Contrafagotto

As Printed on a Score

Labels the contrabassoon staff (Controfagotto in standard modern Italian), abbreviated C. fag., Cfg. or Contrafag. It is written in bass clef an octave above the sound, so the part looks like a bassoon part. The third bassoonist often plays it, with the changes marked in the bassoon part.

Abbreviations: Cfg., Cfag., C. fag., Contrafag., Contrafg.

Also spelled: Contrafagotti, Controfagotto, Controfagotti

How Composers Use It

The orchestra’s lowest woodwind, reaching down to B-flat0 (A0 on some instruments), with a rough, growling bottom and a smoother middle. Beethoven brought it into the symphony in the Fifth and Ninth, Brahms used it for depth in his First, and Ravel made it the Beast in Ma mère l’Oye. Double the bass line with it for weight, keep fast passages short, and remember it speaks slowly and cannot play very softly at the bottom.

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