Ophicleide

The ophicleide is a member of the brass (Hornbostel–Sachs 423.21). It originates from France. Its invention is credited to Jean Hilaire Asté. Learn how it makes its sound and explore related instruments.

How the ophicleide makes its sound

In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the ophicleide belongs to the brass (lip-vibrated aerophones): the player's buzzing lips set the air column vibrating – trumpets, horns, trombones, tubas and the didgeridoo.

More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.

Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.

From Wikipedia

The ophicleide ( OFF-ih-klyde) is a family of conical-bore keyed brass instruments invented in early 19th-century France to extend the keyed bugle into the lower range. Of these, the bass ophicleide in eight-foot (8′) C or 9′ B♭ took root over the course of the 19th century in military bands and as the bass of orchestral brass sections throughout Western Europe, replacing the serpent and its later upright derivatives. By the end of the 19th century, however, it had been largely superseded, in bands by the euphonium and in orchestras by early forms of the modern tuba, some developed from valved ophicleides. The late 20th century saw a revival of interest in the instrument for historically informed performance practice, and ophicleides are built by a small number of manufacturers.