Meet the Octobass at OSM
L’ Orchestre symphonique de Montréal has long been recognized as the greatest French orchestra in the world. In Canada, the OSM is a major part of our music. In our second largest city, it is a major part of Québec culture. In 2016, the OSM added an octobass to its ranks, in order to play certain rare repertoire – especially Berlioz – as it would have sounded a century ago. The instrument, modelled after an original Villaume, is 11.10 feet tall, weighs 290 pounds, and has a few hundred pieces, including 237 making up the complex mechanism of the instrument. Thankfully, it has only three strings — but makes a strange and wonderful sound.
