A large double-reed woodwind instrument that sounds an octave lower than a regular bassoon, producing very deep, resonant tones.
Combining 'contra' (below) and 'bassoon,' a word derived from French 'basson' (from 'bas' meaning low). The instrument developed in the 19th century to extend the bassoon's range downward.
The contrabassoon is so rare that most orchestras don't own one—when composers like Stravinsky and Holst wrote for it, they often created something audiences had never heard before, making the instrument feel almost supernatural.
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