Bassoon

General info:

The bassoon is a double reed woodwind instrument which usually plays music written in the bass, tenor and occasionally the treble clef. The bassoon is an important instrument in orchestras and concert bands. It is non-transposing, and is best known for its distinctive tone color and wide range. Its warm, dark, reedy timbre is often compared to that of a male baritone voice. Someone who plays the bassoon is called a bassoonist. Its lower register is sonorous, middle register expressive and higher register shrill.

History:

Renaissance bassoons

The origins of the bassoon can be traced back to a Renaissance woodwind instrument known as the dulcian. The two instruments have several similar characteristics: a double reed, obliquely drilled tone holes and a conical bore that doubles back on itself. However, the origins of the dulcian itself is obscure. It is generally made out of a single piece of maple. Even after it was superceded by the bassoon during the Baroque period, it continued to be used in Spain until the turn of the 20th Century.

Baroque bassoons

Circumstantial evidence indicates that the baroque bassoon was a newly invented instrument, rather than a simple modification of the old dulcian. The figure believed to have been behind this achievement was Martin Hotteterre, who also invented the three-piece flûte traversière and the Baroque oboe. It is believed that in the 1650s, Hotteterre conceived the bassoon in four sections (bell, bass joint, boot and wing joint), an arrangement that allowed greater accuracy in machining the bore compared to the dulcian. He also extended the compass down to B♭ by adding two keys.Other historians argued Hotteterre was just one of several craftsmen responsible, because they may have included additional members of the Hotteterre family, as well as other French makers active around the same time. Sometime around 1700, a fourth G♯ key was added, and a fifth key for the low E♭, was included during the first half of the 18th century.

Classical and Romantic bassoons

The design of the modern bassoon is attributed to German Carl Almenräder. Assisted by the German acoustic researcher Gottfried Weber, he developed the 17-key bassoon with a four-octave range. His employment at Schott factory gave him the freedom to construct and test instruments according to these new designs, and he published the results in Caecilia, Schott's house journal. In 1831, Almenräder left Schott to start his own factory with a partner, Johann Adam Heckel. Heckel and two generations of descendants continued to refine the bassoon, soon constructing the "standard" bassoons. Because of their superior singing tone quality, an improvement upon one of the main drawbacks of the Almenräder instruments, the Heckel instruments competed for prominence with other reformed systems designed. Coming into the 20th century, the Heckel-style German model of bassoon dominated the field. Heckel bassoons are now still considered by many to be the best.

Present-day bassoons

The modern symphony orchestra typically calls for two bassoons, often with a third playing the contrabassoon. Some works call for four or more players. The first player is frequently called upon to perform solo passages. The famous Rite Of Spring was writen in the 20th century.

Range:

The range of the bassoon extends from B♭1 upward over three octaves, roughly to G5. Higher notes are possible but are not easy to reach. However, these notes are often rarely used in the orchestral scores. A lower A1 note is also achievable, although it requires a special extension to the instrument.

Role:

Orchestras first used the bassoon to reinforce the bass line. The bassoon was also used as a basso continuo instrument, even by the mid-18th century, thus limiting its function in the orchestra. But beginning in the early Rococo era, composers included parts that exploited the bassoon for its unique color, rather than for its perfunctory ability to double the bass line. Today, bassoons usually play lower harmonies, but you will sometimes hear their hollow low notes featured in a melody.

Foreign names:

Fagott ---- German

Basson ---- French

Fagotto ---- Italian

Famous pieces: