A lot of ophicleide videos on youtube are by people who don't know how to play it. It's so nice to hear someone knowing what they are doing playing one of these.
HI @ithebinman - oh yes, the lyzard! We'll see if we can. Have you seen our 'regular' Cornett video? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4GKO8MaXxr8.html
Sound so much more refined than the serpent. I could see this fitting into a modern orchestra for solos with a slightly different timbre, as Euphonium, Wagner Tuba, Saxophone etc. get their ocasional outings.
This is a bit tangential, but the name "Ophicleide" has been used on pipe organs to denote a powerful reed stop (brass-like sound) since the installation of the Birmingham Town Hall organ by William Hill in 1835. The loudest organ stop in the world at 130 dB is the "Grand Ophicleide" found in the Boardwalk Hall Organ in Atlantic City, NJ. That stop borrows the name only; it has extraordinary éclat and in no way mimics the timbre of this lovely, mellow instrument.
I'm glad you mentioned the euphonium because I thought both the serpent and the ophicleide reminded me of that sound. However, I think this is warmer and softer.
Thank you. What a beauty! I just saw the name occasionally in proms programme booklets (Berlioz was always spectacular) but, like many, I was happy to know it was there and not be too curious about which it was in the masterful scoring.
For some reason the French thought it was very humorous to pose photographs of men in clerical cassocks playing these - often with a glass of wine nearby. Gallic humor can be impenetrable.
Seems like this would be good even in modern times for small groups of mostly string and woodwind instruments where it might be hard to regulate a modern brass instrument to a matching volume.
The instrument was invented in 1817 by French maker, Jean Hilaire Asté. Berlioz used it as an early example, in his Symphonie Fantastique, composed in 1830.
I couldn't find that excerpt in Ezio. Is it another version written with ophicleide in it, or is it something you just enjoy playing? I also love ophicleide and serpent :) keep doing more of these! Basson russe next?
If such a large double reed was available. Although a single reed mouthpiece coupled with one is what gave birth to the saxophone - the early patents even show such a thing.