni_; but still
there was no call for a solo from the double-bass. Nobody thought of
attracting attention to this clumsy old growler, sedate and solemn, often
severe, occasionally savage, and, at his best moments, gloomy and vague,
until Beethoven gave him greater and greater importance.
The next time you hear Beethoven’s _Fifth Symphony_ watch for the
_Scherzo_ and listen to the double-bass. The opening bars of this
movement are played as a solo by the violoncello and double-bass.
The people who first heard such a strange innovation were aghast and
horrified!
But Beethoven made a still stranger and more striking use of the
double-bass in the _Ninth Symphony_. Here he employed it with the viola
as a kind of bridge leading from the sounds of instruments to human
voices. Deeply, darkly, solemnly the voice of the double-bass is heard
in an impressive recitative that seems to call mankind together to hear
the message that the human voices have to give. Then begin the words of
Schiller’s _Ode to Joy_.
Verdi considered the double-bass a dark, morbid personality, particularly
fitted for tragedy. He calls upon the double-bass to describe Otello’s
entrance into Desdemona’s chamber when he comes to murder her. Here the
double-bass darkly and wickedly mutters all that is in Otello’s savage
heart and tells us just what he means to do.
But, perhaps, the most striking treatment of the double-bass is in
Wagner’s _Die Meistersinger_. “In this score,” Charles Villiers Stanford
thinks, “you find the most economical and perfectly proportionate use of
that dangerous rogue-elephant, the double-bass.”
Naturally as there are no compositions written for him to shine in the
front of the concert stage, there have been few great performers on the
double-bass.
There were, however, two very great Italian players. One was Domenico
Dragonetti. He was born in 1755. Nothing was too hard for him to play,
and he achieved a great reputation. He played in concerts throughout
Europe. The other was Bottesini, who was born in 1822. He was also
considered a wonder. He played on a three-stringed instrument of rather
small size. Bottesini visited the United States with Arditi about
seventy-five years ago. Dragonetti played on a Gasparo di Salò. He also
owned a Stradivari.
[Illustration: LUTEMAKER’S SHOP AND TWO MEN PLAYING THE DOUBLE-BASS]
Double-basses by the Cremonese makers are rare. Stradivari made a few
and Nicolò Amati made three or four; but Amati’s instruments are not
effective in the Orchestra. Carlo Bergonzi’s are among the best ever
made; for Bergonzi, as we have seen,[17] was famous for instruments of
strong tone and he went back to the Gasparo di Salò model.[18] We also
know that the double-bass has to keep to the Viol model; so it is not
hard to see why Carlo Bergonzi’s instruments are so highly valued.