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Contrabassoon (French name).
The French label for the contrabassoon, plural Contrebassons. It is written in bass clef an octave above the sound. Some French scores of around 1900 call for a contrabass sarrusophone instead.
Also spelled: Contrebassons
French orchestrators use it sparingly, for depth and for humor: Ravel made it the Beast in “Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête” in Ma mère l’Oye. Double the bass line with it for a dark, reedy floor, keep fast notes few, and remember it cannot play very softly at the bottom of its range.
Contrebasson is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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