Bassoon

(Fr. basson; Ger. Fagott; It. fagotto).

A wooden conical wind instrument, sounded with a double reed,
which forms the tenor and bass to the woodwind section. In the
modern orchestra, the family exists in two different sizes: the bassoon
and the double bassoon or contrabassoon, sounding one octave
lower. Built in four joints, its precursor the dulcian was of one-piece
construction. Because of its wide compass and its range of
characteristic tone-colours, from richly sonorous at the bottom to
expressively plaintive at the top, it is one of the most versatile and
useful members of the orchestra. Certain design features are peculiar
to it: the doubling back on itself of the bore, like a hairpin; the
extension bore beyond the sixth finger-hole; and local wall thickness
allowing for finger-hole chimneys. These features give the instrument
its essential tone qualities and condition its complex acoustics. The
standard compass of the present-day bassoon is from B ' to f'' or g''.
It is a non-transposing instrument and its music is notated in the bass
and tenor clefs; occasionally the treble clef is also used.
In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification it is classified as an oboe.
1. The modern instrument and reed.
The modern bassoon exists in two versions: the German or Heckel
system, and the French or Buffet system of differing keywork and
slightly modified bore (fig.1). As the German type is more commonly
used today, it provides the frame of reference for general statements
here about the construction of the modern bassoon.
2. The dulcian and other precursors.
The early history of the bassoon is obscure: few early specimens
survive and it is not possible to be sure when and where these were
made. Iconographic evidence, though sparse, is more trustworthy
than that from written documents, which, because of ambiguities of
nomenclature, must be interpreted with caution. In general, two
successive versions of the instrument may be distinguished: the
earlier, in use up to the beginning of the 18th century (though later in
Spain), was essentially in one piece and is best labelled dulcian
(fig.2c) to distinguish it from the later bassoon proper (i.e. in four
joints). From the mid-18th century onwards Fagott and fagotto have
been respectively the German and Italian names for the bassoon.
The name dulcian is commonly used today for the original version of
the instrument in one piece (as opposed to the later type in joints).
Deriving from the Latin root dulc (soft, sweet), it has traditionally been
held to refer to the instruments more subdued tone quality than that
of the louder shawms and pommers. With the rise of instrumental

playing in the 16th century, the desire to extend the range of

instruments into the lower register caused them to be developed in
families: larger versions of the shawm and recorder were made
possible by an improved technology which enabled makers to bore
longer tubes and to control widely spaced extension holes with the
aid of keys. As Kolneder (MGG1) showed, there must have been a
demand in the 16th century for a deep instrument to form a bass to
the wind band that would surpass the trombone in agility, the bass
recorder in loudness, and the bass pommer in ease of handling. Early
in the 16th century all the constructional elements of the dulcian
would have been available: the double reed of the shawm, the curved
crook of the bass recorder and bass shawm, and the doubling back
on itself of the bore (within a single block of wood) of the phagotus.
By the time of Praetorius, the family had reached its maximum extent:
in Syntagma musicum, ii (2/1619) he described a complete consort of
Fagotten or Dolcianen consisting of eight instruments of varying size
the Discantfagott (g to c''), the Fagott Piccolo or Singel Corthol (G to
g'), the Choristfagott or Doppel Corthol (C to g'), and two varieties of
Doppelfagott, a Quartfagott (G' to a) and a Quintfagott (F' to g).
3. The early bassoon (to 1800).
It is not clear when or where the precursors of the bassoon evolved
into the four-jointed instrument of today, descending one extra tone
below the C of the dulcian. The gradual abandonment and
replacement of the dulcian was doubtless brought about by such
factors as the need for an instrument to match the range of the
contemporary basse de violon which descended to B ', and to
replace the old high church-pitch instruments that were incompatible
with new instruments built at French flat pitch. There was an evident
demand for such an instrument with this extended range.
4. Development of the modern bassoon.
In the 19th century, several factors helped to bring about
developments in instrument making. These included the increasing
demands of composers regarding technique, expression and
extension of the range upward; the rise of the solo virtuosocomposer; larger orchestras and concert halls demanding loudertoned instruments; international trade exhibitions encouraging
competition and experiment; instrument makers who had
backgrounds as excellent performers (including Savary jeune and
Almenraeder); and technical advice from acoustic experts such as
Gottfried Weber.
7. Repertory and use.
While the earliest use of the dulcian was as a strengthening element
to the bass, it began in the early 17th century to assume a more
independent role; Schtz in his Psalm xxiv (swv476) used a consort
of five dulcians of different pitches (total range A' to a'') as a self-

contained group. The instrument also began to be used with just one
or two other instruments and continuo, for example by Mikolai
Zielenski (Fantasia, 1611), Biagio Marini (Affetti musicali, op.1, 1617;
Sonate, op.8, 1629, ded. 1626), Gabriele Usper (Compositioni
armoniche, 1619), Giovanni Battisti Riccio (Terzo libro delle divine
lodi musicali, 1620), Stefano Bernadi (Madrigaletti, 1621), Giovanni
Picchi (Canzoni da sonar, 1625), Dario Castello (Sonate concertante:
libro primo, 1621, libro secondo, 1629), Mathias Spiegler (Olor
Solymaeus nascenti Jesu, 1631), Giovanni Battista Buonamente
(Sonate et canzoni, 1636) and Giovanni Battista Fontana (Sonata,
1641). (For an extensive listing of 17th-century dulcian music see
Wagner, 1976.) The first solo composition was a Fantasia per fagotto
solo in the Canzoni, fantasie et correnti by Selma y Salaverde
(Venice, 1638), who was descended from a family of Madrid
instrument makers. Daniel Speers tutor (1687) contains two sonatas
for three dulcians designed to exemplify writing for the two-keyed
instrument. Its use in ensemble is documented as early as 1589,
when tromboni, cornetti, dolcaina e fagotti took part in the intermedi
composed for La Pellegrina in Florence by Christofano Malvezzi
(Elsner, 1935, p.58). The earliest known use of the instrument in
opera is in Cestis Il pomo doro (performed 1668), where it is
grouped with cornetts and trombones. The late 17th century was a
point of transition when the dulcian still co-existed with the new
jointed instrument; therefore it is hard in certain circumstances to
know which instrument may have been intended. However, the
advent of the new jointed bassoon, with its increased range of tone
and expression, gave new impetus to composers, and orchestras
increasingly began to include the instrument. With the operas of Lully
the instrument assumed a new function of bass to a wind trio
consisting of two hautbois and basson, which are used as a
contrasting group to the strings (e.g. Psych, 1678); the same pattern
was followed by Purcell in Dioclesian (1690). Mattheson (1713)
perceived the role of the Proud Bassoon as forming the usual bass,
Fundament or Accompagnement to the oboe. In 1728 Telemann
published his Sonata in F minor, with its pathetic echo effects and
tenor cantilena. Two sonatinas followed in 1731. From this period
there are also sonatas by Carlo Besozzi, J.F. Fasch, J.D. Heinichen
and Christoph Schaffrath. Vivaldis 39 concertos for fagotto
(preserved at I-Tn), outnumbering those he wrote for any other
instrument save the violin, represent a unique legacy. The remarkable
solo writing pre-empts many of the characteristics of later bassoon
style, including rapid leaping between registers, lyrical tenor
passages, and the occasional use of dynamic and expression marks.
Chamber works include trio sonatas by Telemann, Handel and C.P.E.
Bach and a remarkable set of sonatas with two oboes by Zelenka.
J.S. Bach in his cantatas gave the bassoon several important
obbligatos; his use of the instrument was limited by the players at his
disposal, but for players like Torlle at Cthen he was able to make

considerable demands: movements like the second Bourre in the

fourth suite require fluency in an extreme key, and the Quoniam of
the B minor Mass is written up to a'. C.P.E. Bach gave the bassoon
an obbligato in his oratorio Die Israeliten in der Wste (1769), while
Non malletta from Temistocle (1772) by J.C. Bach resembles a
concerto in miniature. For orchestral playing Quantz in 1789
recommended the proportion of one bassoon to nine strings, two
bassoons to 13 strings and three bassoons to 21 strings. A pair were
to become the regular complement of the Classical orchestra,
although in France two pairs were usual. There the demand for
players was so great that for a period at the end of the century the
Conservatoire was employing four professors to teach the bassoon.
Mozarts use of the instrument shows a great understanding of its
nature and potentialities; his early Concerto in B k191/186e (1774)
remains the most significant in the bassoonists repertory. It is not
known who commissioned the 18-year-old composer to write it; the
amateur Baron Drnitz, a composer of bassoon music himself for
whom the sonata with cello k292/196c was probably written, can be
discounted. Chamber works for bassoon and strings, a combination
unlikely to entail problems of balance, were written in considerable
quantities in the Classical period. Works for bassoon with orchestra
from this time fall into two categories. The first consists of concertos
written by professional composers, usually with specific players in
mind. Among these are notable works by Danzi, David, Michael
Haydn (that by Joseph Haydn, c1803/4, is lost), J.N. Hummel, J.W.
Kalliwoda, Kozeluch and Berwald. In the second category are works
written as display pieces by performers (usually for their own use), for
example Gebauer, Jacobi and Almenraeder. According to the fashion
of the time, these often took the form of pot-pourris and variations.
Among the many concertante symphonies, the one ascribed to
Mozart (for oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon) and that by Haydn (for
oboe, bassoon, violin and cello) are notable. Works for two bassoons
and orchestra by Dieter, Johnsen, Schacht and Vanhal survive; one
by Danzi is lost. Concerning its role within the orchestra, the bassoon
was criticized by 19th-century writers as being a weak-sounding
instrument that gets lost among loud forces (Ftis, Revue musicale,
viii, 1834, pp.148 and 326). Ftis recommended that in a wellequipped wind orchestra, there should never be less than eight
bassoons; he even recorded an occasion where he used as many as
30. Berlioz too noted the bassoons lack of volume and remarked that
its timbre, totally lacking in clat and nobility, has a propensity for the
grotesque which must be borne in mind when giving it prominence.
However, he also said that the character of its high notes has about it
something painful, complaining, almost wretched, which can

sometimes be surprisingly effective in a high register melody or an

accompanimental pattern (Grand trait dinstrumentation, 1843).
Among the vast output of the 20th century, the following works are
noteworthy: concertos and other concert works by Elgar, Wolf-Ferrari,
Villa-Lobos, Jolivet, Franaix, Jacob and Maconchy; recent British
works by John Addison, Judith Bingham, Stephen Dodgson, Robin
Holloway, John Joubert and Peter Maxwell Davies, and in North
America by Elliott Schwartz, Gunther Schuller, John T. Williams and
E.T. Zwilich; a concerto by the Russian composer S.A. Gubaydulina
(along with two other significant works for bassoon); concertante
works by Strauss (clarinet and bassoon) and Hindemith (trumpet and
bassoon); sonatas and other works by Tadeusz Baird, Roger Boutry,
Eugne Bozza, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Dutilleux, Hindemith,
Hurlstone, Longo, Nussio, Saint-Sans, Skalkottas his Sonata
Concertante (1943) is the outstanding sonata of the century and
Tansman (a sonata by Poulenc, 1957, remained unfinished at his
death and is lost); unaccompanied solo pieces by Apostel, Arnold,
Bruno Bartolozzi, Jrgen Bentzon, Berio, Boulez, Jacob,
Stockhausen and Isang Yun; bassoon ensembles by Bozza, Victor
Bruns, Alois Hba, Jacob, Prokofiev, William Schuman and Peter
Schickele; and bassoon and string works by Kalevi Aho, Bax,
Franaix and Jacob. The increased prominence given to the bassoon
in many 20th-century orchestral scores is exemplified by the opening
of The Rite of Spring, a solo in the upper register. During the century
various new techniques were demanded of the instrument, among
them double- and triple-tonguing, flutter-tonguing, multiphonics, pitch
bending, quarter tones, and vocalizing while playing. Many of these
are exploited in Bartolozzis Concertazioni for bassoon, strings and
percussion and Stockhausens Adieu for wind quintet (see Penazzi,
1982, and Ouzounoff, 1986). More recent is its use with contact
microphones and live electronics.