Cimbasso

There are many different types of trombone. The most frequently encountered trombones today are the tenor and bass, though as with other Renaissance instruments such as the recorder, the trombone has been built in every size from piccolo to contrabass (pitch of brass instruments). See trombone for information about the instrument in general.

The cimbasso is a brass instrument in the trombone family, with a sound ranging from warm and mellow to bright and menacing. It has three to six piston or rotary valves, a predominantly cylindrical bore, and is usually pitched in C, F or E♭. It is in the same range as a tuba or a contrabass trombone.

The modern cimbasso is most commonly used in opera scores by Giuseppe Verdi from Oberto to Aida, and by Giacomo Puccini, though only in Le Villi, though the word also appears in the score of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, which premiered in 1831. In addition to opera orchestras, the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi included the instrument in his scoring of the symphonic poem Pines of Rome and it can also be commonly heard in motion picture soundtracks.

The early use of "cimbasso" referred to an upright serpent of a narrower bore than the "basson russe", usually made of wood with a brass bell. Later, this term was extended to a range of instruments including the ophicleide. In general, after the advent of the more conical bass tuba, the term cimbasso was used to refer to a more blending voice than the "basso tuba" or "bombardone", and began to imply the lowest trombone. Giuseppe Verdi, who at times specified a preference for the blending timbre of a low trombone over the heavier-sounding tuba, developed an instrument with the firm Pelliti, which was a contrabass trombone in BB♭ wrapped in tuba form. In most of Verdi's operas the cimbasso used nowadays are the common types of the 'bucino' form: mouthpipe and middle section in front of the player, and bell section forward pointed, in a downward angle. This causes a very direct, concentrated sound to be projected towards conductor and audience.

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