Contrebasse à anche

Contrebasse à anche (Fr.) (It.: controbasso ad ancia), Tritonikon built by Charles Mahillon of Brussels in 1868, almost identical to that of Vaclav F. Červeny except that its lowest tone was D1, whereas Cerveny's went down to B♭2. Since then it has been built by other makers intent on providing a satisfactory metal contrabassoon for military bands. It continued to be made in tuba form with 17 keys, of which 2 were oct. keys —all closed except for the first. The tone holes were so large they…