What does contrafagotto mean?
Contrafagotto is the Italian name for the contrabassoon, the largest and deepest-voiced woodwind instrument of the standard orchestra. Belonging to the oboe family, it sounds an octave below the bassoon, extending the woodwind section down to a rich, resonant bottom B♭. The name combines fagotto, the Italian word for bassoon, with the prefix "contra," indicating that the instrument plays against, or an octave beneath, the ordinary bassoon. The English equivalent term is contrabassoon or double bassoon. The contrafagotto appears most often in large-scale orchestral works of the Romantic and modern eras, where composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler exploited its cavernous low register for weight, gravity, and dramatic color. Though rarely featured as a soloist, it is indispensable in full orchestral scoring, providing the acoustic foundation upon which the entire woodwind choir rests.
nounThe Italian term for the contrabassoon, the largest and lowest-pitched instrument of the oboe family, sounding an octave below the bassoon.
- The contrabassoon: the largest and lowest member of the oboe family, sounding an octave below the bassoon.
"The score calls for a solo contrafagotto in the final movement, its dark tones rumbling beneath the strings."
"The composer scored the storm scene for piccolo and contrafagotto to exploit the orchestra's full range."
"She switched from bassoon to contrafagotto for the Mahler symphony's low pedal notes."
Orchestras almost never employ more than one contrafagotto at a time, so the plural is rare outside of theoretical or cataloguing contexts.
"The inventory listed two contrafagotti among the conservatory's instruments."
"Contra" means "against" — and in contrafagotto it literally signals an instrument pitched an octave against, or below, the bassoon.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of contrafagotto
Contrafagotto derives from Italian, formed by prefixing fagotto — the Italian term for the bassoon — with "contra," signifying the octave-lower counterpart of the bassoon. Fagotto itself likely relates etymologically to the Italian word for a bundle of sticks (fagot), possibly describing the bundled appearance of the bassoon's folded bore. As Italian served as the international language of music notation through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the term spread across Europe alongside the instrument itself; German retains a direct cognate in Kontrafagott. The English equivalents are contrabassoon and double bassoon.
How contrafagotto is actually used
The term is used primarily in musical contexts — orchestral scores, instrument lists, and musicology — especially where scores retain Italian terminology. In everyday English, players usually say "contrabassoon."
Easily confused with contrafagotto
Fagotto is the Italian word for the ordinary bassoon, while contrafagotto refers specifically to the contrabassoon, which sounds an octave lower.