Double bass [bass,
contrabass, stand-up bass, string bass, upright bass]
(Fr.
contrebasse; Ger. Kontrabass; It. contrabasso, contrabbasso;
Sp. contrabajo).
The
largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in use. It has four or (less
often) five strings tuned in 4ths and sounds an octave lower than the cello. In
western art music it is best known for its contribution to the orchestra, where
it supplies not only the power and weight but the basic rhythmic foundation,
and has also been used as a continuo instrument. More rarely the bass is heard
as a soloist, in which field its surprisingly large repertory includes over 200
concertos. The instrument, normally played pizzicato, is an essential member of
jazz and dance bands; in many countries it is used in military and concert
bands.
See also Violone.
1. Structure and tuning.
2. The bow.
3. History.
4. Repertory and performers.
5. Jazz and popular music.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
RODNEY SLATFORD (1–4), ALYN SHIPTON/R
(5)
Double bass
1. Structure and tuning.
Double
basses vary in shape and size more than almost any other instrument. There are
two basic designs: one is shaped like a viol, the other like a violin. There
are also a few examples of other shapes (e.g. guitar-like). Viol-shaped basses
usually have a flat back, of which the top part slopes towards the neck; the
two holes in the belly are sometimes C-shaped, and very occasionally there is a
third hole in the form of a rose. Other instruments are more closely modelled
on the violin, although for convenience of playing their backs also are
sometimes flat, and their shoulders less square.
Of
the smallest basses (bassetti and chamber basses) some are little bigger
than a cello, while some of the larger (full-size) instruments can have a body
of anything up to about 140 cm in length. The normal (three-quarter) size found
in orchestras is about 115 cm. One of the largest is 4·8 metres high and was
built by Paul de Wit for the Cincinnati music festival of 1889. A great
three-string ‘octobass’ was built in 1851 by J.-B. Vuillaume, who was so proud
of it that he incorporated its design in a crest on his headed notepaper. The
instrument is tuned C'–G'–C and is now in the Musée de la
Musique, Paris. Berlioz thought highly of it, but it can be regarded as little
more than a curiosity. Another large instrument (which belonged to Dragonetti)
is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The ‘piccolo bass’, a rare small
double bass used in jazz, is fitted with thin strings and tuned an octave
higher than the standard instrument. Electric basses are becoming more popular
in jazz and new music. These dispense with the traditional acoustic body, using
synthesizers and amplication to process the sound instead.
Normal
four-string instruments are tuned E'–A'–D–G. On
five-string basses the additional bottom string is most commonly tuned to B'
(sometimes C'). Occasionally a mechanical attachment with levers serves
instead of a fifth string. This device enables the player to extend the length
of the fourth string, thus lowering its pitch to C': although useful in
the orchestra it is impractical for playing rapid passages or glissandos.
Because of this a simpler version of the extended fourth string, without
levers, is preferred by some players. Much of the solo repertory requires the
use of scordatura, the most common being F
'–B'–E–A, usually
known as ‘solo tuning’. This is considered to give the bass a brighter sound
that projects better, but since aluminium-covered steel or nylon core strings
have replaced their thick gut predecessors it is arguable whether the practice
of scordatura tuning is still necessary. Strings are tuned by means of brass
machines with steel worm-screws, but early basses had large wooden pegs. As
with the size of the instrument itself there is no standard length of playing
stop. Many orchestral instruments have a stop of about 105 cm, but variations
from 100 to 110 cm are not uncommon. Orchestral music for the instrument is
notated an octave higher than the actual pitch. Much of the solo repertory used
to be notated at pitch, but this practice is now almost exclusively confined to
Italy and is sometimes even referred to as the ‘old Italian system of
notation’.
Double bass
2. The bow.
There
are two types of bass bow in use today (see Bow, fig.12). The French bow, like a violin
bow (but shorter and heavier than a cello’s), is the most common in England,
France, Italy and parts of Scandinavia: players in Germany, Austria, the former
USSR and most of the USA prefer the German bow which has a deeper frog and is
held ‘underhand’ although not with the same hold that is used on a viol bow;
this is historically a viol-type bow (for illustration, see Bow, fig.13 and Viol, fig.10). Opinions differ widely
concerning the merits of the two bows but it is doubtful whether either has any
advantage over the other. The Dragonetti bow, which was also held underhand but
arched away from the hair, was still in use in England until the early 20th
century.
Double bass
3. History.
Research
into the evolution of the double bass reveals a tangled web of several hundred
years of changes in design and fashion in the dimensions of the instrument and
consequently in its stringing and tuning. The picture is further complicated by
the simultaneous use during any one period of different forms of bass in
different countries. The earliest known illustration of a double bass type of
instrument dates from 1516 (fig.2) but in 1493 Prospero
wrote of ‘viols as big as myself’. Planyavsky (1970) pointed out that it is
more important to look for an early double bass tuning rather than for any
particular instrument by shape or name. A deep (double- or contra-) bass voice
is first found among the viols. There existed simultaneously two methods of
tuning – one using 4ths alone, the other using a combination of 3rds and 4ths
(‘3rd–4th’ tuning) (see Viol, §3). Agricola wrote of the contrabasso
di viola as being the deepest voice available. He was referring to an
instrument comparable with that made by Hanns Vogel in 1563 and now in the
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (fig.3). This
ornately and beautifully decorated bass is fitted with gut frets like other
viols and tuned G'–C–F–A–d–g. This
high ‘3rd–4th’ tuning was given by Praetorius (Syntagma musicum, 2/1619)
for a six-string Violone (a name also confusingly used in the 16th century to denote
the bass of the viol family). One advantage of this instrument was that by
using the top five strings it could play in the cello register and by using the
lower five, in the bass. This violone in G was often used on its own for
continuo work. Praetorius listed several other tunings, both high and low, for
five- and six-string violoni. Most interesting of all is the low tuning D'–E'–A'–D–G,
only one step removed from the modern E'–A'–D–G
instrument. Orlando Gibbons scored for the ‘great dooble base’ in several viol
fantasias. Whether a low ‘3rd–4th’ tuning was used or a higher one cannot be
certain.
Some
fine basses, many of which were probably converted from their original form
into three- or later four-string instruments, date from the late 16th century
and early 17th. A notable example is that by Gasparo da Salò, owned by
Dragonetti and now in the museum of S Marco, Venice (for illustration, see
Dragonetti, carlo). A beautiful six-string violone of much lighter construction by
Da Salò’s apprentice G.P. Maggini is in the Horniman Museum, London (fig.4a). This is of violin shape, with a flat back, and
makes interesting comparison with the viol-shaped violone by Ventura Linarol
(Padua, 1585) in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (fig.4b).
During
the early 17th century the five-string bass was most commonly used in Austria
and Germany. Leopold Mozart referred in the 1787 edition of his Violinschule
to having heard concertos, trios and solos played with great beauty on
instruments of this kind. The earliest known playing instructions, by Johann
Jacob Prinner (Musicalischer Schlissl, 1677, autograph US-Wc),
are for an instrument tuned F'–A'–D–F–B. Much more usual,
however, is the tuning F'–A'–D–F–A cited in 1790 by
Albrechtsberger, for a violone or contrabass with thick strings and frets tied
at every semitone round the fingerboard. Michel Corrette’s 1773 Méthode
throws much light on the bass techniques and tunings in use during the 18th and
early 19th centuries when the bass was enjoying some popularity as a solo
instrument. Many of the virtuoso pieces from the Viennese school of that period
and later abound with passages of double stopping and, in view of the tunings
required, were thought by early 20th-century authorities not to have been
written for the bass at all. Later research revealed that the instrument has in
the past been tuned in some 40 or 50 different ways; although the early solo
repertory is quite practical with the tunings the composers envisaged (e.g. one
of the ‘3rd–4th’ tunings), much is unplayable on the modern conventionally
tuned instruments. There are in fact numerous solo concertos from this period.
In
Italy an early tuning (cited by Planyavsky, 1970) is Adriano Banchieri’s of
1609 for his ‘Violone contrabasso’, D'–G'–C–E–A–d.
Later the number of strings was reduced, and three-string instruments were
preferred. Even during the early 18th century a three-string bass tuned A'–D–G
or G'–D–G was normal. It had no frets and with the growth
of the symphony orchestra it was logical that this more powerful instrument
should supersede earlier models. Not until the 1920s was the additional E'
string expected of most professional players. Until then any passages going
below A' were transposed up an octave, resulting in the temporary
disappearance of the 16' line.
Apart
from those of the Italian makers already mentioned, basses by Amati, Bergonzi,
Grancino and Testore are particularly prized. Among the good English makers are
Forster, Kennedy, Lott and Tarr (fig.5). In Austria fine
basses were made by Jacob Stainer. Others have come from the schools of
Mittenwald and Mirecourt.
Double bass
4. Repertory and performers.
Telemann’s
unusual Trillensymphonie in D (1730) for two double basses, chalumeau,
flute and harp continuo shows how differently he treated high and low tuned violoni.
The writing, which owes more to peasant dancing than it does to court elegance,
must be one of the earliest examples of a work using a double bass instrument
as a soloist. Little other solo music is known from the 18th century (Stamitz’s
concerto, for example, is a transcription of a viola work) until the solo parts
in Haydn’s symphonies (e.g. nos.6–8) of the early 1760s; then, in the four
years from 1765, no fewer than 28 concertos appeared (by Vanhal, Zimmermann,
Haydn, Franz Hoffmeister, Johannes Sperger and Dittersdorf).
In
1791 Mozart wrote his aria Per questa bella mano (k612)
for bass and double bass to be performed by the singer Gerl with the bassist
Friedrich Pischelberger (1741–1813); both were engaged in the production of Die
Zauberflöte under Schikaneder. This work was published in 1822 – one of the
first virtuoso double bass works to appear in print. Pischelberger and Johannes
Sperger were the most outstanding virtuosos of the Austrian school at that time
and it is unlikely that solo bass playing had ever before reached such a peak.
Sperger’s works include 18 concertos, three concert arias with soprano and a
number of cassations and quartets. He played a five-string bass which he tuned
in a number of different ways. Josef Kämpfer (1735–88), a Hungarian virtuoso,
toured Europe towards the end of the 18th century and is said to have greatly
impressed Haydn. Although Kämpfer travelled as widely as St Petersburg,
Copenhagen, Hamburg and London, it was not until Domenico Dragonetti settled in
London that the bass gained popularity in England.
Dragonetti’s
success was unique in that for over 50 years no musical gathering was
considered complete without him. Not only did his fine performances win him
recognition throughout Europe, but his kind, amiable personality endeared him
to the British public. He counted among his friends Haydn, Beethoven, Hummel,
Spohr, Liszt and many other composers. Rossini thought highly of him, and in
1824 composed a duet for him to play with the banker Sir David Salomons, an
amateur cellist. At Rossini’s insistence Dragonetti had a copy of his bow made
for Cherubini, who had begun a double bass class at the Paris Conservatoire.
The bass players there used the French overhand bowing which some thought to
lack the power of Dragonetti’s underhand bow. Rossini delivered the bow himself
but the introduction was not a success. The British Library contains a large
collection of Dragonetti manuscripts and most British players are still taught
in a tradition directly descended from his pupils.
The
later Italian virtuoso Giovanni Bottesini had a different approach to the bass.
While some critics praised Dragonetti’s powerful tone and his ability to play
in tune, others scorned his loud and rasping style. For Bottesini there was
little but praise; his delicate tone and agile technique stunned audiences and
his ability to ‘dart from one end of the instrument to the other’ was
remarkable (H.R. Haweis). The second half of his Metodo completo per
contrabbasso explains how he extended the technique of the instrument by
the use of arpeggios and very high harmonics. Bottesini was not only an
internationally famous virtuoso but also a highly respected composer, conductor
and musical director. On occasions he directed and conducted his own operas and
even performed solos on the double bass during the intervals between the acts.
He studied composition with Verdi, whose works he knew well – his numerous
virtuoso solos have a close affinity with the style of popular 19th-century
Italian opera. Among his lesser-known works are some concertos for two double
basses.
In
1874 Franz Simandl published his Neueste Methode des Contrabass-Spiels,
reprinted many times and still widely used. Simandl studied in Prague under
Josef Hrabě and worked most of his life in Vienna. In France the Méthode
complète (c1931) of Edouard Nanny has been more popular than that of
Simandl. The early 20th century saw the rise of Sergey Koussevitzky, another
virtuoso who conducted. The recordings he made in 1929 of his Valse
miniature, Chanson triste and Láska’s Wiegenlied show the
perfect command he had of his instrument. Koussevitzky wrote comparatively
little for the bass, his recital programmes consisting largely of
transcriptions (notably the Cello Sonata by Strauss, Bruch’s Kol Nidrei,
Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto and many Baroque works).
Since
Koussevitzky many virtuosos have made recordings, and traditional bass
technique has been greatly developed since the 1950s. Gary Karr has a repertory
of more than 30 concertos, many of which he commissioned. The American Bertram
Turetzky has commissioned over 200 works and has developed his own particular
style of playing, centred on pizzicato and non-traditional bow techniques. In
England Barry Guy has explored new avenues of sound by coupling the bass to
electronic apparatus controlled during performance at the player’s discretion.
Until his death in 1991, the Czech František Pošta was the leading exponent of
the school of playing descended from Wenzel Hause and Josef Hrabě. Other
noted double bass players include the Berliner Klaus Stoll, the Viennese Ludwig
Streicher, the Italian Francesco Petracchi, the Finn Jorma Katrama, the French
virtuosos Francois Rabbath and Joëlle Leandre and the Briton Duncan McTier, all
of whom have made significant contributions to the instrument’s recorded solo
literature; Alfred Planyavsky is an eminent historian of the instrument.
It
is hard to be certain when the double bass obtained a regular place in the
orchestra. Many 17th-century orchestras did not use 16' tone; there was no
double bass in the Paris Opéra orchestra, for example, until the early years of
the 18th century. But court orchestras of the mid-18th century included double
basses; usually they were more numerous than the cellos. A modern symphony
orchestra generally has at least eight (for a fuller discussion see Orchestra).
Any
principal orchestral player must attain a standard equal to that of the
virtuoso soloist; advanced technique is required for most of the works of, for
example, Schoenberg, Strauss and Stravinsky. Some of the more exposed passages
occur in Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes,
Mahler’s First Symphony, Musorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition (orch.
Ravel, 1922), Prokofiev’s suite Lieutenant Kijé, Rossini’s six early
string sonatas, Saint-Saëns’s Le carnaval des animaux and Stravinsky’s
suite Pulcinella. Chamber music with double bass includes several works
by Mozart of a divertimento character (attesting the use of the instrument in
such contexts in 18th-century Austria), Beethoven’s Septet (op.20), Schubert’s
‘Trout’ Quintet and Octet, Spohr’s Octet and Nonet, and many works by Hummel,
Onslow and others. Dvořák used it in a string quintet (op.77).
20th-century composers have turned their attention to the instrument in their
search for less familiar tone colours, e.g. Prokofiev’s Quintet and works by
Henze, many of which use artificial harmonics.
Double bass
5. Jazz and popular music.
The
double bass was used in ragtime orchestras and string bands from the 1890s. It
was present in many early New Orleans dance orchestras, and early photographic
evidence suggests that from the time of Buddy Bolden up to about 1920 the
instrument was often bowed rather than plucked. Although during the era of
acoustic recording the double bass was often replaced by the tuba (probably
because of its greater carrying power), in the late 1920s the double bass was
established as the basis for the rhythm section, particularly in larger
ensembles. Gut strings (sometimes wound with steel) were used, and in order to
help the double bass to compete in volume with the rest of the big band, a high
bridge (brightening the sound by increasing the string tension) and Slap-bass technique were often
employed. During the course of the 1930s the slap-bass style declined in jazz,
except as a special effect (although it remained a primary technique in other
forms of popular music), and players began to seek a wider range of expressive
possibilities.
In
many ragtime pieces and in early jazz the double bass would play on the first
and third beats of the bar and occasionally in melodic interludes or bridge
passages. In the swing era it kept steady time with a ‘walking bass’ (see
Walking bass (1)), a style
epitomized by the work of Walter Page in Count Basie’s band. Like most bass
players at this time, Page served primarily as a member of the rhythm section
and took few solos. The development of the instrument as a solo voice was
largely the work of Jimmy Blanton (with Duke Ellington).
During
the 1940s and 50s, players such as Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford, Red Callender
and Charles Mingus extended the application of bop style to the double bass,
using instruments with a lower bridge and employing increasingly sophisticated
amplification. Mingus began to break down the instrument’s time-keeping role by
placing notes before, on, or after the beat to vary the effect of the rhythmic
accompaniment. He also developed a highly individual solo style, and later in
his career he frequently performed extended compositions and improvisations as
an unaccompanied soloist.
By
the 1950s steel strings and improved amplification had largely eliminated the
difficulty of producing sufficient volume on the double bass. Some players
(notably Red Mitchell) adopted a tuning in 5ths, an octave below the cello,
which involved extended left-hand positions, and others experimented with the
five-string bass. Advancements in left-hand technique led to the abandoning of
conventional orchestral fingering systems; in the right hand musicians began to
use two or three fingers in quick succession to produce lines as fast and
complex as those of a wind or keyboard instrument. Players such as Charlie
Haden, Jimmy Garrison, Dave Holland, Barre Phillips and Buddy Guy have explored
harmonics, double stopping, percussive methods of producing notes, the use of
the body of the instrument to make percussive sounds, and the possibilities
offered by the section of the string between the bridge and the tailpiece. Some
have adopted the use of a metal bridge and others a bridge that can be raised
or lowered as required. Transducers built into the instrument or mounted on the
bridge have assisted in more effective amplification.
In
jazz-rock ensembles the Electric bass guitar is normally preferred to the
double bass, but in general the bass guitar has not supplanted the double bass
in ensembles playing other styles of jazz. However, many double bass players
also play electric bass guitar (fretted or unfretted) and change to that
instrument as appropriate.
Some
players have experimented with solid-bodied electric double basses (sometimes
known as ‘stick basses’; fig.1 above), which have small
bodies and commensurately long necks; they are fitted with pickups and controls
similar to those of the electric bass guitar. Their sound (whether pizzicato or
bowed) is an uneasy compromise between that of an amplified acoustic double
bass and a fretless electric bass guitar. Their principal advantage is that
they are more easily carried than the acoustic instrument.
The
majority of these problems have been overcome in the semi-acoustic five-string
basses designed and played by Eberhard Weber. These retain the richness of tone
of a conventional double bass as well as being portable and easy to combine
with electronic effects units.
Although
the bass guitar was first introduced in 1951 the double bass continued to be
the most commonly used bass instrument in the rock and roll bands of that
decade. In the early 1960s the bass guitar became the pre-eminent bass
instrument in pop and rock music, although the double bass has continued to be
used when a more ‘natural’ or ‘acoustic’ sound has been sought. The double bass
continues in use in traditional music, particularly of eastern Europe, and in
some styles of American Country music (notably in Bluegrass music).
Double bass
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Agricola: Musica
instrumentalis deudsch (Wittenberg, 1529/R, enlarged 5/1545); Eng. trans. by
W. Hettrick (Cambridge, 1994)
J.J. Quantz: Versuch
einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen
(Berlin, 1752/R, 3/1789/R;
Eng. trans., 1966, 2/1985, as On Playing the Flute)
M. Corrette: Méthode pour
apprendre à jouer de la contre-basse à 3, à 4, et à 5 cordes (Paris, 1773, 2/1781/R)
J.G. Albrechtsberger: Gründliche
Anweisung zur Composition (Leipzig, 1790/R; Eng. trans., 1844), enlarged
3/1821
C.D. von
Dittersdorf: Lebensbeschreibung
(Leipzig, 1801; Eng. trans., 1896/
R); ed. N. Miller (Munich, 1967)
J.G. Albrechtsberger: Sämmtliche
Schriften, ed. I. von Seyfried (Vienna, 1826, 2/1837/R; Eng. trans., 1834)
J. Fröhlich: Kontrabass-Schule (Würzburg, 1829; Eng.
trans., ?1840)
J. Hindle: Der
Contrabass-Lehrer (Vienna, ?1850)
G. Bottesini: Metodo
completo per contrabbasso (Milan, n.d.; Fr. trans., 1869; Eng. trans., 1880)
F. Simandl: Neueste
Methode des Kontrabass-Spiels (Vienna, 1874; Eng. trans., 1903); trans. and ed. F.
Zimmermann and L. Drew (New York, 1987)
A.C. White: The Double
Bass (London, ?1893/R)
E. Madenski: Grundriss
der Geschichte des Solospiels auf dem Kontrabass
(Vienna, 1903)
F. Warnecke: ‘Ad
infinitum’: Der Kontrabass (Hamburg, 1909)
W. Altmann, ed.: Der
Kontrabass [Mitteilungsblatt des
Kontrabassisten-Bundes] (March 1929–Feb 1931)
E. Nanny: Méthode
complète de contrebass (Paris, c1931)
E. Halfpenny: ‘A Note on the Genealogy of the Double Bass’, GSJ, i (1948), 41–5
M. Grodner: A
Comprehensive Catalog of Available Literature for the Double Bass (Bloomington, IN, 1958,
3/1974)
C. Bär: ‘Zum Begriff des “Basso” in Mozarts Serenaden’,
MJb 1960–61, 133–55
F. Zimmerman: ‘The Double Bass in Ensemble’, American String Teacher, xiv/4 (1964), 12 only
R. Carter: Building a
Jazz Bass Line (New York, 1966, enlarged 2/1970)
E. Cruft: The Eugene
Cruft School of Double Bass Playing (London, 1966)
R. Elgar: Looking at
the Double Bass (St Leonards on Sea, 1967)
G. Karr, ed.: Sound Post:
the Double Bass [journal of the International Institute
for the String Bass] (1967–71)
L. Hurst: ‘The Bass Extension Machine vs. the Five-String Bass’, The Instrumentalist, xxii/10 (1968), 77–84
A. Meier: Konzertante
Musik für Kontrabass in der Wiener Klassik: mit Beiträgen zur Geschichte des
Kontrabassbaues in Österreich (Giebing, 1969, 2/1979)
B. Turetzky: ‘The Bass as a Drum’, The
Composer, i/2 ( 1969), 92–107
B. Turetzky: ‘Vocal and Speech Sounds: a Technique of Contemporary Writing for the
Contrabass’, The Composer, i/3 (1969), 118–35
A. Planyavsky: Geschichte
des Kontrabasses (Tutzing, 1970, 2/1984)
A. Planyavsky: ‘Mozarts Arie mit obligatem Kontrabass’, MJb 1971–2, 313–16 repr. with Eng. trans. in Bass
World, ii/4 (1975–6), 187–97,
206 only
G. Karr, ed.: Probass (1971–3) [successor to Sound Post]
S. Carlin: Il
contrabbasso (Ancona and Milan, 1974)
International
Society of Bassists: Newsletter (1974–) [some
issues titled Bass World]
A. Shipton: ‘Styles of New Orleans Bass Playing’, Footnote, vii/1 (1976), 18
J. Webster: ‘Violoncello and Double Bass in the Chamber Music of Haydn and his
Viennese Contemporaries, 1750–1780’, JAMS, xxix ( 1976), 413–38
F. Baines: ‘What exactly is a Violone?’, EMc, v (1977), 173–7
M. Grodner, ed.: Concepts in
String Playing: Reflections by Artist-Teachers at the Indiana University School
of Music (Bloomington, IN, 1979)
A. Roidinger: Der
Kontrabass im Jazz (Vienna, 1980, 5/1996)
P. Brun: Histoire des
contrebasses à cordes (Paris, 1982; Eng. trans., 1989)
Kontrabass und
Bassfunktion: Innsbruck 1984
A. Planyavsky: ‘Violone und Violoncello im 17. Jahrhundert’, Musicologica austriaca, iv (1984), 43–84
T. Coolman: The Bass
Tradition: Past, Present, Future (New Albany, IN, 1985)
R. Brown: ‘Ray Brown and the Sound of a Bass’, Crescendo International, xxiv/5 (1985), 5 only
R. Slatford and S. Pettitt: The Bottom
Line: New Prospects for Teaching and Learning the Double Bass (London, 1985)
L. Dreyfus: Bach’s
Continuo Group (Cambridge, MA, 1987)
A. Planyavsky: Der
Barokkontrabass Violone (Vienna, 1989)
K. Guettler: A Guide to
Advanced Modern Double Bass Technique (London, 1992)
P. Cutts, ed.: Double
Bassist (1996)
P. Brun: A New
History of the Double Bass (Villeneuve d'Ascq, 2000)
