layed in any key. Quick
passages are avoided since they would be neither easy nor effective, the
instrument being essentially a slow-speaking one. The lowest notes are
only possible to a good player, and cannot be obtained _piano_;
nevertheless, the instrument forms a fine bass to the reed family, and
supplies in the orchestra the notes missing in the double bass in order
to reach 16 ft. C.

The origin of the contrafagotto, like that of the oboe (_q.v._) must
be sought in the highest antiquity (see AULOS). Its immediate
forerunner was the double bombard or bombardino or the great double
quintpommer whose compass extended downwards to E [Illustration] It
is not known precisely when the change took place, though it was
probably soon after the transformation of the bassoon, but Handel
scored for the instrument and it was used in military bands before
being adopted in the orchestra. The original instrument made for
Handel by T. Stanesby, junior, and played by J. F. Lampe at the
Marylebone Gardens in 1739, was exhibited at the Royal Military
Exhibition, London, in 1890. Owing to its faulty construction and
weak rattling tone the double bassoon fell into disuse, in spite of
the fact that the great composers Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven scored
for it abundantly; the last used it in the C minor and choral
symphonies and wrote an _obbligato_ for it in _Fidelio_. It was
restored to favour in England by Dr W. H. Stone. (K. S.)

CONTRALTO (from Ital. _contra-alto_, _i.e._ next above the alto), the
term for the lowest variety of the female voice, as distinguished from
the soprano and mezzo-soprano. Originally it signified, in choral music,
the part next higher than the alto, given to the falsetto counter-tenor.

CONTRAPUNTAL FORMS, in Music. The forms of music may be considered in
two aspects, the texture of the music from moment to moment, and the
shape of the musical design as a whole. Historically the texture of
music became definitely organized long before the shape could be
determined by any but external or mechanical conceptions. The laws of
musical texture were known as the laws of "counterpoint" (see
COUNTERPOINT and HARMONY). The "contrapuntal" forms, then, are
historically the earliest and aesthetically the simplest in music; the
simplest, that is to say, in principle, but not necessarily the easiest
to appreciate or to execute. Their simplicity is like that