Bassoon

A Brief History of the Bassoon 

Often described as the "clown" of the orchestra, the bassoon is the bass of the woodwind section. As well as solo work, the bassoon adds color to the orchestra, as it blends in well with all the other instruments. In france the word "bassoon" came into use in 1613 to denote the double or bass curtal. Over the next 25 years it was transformed into the separately jointed instrument that is known today as the bassoon.  Pitched in C, and made of maple or pearwood, it formed a continuoulsly expanding tube of up to 8 ft, which was doubled to make it manageable. By 1740 a fourth key had been added, and by 1800 six were common. During the 19th century many more improvements were made to the bassoon. One of the more notable modifiers of the instrument weas Charles-Joseph Sax (1791 - 1865), who by 1825 had introduced covered tone-holes. Saxed continued his work and in 1851, with his son Adolphe, brought out a 23 keyed betal bassoon.

Carl Almenraeder (1786-1843) made improvements by adding certain keys, and relocating others. Through his work the intonation improved, and playing in all keys was possible. On Almenraeder's death, his partner Johann Heckel (1812-77) continued to refune the instrument, byich by 1843 had 18 keys and a chromatic range of over four octaves. Successive members of the Heckel family carried out many reforms to the bassoon, launching a famous model in the 1870s, and it is through their efforts that the instrument reached its present degree of perfection.  French and Italian players tend to prefer an alternative French design by Buffet Crampon, made in Rosewood.