Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument with a double reed. It is formed by a slightly conical tube folded on itself, in such a way that the instrument has a length of approximately 155 cm, and the total distance of the hole is 250 cm.

This instrument was developed in the early 18th century and reached its current form in the 19th century. The bassoon owes its existence to the musical need to broaden the lower region of the woodwind sound.

The instruments of the bassoon family are the bassoon and the contrabassoon, in addition to the instruments of the oboe and heckelphone family, as these are also instruments with a conical tube in which the sound is produced by means of a double reed. It is occasionally considered the bass of the oboe family. Its range is three and a half octaves and can be divided into four registers: low, medium, high and high.

Description

The main parts are the bell, which finishes off the instrument, the central body, the stock (it is the lower part of the instrument and where the tube changes direction by means of a metal elbow), the tube piece (where it is inserted the neck), the neck and the reed. The air travels from the reed to the neck, the neck, the butt, the low body and the bell.

History

Background

As with most of the instruments in the European instrumental sampler, the bassoon has famous antecedents, one of which can be reflected in the impulse that led Roman musicians to extend the aulos in its low part (a kind of of oboe, bequeathed by the Greeks, which in the Latin world took the name of tibia bassa, which, even though it is a distant embryo, can be considered as the first attempt made within a long genealogy of instruments created for this purpose).

Many are the hypotheses that have arisen around the creation of this musical instrument, although the most widespread concedes its authorship to a canon from Ferrara, Afranio Teseo (born in Pavia, c. 1495), who is said to have found its inspired by a Serbo-Croatian example, like a bagpipe, fed by side bellows. Although this theory does not enjoy full credibility, it should not be dismissed either, since Professor Curt Sachs, the most famous scholar of musical instruments, denies that its roots lie in a type of Italian bombarde of the XVI. Its appearance in the theoretical treatises of the aforementioned century, as well as in those of the following one, already in the form of a dulcián or bassoon, is very frequent. Thus, Lodovico Zacconi (Prattica di musica, 1596-1619), Domenico Pietro Cerone (The Melopeo and Master, 1613), Michael Praetorius (Syntagma musicum, 1615-1619) and Marin Mersenne (Harmonie Universelle, 1636-1637) showed their interest in this serious instrument, especially the last mentioned theoretician, who presents in his work a rather evolved and equipped with three keys. Since 1620, a serious instrument of the bassoon family has also been known, called the contrabassoon, which sounds at the lower octave of that one.

The bassoon emerged as a distinct instrument throughout the 17th century. However, since the middle of the previous century there was an instrument from which it seems to have derived directly: the dulcián. Well known in most European countries, this instrument enjoyed great fame in ecclesiastical and courtly musical circles. Naturally, the dulcián evolved to give rise to the bassoon. This, in turn, also underwent some changes, among which the adoption of metal keys that allowed the fingering holes to be mechanically opened or closed would stand out. At that time, the bassoon was used to reinforce the bass line in instrumental ensembles, and although some composers began to show some interest in it, it was still not recognized as a soloist.

During the second half of the XVII century, the bassoon was incorporated into the orchestra, a formation in which it has appeared ever since on regular basis. In the 18th century , he began to abandon his role as bass, which coincided with his progressive consolidation as a solo instrument. During Romanticism, numerous builders did everything in their power to improve the sound qualities of the bassoon. However, the technical problems were not solved until the 1820s by Carl Armenraeder and Johann Heckel.

The bassoon, which at some point in Spain received the name of bassoon, experienced its expansion in the 17th and XVIII, and, although at first his functions were exercised mainly within church music, reinforcing the voices of the cantors, his presence in secular art would become more important over time. The works of Castelli (1621), Marini (1626), Selma and Salaverde (1638), Valentini (1639) and Bertali (1645) testify to the appreciation for the instrument, an estimate shared by Heinrich Schütz, who in his symphoniae sacrae (1629) He gave him special treatment. Already in the 18th century he was mature enough to consolidate his presence in the orchestral and solo field; Suffice it to recall the concertos written for bassoon by Vivaldi, all of them magisterial, or in a leading role given to him by composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Handel, Telemann, Fux, Johann Stamitz, Johann Christian Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who opened the path for its deep and shady timbre to be the protagonist of the excellent bassoon concerts by Mozart and Weber. Also interesting is the concert composed by a Spanish musician, Anselmo Viola (1738-1798), a monk from the monastery of Monserrat whose fame is due both to his works and to the fact that he was a teacher of Fernando Sor.

Development

The physiognomy of the instrument remained fairly faithful from its origin until the middle of the XVIII century, but from then on its evolution was important. The bassoon made by the Flemish G. de Bruijn (No. 997 at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels) with a mark of the year 1730 already had four keys — although other opinions held that the fourth key was added later, in 1752 — and it was in 1760 that the English craftsman Kusder added one more. Their number increased in parallel with their development, which at the beginning of the XIX century was considerable due to the clarity of its sound and its extensive record. The character with which the instrument is known today is basically due to improvements carried out between 1820 and 1830 by Jean Nicolas Savary, whose improvements were reinforced by the incorporation of Theobald Böhm's key system, which the craftsman applied to the bassoon. Triebert in 1855. The culmination of all the efforts undertaken was the contribution of the famous builder Johann Adam Heckel (1812-1877), who introduced multiple technical solutions that he reflected in a treatise, published in 1899.

Bassoon Family

Do spectrogram in 4 octaves.

The bassoon belongs to the woodwind family, and as relative instruments it has the bassoon and the contrabassoon. Other close instruments are also the oboe and the English horn for being these other double reed instruments. The bassoon is a miniature bassoon, smaller, higher pitched, and tuned in G. It is used for teaching children due to the great weight of the bassoon, as, for example, happens with the tuba and the euphonium. The contrabassoon is larger than the bassoon. His weight is 10 kg and he is 160 cm tall. It is also made of wood, except for the bell, which is made of metal. It is in C like the bassoon; ending in 3 octaves, its lowest note is Si b like the bassoon, but some end in A. It sounds one octave lower than the bassoon, using the F clef in third, and the bassoon in F in fourth; but the bass clef is also used in fourth but transposing an eighth.

The oboe is an instrument similar in appearance to the clarinet, with a very special timbre, a bit dark and mysterious. This is because it is also a double reed instrument. The English horn is a slightly larger instrument than the oboe, which sounds deeper. He also uses a double reed mouthpiece.

Use of the bassoon

In modern orchestras there are usually two to four bassoons so that there is a contrabassoon when necessary and one of them plays soloist. Its timbre makes it suitable for lyrical or comic tones, such as the theme of Pedro's grandfather and the wolf. It is a good bass for a woodwind passage or with the role of cellos. It combines very well with the other double-reed instruments, it is usually used to accompany oboe or horn solos, and its use to present small solo parts or forming duets with the winds is also very common.

In chamber music it is normally used as a bass for almost any woodwind combination. Even today the bassoon quartets enjoy considerable success.

In Baroque music, he plays the basso continuo line most of the time, except for solo bassoon concertos or bassoon sonatas. Currently he has a greater presence in the bands, with up to four bassoons and contrabassoon. Although there are not many old band roles for bassoon. In old or popular works in which you don't have a role, you can use the euphonium.

In Jazz bands it is rarely used, however, in the 60s, Yusef Lateef or Chick Corea incorporated the bassoon into their recordings, as well as Progressive Rock bands like Gryphon or Henry Cow. More recently, Illinois Jacquet and Frank Tiberi have added the bassoon to their usual saxophone ensembles. Karen Borca, a free jazz player, is one of the few jazz musicians who only uses the bassoon; Michael Rabinowitz is another, just as Spanish bassoonist Javier Abad, Lindsay Cooper, Paul Hanson, Alexandre Silvério and Daniel Smith are also using the bassoon in jazz. In 2017, bassoonist Niño Rubén incorporated it for the first time into the world of flamenco.

Modern systems

There are two modern types of bassoon: German and French. In most of the world the German system is played, France being the country where there is a large school of French bassoon. The German system is also known as the Heckel system, in honor of Wilhelm Heckel, a German builder who achieved great balance and tuning in his new key system (1831).

Heckel or German system

The Heckel system was developed by the German Carl Almenräder starting in 1823. Assisted by the German acoustic researcher Gottfried Weber, he built the 17-key bassoon that reached 4 octaves. Almenräder's improvements to the bassoon began with a treatise in 1823 in which he described ways to improve intonation, response, and technical ease of playing by means of increasing and changing the key system; subsequent articles developed his ideas. Work at Schott's factory gave him the means to build and according to these new designs, the results of which were published in Caecilia, Schott's household journal; Almenräder continued to publish and build the instruments until his death in 1843. Ludwig van Beethoven requested one of the newly made instruments after hearing about the items. Almenräder left Schott to start his own factory together with partner Johann Adam Heckel in 1831.

Heckel and two generations of descendants continued to refine the bassoon, and it is their instrument that has become the standard for other instrument makers to continue to build. Due to their superior quality of tone (an improvement over one of the main drawbacks of the Almenräder instruments), Heckel's instruments competed for prominence with the reformed Frankfurt system, in the style of the Boehm system for flutes, and an instrument devised by C. J. Sax, father of Adolphe Sax. Beginning in 1893, a logical reformed system of fingering was pioneered by F.W. Kruspe, but could not prosper. Other attempts to improve the instrument included a 24-key model and a single-reed mouthpiece, but both gave a different sound and were abandoned.

In the 20th century the German Heckel model was the clear dominant; Heckel himself had made over 4,000 instruments in the previous century, and English instruments were not held in high esteem. Today, the Heckel factory and Heckel bassoons are considered the best, although a range of various manufacturers exist, all with various modifications of their bassoons. Companies that make bassoons are (among others): Yamaha, Fox, Schreiber, Moosman, Püchner, Signet, Kohlert, B.H. Bell, Amati and Sonora. There are also small manufacturers that make custom instruments for special needs.

Buffet or French system

The Buffet system bassoon, which was established shortly before the Heckel, has been modified in a more conservative fashion. While Heckel's development of the bassoon can be characterized as a complete overhaul of the instrument from an acoustic and key system perspective, the Buffet system focused primarily on incremental improvements to the key system. This less radical approach deprives the Buffet system bassoon of the improved consistency, and thus playing comfort, and increased power found in Heckel lineage bassoons, but the Buffet system is considered by some to have a more vocal quality and more expressive. (The conductor Juan Foulds in 1934 lamented the dominance of the Heckel bassoon, in his opinion for being too homogeneous in sound similar to the horn).

Although the French system was once widely favored in England, Buffet instruments are only made in France, so English players began to abandon the French system in the 1980s. However, their use continues in some regions and because of its distinctive timbre, the Buffet bassoon continues to have a place in the modern bassoon, particularly in France. Bassoons of the Buffet system are made in Paris by Buffet-Crampon and Selmer.

Famous bassoonists

Edgar Degas: L’Orchestre de l’Opéra.

• Désiré-Hippolyte Dihau of which there is a picture of Edgar Degas of 1870.
• Baron von Duernitz, for whom Mozart composed a concert.
• Georg Friedrich Brandt.
• Antoine Dard (1715-1784).
• Étienne Ozi (1754-1813): Fagotist, composer, pedagogue
• Carl Almenräder (1786-1843): Fagotist, instrument designer, composer
• Louis Marie Eugène Jancourt (1815-1900): Fagotist, instrument designer, composer, pedagogue.
• Julius Weissenborn (1837-1888): Fagotist, composer, pedagogue.
• Archie Camden (1888-1979): Fagotist, pedagogue.
• Simon Kovar (1890-1970): Fagotist, arranger, pedagogue.
• Víctor Guillermo Ramos Rangel (1911-1986): Fagotist, composer, pedagogue.
• Sol Schoenbach (1915-1999): Fagotist, pedagogue.
• Leonard Sharrow (1915-2004): Fagotist, pedagogue.
• Maurice Allard (1923-): Fagotist, arranger.
• Sherman Walt (1923-1989): Fagotist, pedagogue. soloist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra of 1953-1989.
• Mordechai Rechtman (1925-): Fagotist, pedagogue, managing director. Soloist of Israel Philharmonic for 45 years.
• Bernard Garfield (1928-): Fagotist, pedagogue, soloist of the Philadelphia Orchestra of 1957-2000.
• William Waterhouse (1931-2007): Fagotist, pedagogue, Royal Northern College of Music.
• Walter Ritchie (1936-): Fagotist, pedagogue, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Current

• Gustavo Núñez
• Klaus Thunemann
• Milan Turkovic
• Sergio Azzolini
• Enrique Abargues
• Lindsay Cooper
• Alexandre Silvério
• Michael Rabinowitz
• Child Reuben
• Daniel Smith
• Sophie Dervaux
• David Azogue

Pedagogy

The main books for learning the bassoon are those by Julius Weissenborn, Ludwig Milde, Alamiro Giampieri and Karel Pivonka.

Given the size of the instrument, it was not started until at least 13 years of age. However, the manufacture of fagotinos from the XIX century facilitated access to the smallest. Today you start at the same age as the other instruments, without the need to start with the bassoon in case your fingers reach the keys.

Technique

The bassoon is normally played seated. As it is very heavy, it must be attached to the bassoonist's body, either with a strap that he sits on or with a harness. The instrument is held like the tenor sax, on the bassoonist's right hand side. The left hand is placed on the upper keys and the right on the lower ones. Some bassoonists put down an accessory called a crutch that serves to separate the hand from the instrument and have the fingers freer.

With the bassoon you can perform many special techniques such as trill, vibrato, harmonics, continuous breathing or multiphonics, etc.

Types of bassoons

• Contrafagot is an octave more severe than fagot. His sound is grave and deep, as crying, so he was chosen by Beethoven for his opera Fidelio at the prison scene.
• The fagotino is shorter, small and lighter than the conventional fagot and is used for initiation to the fagot of young children.

Audio Examples

Concerts and other orchestral literature

Baroque

• Antonio Vivaldi wrote 39 concerts for fagot (two of them incompletely preserved). This number is because Vivaldi wrote parts expressly for the young interpreters of Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls and adolescents. In some scores even appear their names.

Pre Classicism

• Johann Christian Bach, Concert for Fagot in If Big Bemol, Concert for Fagot in My Big Bemol.

Classicism

• Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Fa major concert, W75.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Fagot Concert in Si bemol mayor, K191.
• Franz Danzi, Concert for Fa Mayor.
• Carl Stamitz, Concert for Fa Mayor.
• Johann Baptist Vanhal, Concert for Fagot in Do Mayor, and Concert for two fagotes in Fa Mayor.

Romanticism

• Carl Maria von Weber, Andante e rondo ungarese en do menor, op. 35, Concert para fagot en Fa mayor, op. 75
• Edward Elgar, Romanze in Fa mayor for fagot and orchestra.
• Ferdinand David, Concertino para fagot, op. 12.

Contemporary

• Hindemith, Sonata for fagot and piano (1938).
• John Williams, Five Sacred Trees: Concert for fagot and orchestra(1997).
• Richard Strauss, Concertino for clarinet and fagot (1948).
• Francis Poulenc, Trio for oboe, fagot and piano (1926).
• Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ciranda das sete notes.
• Richard Strauss, concertino Duetto for clarinet and fagot with ropes and harp.
• David Johnstone, Lyric Sonata for fagot and piano (2004).
• Niño Rubén, Al tap del fagot flamenco (2017).
• Alexandre Tansman, Sonatina for fagot and piano

Famous passages of the bassoon in the orchestra

• The weddings of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, alone.
• Concert for violin of Ludwig van Beethoven, only of the first, second and third movements.
• Fantastic symphony Hector Berlioz.
• Scheherezade Rimski-Kórsakov.
• Symphony #6 "Pathetics" by Piotr Ilich Chaikovski.
• Symphony #2 by Piotr Ilich Chaikovski, alone.
• No. 4 by Piotr Ilich Chaikovski, alone.
• Symphony #5 by Piotr Ilich Chaikovski, alone.
• Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture by Piotr Ilich Chaikovski, alone.
• In the cave of the king of the mountain Edvard Grieg.
• The apprentice of witch Paul Dukas, used in the Fantasy movie.
• Spanish rapsodia by Maurice Ravel.
• Bolero by Maurice Ravel.
• The Consecration of Spring from Igor Stravinski, starts with the famous fagot solo with very sharp notes.
• The bird of fire Igor Stravinski, in 1945.
• Peter and the Wolf Sergéi Prokófiev, the Grandpa's theme.
• Concertino for guitar and orchestra of Salvador Bacarisse, 4.o. movement.
• Symphony No. 4 in Si bemol mayor from Ludwig van Beethoven. Just in the fourth move.