OPHICLEIDO ( FIGLE) Start Price USD 50,000.00 Current Price USD 50,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, September 04, 2008 End Time Thursday, September 11, 2008 Location Miami, FL See more about 'OPHICLEIDO ( FIGLE)' Description A legacy of Brass Dragons and Serpents: The  OPHICLEIDE is a metal instrument with a cup-shaped mouthpiece and a deep resonating tone. A relative of bass horns and keyed bugles. — Cup Mouthpiece. Europe. A brass instrument, the bass of the trumpet family, in existence during the Nineteenth Century . The application of keys made it an improvement upon the serpent. It was bent upon itself. The etymology of the name is a combination of the Greek words for snake and door-key. It was invented in 1790 by Frichot, a Frenchman who had adopted London as a residence. Its disuse may be largely attributed to the fact that its peculiar quality of tone did not blend with the other instruments of the orchestra. Spontini first introduced it into the operatic score, that of " Olympie " in 1819. Mendelssohn wrote parts for it in several pieces. A family consisted of bass in C, tenor in E flat, alto in E flat, soprano in B flat. It may be considered as the last representation of the side-hole principle in cup mouthpiece instruments. The compass was great, but always varied, for in its short life it underwent many changes and additions. In its completed form, it possessed as many as twelve keys. Place a Bid!