Image caption A low E lies more than two octaves below middle C

A record company has begun a worldwide search for the singer who can sing a note so low that it is thought never to have been sung before.

Written by Military Wives composer Paul Mealor, the choral work De Profundis includes a low E, which lies more than two octaves below middle C.

It is six semitones below the lowest note found in a mainstream choral work - a B flat in Rachmaninov's Vespers.

The search for the bass voice will take place via trade magazines and online.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Listen to the sound of a low E (41.203 Hertz)

"My setting of De Profundis calls for a rich and powerful voice; a voice that can not only touch the heart with its sincerity and truth, but also make every fabric of the human body resonate as it plunges into the very lowest parts of the vocal spectrum," said Mealor.

The deepest note ever produced by a human voice is an extremely low F sharp, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

George Menees, a coach driver from America, achieved the feat in 2010 - but it would not be possible to hit the note as part of a normal singing performance.

Mealor was handpicked by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to write the music for last year's Royal Wedding.

His Christmas hit, Wherever You Are, sung by the Military Wives Choir, became the fastest-selling single in six years.

De Profundis (Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord) will be Mealor's first choral work since the wedding and sees him working again with producer Anna Barry, with whom he will judge the talent search.

Recording is expected to take place in the spring.