A low-pitched brass instrument similar to a trombone but even larger and producing extremely deep tones, used in some orchestral and experimental music.
From German 'contra' (below) plus 'posaune' (trombone). A specialized German musical term that combines the low-register prefix with the word for trombone, creating a contrabass version.
The contraposaune is so obscure that most professional musicians have never played one—it exists mainly in experimental and avant-garde music, making it more of a sonic philosophy than a practical orchestra instrument.
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