![used hirsbrunner tuba used hirsbrunner tuba](https://thompsonmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/b5e49a8e15adfaa07a0b4a5fa8cbbff38e73934f.jpg)
It was made of brass and shaped somewhat like a saxophone. It was listed as the lowest member of a patented group of keyed bugles. The ophicleide was first introduced in 1817 by instrument maker, Jean Hilaire Aste. Charles Burney, a nineteenth century music historian likened the sound of the serpent to that of a 'hungry or rather angry essex calf'! Few serpents were made after 1835, they eventually gave way to the more refined ophicleide. However it is well documented that the serpent was a very difficult instrument to play, largely because the finger holes are so widely spaced. Handel wrote for it in Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749), Beethoven scored for the serpent in Military March (1816) and Wagner also wrote for it in Rienzi (1842). Some significant composers used serpents in their works. The rich sound of the Serpent was ideal for supporting the bass line in wind ensembles of the classical period and was in use for over three hundred years It usually has six finger holes to change pitch and was used most often as a supporting voice for the tenor and bass in church choirs and military bands.
![used hirsbrunner tuba used hirsbrunner tuba](https://i.imgur.com/jw5I8Ny.jpg)
The serpent is the bass member of the cornett family. Thus their tone colour and tessitura are similar. They both produce a sound the same way using a deep-cupped mouthpiece and both instruments are conical in bore and similar in length. The serpent is cited as a forerunner of the euphonium because they have several aspects in common. It was constructed of wood, brass, or silver and played with a deep-cup mouthpiece made of horn or ivory. The earliest forerunner of the euphonium as the tenor voice of the lip and reed family is generally thought to have been the serpent, deriving its name from its snake-like appearance.