The cimbasso is a low brass instrument that developed from the upright serpent over the course of the 19th century in Italian opera orchestras, to cover the same range as a tuba or contrabass trombone. The modern instrument has four to six rotary valves (or occasionally piston valves), a forward-facing bell, and a predominantly cylindrical bore. These features lend its sound to the bass of the trombone family rather than the tuba, and its valves allow for more agility than a contrabass trombone. Like the modern contrabass trombone, it is most often pitched in F, although models are made in E♭, and occasionally low CC or BB♭. Etymology The Italian word , first appearing in the early 19th century, is thought to be a contraction used by musicians of the term or (), sometimes appearing in scores as c. basso or c. in basso. The term was used loosely to refer to the lowest bass instrument available in the brass family, which changed over the course of the 19th century; this vagueness has also long impeded research into the instrument's history. History The first uses of a cimbasso in Italian opera scores from the early 19th century referred to a narrow-bore upright serpent similar to the (), which were in common use in military bands of the time. These instruments were constructed from wooden sections like a bassoon, with a trombone-like brass bell, sometimes in the shape of a buccin-style dragon's head. Fingering charts published in 1830 indicate these early were most likely to have been pitched in C. Later, the term was extended to a range of instruments, including the ophicleide and early valved instruments, such as the Pelittone and other early forms of the more conical bass tuba. As this progressed, the term cimbasso was used to refer to a more blending voice than the "basso tuba" or "bombardone", and began to imply the lowest trombone. By 1872, Verdi expressed his displeasure about "that devilish bombardone" (referring to the tuba) as the bass of the trombone section for his La Scala première of Aida, preferring a "trombone basso". By the time of his opera Otello in 1887, Milan instrument maker Pelitti had produced the (sometimes called the ), a contrabass trombone in low 18-foot B wrapped in a compact form and configured with 4 rotary valves. Verdi and Puccini both wrote for this instrument in their later operas,