A Deep Dive into the OPHICLEIDE!! | History, Show-&-Tell, and More!

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

Hope you enjoyed this rather lengthy piece on a very unusual instrument! Let me know if you'd like to hear me talk about any other obscure brass family members! I may not be able to review one at any given point, but I'm still happy to discuss history, instrument function/physics, and more.

[@macgregorgranvilleobiagwu8699]

Still watching. Most definitely will like to see similar review on the sackbut.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

I've had plans to do a video on all the different types of trombones, and although I've never so much as even seen one in person, I was definitely considering doing a small discussion of the sackbut family at the start!

[@macgregorgranvilleobiagwu8699]

@@SamuelPlaysBrass that's great then! 🥂

[@youtuuba]

Nice overview of the ophicleide. I was friends with Leonard Byrne. We used to get together in a busking group called the "Roving Ophicleides" that played at brass instrument festivals, and since we were also both serpentists, we both ended up in various places in the UK every couple of years for the "Serpentarium" workshops. I remember Leonard telling me that he was actually an engineer who played well enough to also play professionally in an orchestra, and that background is rather similar to my own. I couple things I noticed in the video: - A "valved ophicleide" is not really an ophicleide; it is just a valved brass instrument, of approximate ophicleide size and in the general shape of an ophicleide. Trying to make more of it than that makes no sense.....it was just a marketing term. - A ophicleide is 'voiced' by adjusting the thickness of the cork pads that are glued to the bottoms of the finger buttons for each key, except for the single normally open key. For that majority of keys, the goal is to get the best intonation for each tone hole's series of partials, by controlling how closely the key pad hover over the open tone hole chimney. In this video, it kinda sounded like cork was being glued over part of the tone hole openings, which is not the correct tuning scheme. The single normally open hole is tuned using a thumbscrew on the dual-teeter-totter key linkage. One can never have too many ophicleides. In 1987, I bought my first one, an anonymous Bb model that plays very nicely. Over the years I kept acquiring them, even making a couple of them from scratch, and now I have a small forest of them on stands at one end of my music room. A problem with buying antique ophicleides is that many of them are really 'dogs', and it might not be possible to get them playing correctly. These days, Wessex makes (has made for them in China) a few models of ophicleide that are well-built copies of good playing originals, so that makes it easy to get a known-good ophicleide for a reasonable price.

[@jomarluke]

Great video! I have an ophicleide myself (Wessex C), and I have noticed that "boom key" phenomenon. Well, I thought more in terms of bassoon "venting", I guess. But still...it worked! My low Ab is iffy down below and I needed to push it out in Symphonie Fantastique. So I opened the "boom key" on my right thumb and...BOOM. Keep at it! We need more ophicleide players. When I started, I sounded like a dying duck. Now...well, it's not so much in pain.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

Thanks for your comment! Glad the “boom keys” aren’t just some lunatic speculation of mine. I forgot that venting was a thing in bassoon. Anyhow, I doubt I’ll come across another one of these odd ducks anytime soon, but if I do I’ll definitely spend some more time with it.

[@michaelwaldo9363]

Great video Sam! The Ophicleide is one of my favorite historical instruments due it's role in the creation of the Saxophone (my main instrument). Have you seen that Wessex makes modern reproductions of the Ophicleide and Quinticlave?

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

Thanks Michael! From the reading I did, it seems that the story of Adolphe Sax being inspired to create the modern saxophone after putting a woodwind mouthpiece into an ophicleide is probably nothing more than an urban legend. Still, some small design influences could definitely have been present, particularly the conical bore. I hadn't seen Wessex's replica ophicleides before, so thanks for the heads up!

[@MrMarcvus]

I really like the Ophicleide and keyed bugle - it would be nice to have a brass world more open to the wonderful qualities these instruments can have! Valves are not the be all and end all!

[@BartvandenBoomgaard]

Adolphe Sax's invention was an Ophicleide with a klarinet mouthpiece on it. That was how the baritone saxophone was born. After the baritone, the rest of the saxophone family followed. And after much refinement we have the current saxophone.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

From my reading it seems this is more or less an unsubstantiated urban legend, but true or not, I think it’s a cool story that highlights just how interconnected the brass and woodwind families really are.

[@youtuuba]

BartvandenBoomgaard, that is a "story" that cannot be substantiated by any historical record. and it also makes no sense. First, and ophicleide does not play well using a reed mouthpiece, because it requires a level of embouchure control of harmonics that a reed cannot provide, and second because Sax was a brilliant designer and did not need to "fool around" randomly to invent a new instrument like the Saxophone.

[@robbicu]

Lots of fun! I'd love to try one. I played several Ophecleide parts when I played contra bassoon.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

Isn’t a normal bassoon capable of going down to a Bb1? I ask because in such a case, a bassoon should be more than capable of handling most ophicleide parts, let alone a contra. What sort of pieces did you have to play ophicleide parts on? Doggone it Rob, now I’m curious…

[@robbicu]

@@SamuelPlaysBrass The Berlioz excerpt you played is often played on contra bassoon. There is also a prominent part for ophecleide in Mendelssohn's incidental music for Midsummer Night's Dream. Traditionally played on contra. $100 - $200 per service, I wasn't complaining. ;)

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

@@robbicu Ah, what a shame GU didn’t hire a contra for the Berlioz then. We did it with two bassoons and two tubas earlier this season. Oh well!

[@TanBleach46290]

As a musician studying near the Spokane area, the loss of Leonard Byrne really hit. He was truly special. Anyways awesome video man!

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

It really is a tough loss for Spokane. He will be remembered for a long, long time. Thank you for the comment!

[@leoelantra]

I hope you can do a deep dive about the Cimbasso.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

The cimbasso is an instrument I find very fascinating. We’ll see if I can ever manage to get my hands on one. In the meantime, Scott Sutherland has a great video about the cimbasso on his KZbin channel.

[@minemaster3157]

i think this is the first recording of an ophicleide that I've heard that doesnt sound like an amplified mouthpiece noise!

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

Consider me flattered! :)

[@seth094978]

If anyone wants to hear some truly excellent ophicleide playing, I can highly recommend "The Virtuoso Ophicleide" by Patrick Wibart.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

Good to know!

[@leoelantra]

@SamuelPlsysBrass, Do you know if modern Opheclides have better intonation. Wessex makes one.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

I’ve never gotten to try a modern replica ophicleide. I can’t imagine they play much worse than the one in this video, though…

[@thattubaguy3801]

The Wessex (Dillon/Jinbao/etc..) Modern instruments are a fair bit more in tune, however, the ophicleide is dependent upon the player, and requires a fair amount of effort to learn the tuning tendencies of each and every instrument. Consistency is only a suggestion on these things.

[@brucealanwilson4121]

WESSEX in the UK has started making them again.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

I find it interesting how many replica instruments Wessex is producing. Makes me wonder how they play. I haven’t had the opportunity to try any Wessex instruments besides their four-valve rotary euphonium, which was an okay instrument by all means, but nothing phenomenal.

[@brucealanwilson4121]

@@SamuelPlaysBrass Well, there are only so many old instruments around in playable condition, so if old instruments are to be revived. . .

[@lyfechoices7901]

guys will see a 20+ minute sam video and say "hell yeah"

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

I sure hope so! They take a hot minute to record and edit!

[@paulmullen2620]

To the best of my understanding, valves have been around since at least the 1820s because Beethoven wrote a part in his 9th symphony for a new valved French horn.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

It does seem that would be the case for certain rotors or Stoelzel valves. I hadn't realized they were around that early. I was thinking more along the lines of the Perinet valve which was patented (still a few years earlier than I expected) in 1838.