Sarrusofono

As Printed on a Score

Labels the sarrusophone, normally with its size; the orchestral one is the contrabass in C (French sarrusophone contrebasse en ut), written in bass clef an octave above the sound, like a contrabassoon part. French scores of around 1900 sometimes call for it in place of the contrabassoon.

Also spelled: Sarrusophone, Sarrusophon, Sarrus

How Composers Use It

A double-reed instrument with a metal body, patented by the maker Gautrot in 1856 and named after the bandmaster Sarrus, built in sizes from sopranino to contrabass. Only the contrabass entered the orchestra, mainly in French scores (Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole among them), to give a firmer reed bass than the contrabassoons of the time. Its parts are now usually played on contrabassoon; if you specify it, give that alternative.