How do you play a low Eb on a double bass?

Question

The opera Das Rheingold starts with four of the double basses playing a low E-flat, one half step below the lowest E on a bass with standard tuning. In the sheet music, there is the instruction that the four second basses should tune their lowest E string half a step lower than usual.

My questions are: how is this done in practicality? Do the bassists tune one of the strings down, so that it is tuned in an augmented fifth to the next string? If so, do they get the chance to tune it back later, or do they have to keep playing the first act with a very weird tuning that must be hard for the muscle memory?

I have read that there exists a C extension on some basses, that according to Wikipedia is used "by most professional players" in "Britain, the US, Canada and Australia". I guess that this could be used here, but the Wikipedia article makes it sound like this is not a standard utility on most basses worldwide. Even if it is, is this something that existed back when Das Rheingold had its premiere? How would bassists have played it back in 1869?

Answer 1

TL;DR

The score generally leaves plenty of space to detune and retune the E string, and there are many E naturals that would clearly be better played open. There is also no scordatura indication in the score.

According to Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog the first bass extension dates back to the 1880s, so hypothetically could have been used for Das Rheingold, but did not gain popularity until the 1950s and '60s.

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The opening low Eb lasts for 163 bars and is followed by 29 measures of rest — plenty of time to retune the E string. The other low Ebs that occur in the score are in contexts where the string could be temporarily detuned and retuned without undue difficulty.

The one possible exception to this is a low Eb that begins a fast scalar passage in scene two, rehearsal mark 32, just before the shift to F minor. In this case, the detuned string would likely need to remain as such until the end of the passage nine bars later.

There is a similar situation with a low D# in the measure before rehearsal mark 51. This comes at the end of a scalar passage, so might best be prepared ahead of time.

Between rehearsal marks 68 to 69 there are arco passages requiring some Ebs. Detuning for this section would be necessary.

Finally, the score does not indicate scordatura, and the frequent and prominent low E naturals would be best played on the open string.

Answer 2

In most orchestras nowdays there would be enough players with either a C extension or a 5 string bass to be able to provide the lower octave. You'd probably get away with just one on the lower octave even in quite a large orchestra.

Failing that, as Aaron has already answered, lowering the E string is not at all uncommon, although I personally would find it very hard to retune quietly enough not to be noticed while the music is continuing. Pressing your ear against the neck can help but even so if you are loud enough to be able to pitch it accurately you'll probably get a dirty look from the conductor!

(Notes below bottom E are actually very common in double bass parts. Most of the time, and especially in pre-romantic music, it's standard practice just to put them up an octave. Obviously not in this particular case though.)