The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution

Author(s): Lyndesay G. Langwill

Source: Proceedings of the Musical Association, 66th Sess. (1939 - 1940), pp. 1-21
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association
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 9 NOVEMBER,1939.

THE REV. CANONF. W. GALPIN, LITT.D., F.L.S.,

PRESIDENT,
IN THE CHAIR.

THE BASSOON: ITS ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION.

BY LYNDESAY G. LANGWILL.

IT must seem remarkable that a perusal of the subjects of

the many papers read before this Association, since its
foundation in I874, discloses the fact that the bassoon has
never received special attention. I cannot claim to address
you as a professional performer, but as an amateur musician
who, since childhood, has been fascinated by the bassoon.
Indeed, I believe I am devoted to it much more than if it
were the means of my livelihood. It has been my experience
to find that musical people know little or nothing about the
origin and evolution of the bassoon. Even bassoonists know
little of that aspect, and I regret to say that one accomplished
performer of my acquaintance, when asked if he was
interested in the history of the bassoon, replied that he was
more interested in its future than in its past ! For the past
eight years I have collected all available information at
home and abroad, including photographs of surviving
specimens of all ages and with the help of a selection of
slides from these photographs, I hope to be able to give a
very brief historical resume.
The Bassoon is the bass of the Oboe family only in name.
In construction, it differs radically from the oboe and its
tone-quality is peculiar to itself. The word BAssooN has
not been in use in English for much more than two centuries.
It occurs first, so far as I can discover, in 1706 in Phillips's
New World of Words.' Until then, and, indeed, until about
1750, the instrument was known as the Curtall (or Double
Curtall) and the earliest recorded use of this word for the
instrument in English appears to be in 1574 when it occurs
in the Household Accounts of Sir Thomas Kytson in
Suffolk.' In 1575, the Double Curtall is mentioned as a

r E. Phillips, The New World of Words. 6th Edit. (London, 1706).

2j. Gage, History and Antiquities of Hengrave in Suffolk (London,
1822), p. 204.

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3-Keyed Fagottino by I. C. Denner, _iz;.> lm"--' 'L-
-
9-_:Ir_--vr-_w. I-= -lw Iv:_ :7

Nurnberg, c. I700. Height: I' Io".

(In Fine Arts Museum, Boston,
Mass.) Plate in Essai sur la Musique by J. B. de Labord
(Paris, I78o).

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2 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution

component of the Waits Band of Exeter,3 and c. I582

Stephen Batman included it with the oboe and bagpipes as
" common bleting musicke." In 1597, the Chamberlain of
the Corporation of London was ordered to provide a curtail
for the musicians at the charge of the city.4
The origin of the Bassoon is, and probably will remain,
a mystery. All we can affirm is that no such instrumental
type is mentioned in Virdung (I51I)5 Agricola (I528 and
I545)6 or Luscinius (I536).7 It is probable that the device
of using two parallel channels connected in U-shape to
form a continuous sound column can be attributed to Canon
Afranio of Ferrara who before I52I was experimenting
with an instrument termed "Phagotum " embodying two
such U-tubes. Improved sufficiently to be played at a
banquet in 1532, the Phagotum was depicted and described
by Afranio's nephew in I539,8 and in some MS. instructions
of I565 each tube is termed a "fagotto."9 It is quite
incorrect, however, to attribute the invention of the bassoon
to Afranio, as almost every work of reference has done
until in recent years. The Phagotum had bellows, single
reeds of metal and twin U-tubes with cylindrical bore. The
bassoon, with its double reed of cane, consists of one
continuous U-shaped tube with conical bore. Canon
Galpin has dealt very fully with the Phagotum in Grove
(1927) and Cecil Forsyth has an article in somewhat
humorous vein-as an Appendix to his Orchestration.
Contrabass instruments called " Fagotes" are mentioned
in I555 in a Spanish catalogue of instruments belonging to
the Flemish band of Marie de Hongrie,Io but unfortunately
we have no information as to the nature of these " Fagotes."
In 1596, Zacconi's Prattica di Musica mentions one
type of bassoon, the Fagotto Chorista, with a compass of

3 Descriptionof Exeter, by John Vowell, alias Hoker (Devon and

Cornwall Record Society, I919) and History of Exeter Guildhall, by
H. Lloyd Parry (Exeter, 1936), p. 159.
4 Musical News, 7th August, I915. F. A. Hadland, "The Waits."
5 S. Virdung, Musica getutscht und ausgezogen (Basel, 51I, facsimile
I93 ).
6 M. Agricola, Musica instrumentalis deudsch (Wittenberg 1529, new
edition 1896).
7 0. Luscinius, Musurgia seu Praxis Musical . . . (Strasburg, 1536).
8 Teseo Albonesi, Introductio in Chaldaicam linguam (I539).
9 L. F. Valdrighi, Musurgiana, Series I, No. 4 and II, No. 2 (Modena,
I879).
O1E. van der Straeten, Hist. de la Mus. aux Pays-Bas, vol. vii, pp.
433, 436, 448.

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution 3
two octaves less a tone from C below the bass." The name
suggests that the primitive bassoon was at once regarded
as peculiarly adapted for supporting the voices in church-
a use to which the instrument was put in England down
to the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
In I619 Praetorius's monumental work Syntagma
Musicum depicted five types of Fagotte.12 From his De
Organographia the compass tables enable us to make this
comparison of (i) Shalmeys and Pommers-the immediate
precursors of Oboe and Bassoon, (2) Fagotte, each type
below the corresponding member (if any) of the other
family, and (3) the modern survivals.
I would remark that:
I. Gross Bass Pommer gave place ultimately to the
Doppel Fagott and the modern Contrabassoon.
2. Bass Pommer to the Chorist Fagott or Dulzian
and the modern bassoon.
5. Alt Pommer to the Oboe da Caccia and the modern
Cor Anglais.
6. The Schalmey to the modern Oboe.
Between 2 and 5 has developed the Heckelphone, really a
Baritone Oboe and between 5 and 6 the Oboe d'amore.
In No. I note that in both Pommers and Fagotte the lowest
note was Contra F, and in No. 2 in both cases C. The
Fagott of that early date had already the upward limit of
g' which was not exceeded until after Mozart. I have
brought for your inspection a set of six modern German
double reeds as used on the Oboe, Oboe d'amore, Cor
Anglais, Heckelphone, Bassoon and Contra Bassoon.
The sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries were
remarkable for the large instrumental families employed.
Praetorius details the composition of an Accort or
Stimmwerk-eighty-six wind instruments of nine distinct
kinds (Sorte or Art), including thirteen Pommers and eight
Fagotte.
A group of six wind musicians represented in a
painting preserved in Madrid, are shown taking part in a

" L. Zacconi, Prattica di Musica, Ven. 1596, Book IV, f. 218. L. F.

Valdrighi, Cappelle, concerti e musiche di casa d'Este, 1884, p. 48.
12 M.
Praetorius, Syntagmatis musici . . . Tomus Secundus. De
Organographia (Wolfenbuttel, 1619, facsimile I929). And id. Theatrum
Instrumentorum (Wolfenbuttel I620, facsimile I929).

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 4 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution

religious procession in Antwerp in I6i6.13 From left to

right they are playing: A Dulzian or Chorist Fagott
(which is being played left-handed, i.e. right hand above
left), Alto Pommer, Cornetto, Discant Schalmey, Alto
Pommer and Trombone. It is significant that a Discant
Schalmey and two Alto Pommers have as a bass-not a
Bass Pommer-but a Dulzian. This is not surprising when
one considers the inconvenience of handling the Bass
Pommer, six feet long; or the gigantic Gross Bass Pommer,
ten feet long.
There is an engraving of Nikol Rosenkron'4 who came
to Niirnberg in I679, accompanied by his young son and
gained a great reputation as a Gross Bass Pommer player.
Gerbers5 in his Lexikon of I792 describes Rosenkron as a
" Fagott" player. In the same way, I am convinced that
Doppelmayr'6 in his Historische Nachricht of 1730, des-
cribing Sigmund Schnitzer (d. I578) as a celebrated maker
of extraordinarily large " Fagotte," was referring to Bass
Pommers.
A Dulzian player appears on the right of a group of
musicians around the organ on this frontispiece of Praetorius's
Theatrum Instrumentorum of I620, and the same work
contains plates of two-keyed Dulzians and a Gross Doppel
Quint Pommer with its four long keys.
Although Dulzians were so named-from dolce-because
in comparison with the Pommers they were so much softer
in tone, they were sometimes muted in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries by having, over the bell, a perforated
cap like an enlarged pepper-pot. This cap (Ger., Schall-
kapsel) is present on several of these Dulzians in the famous
Heyer Collection formerly at Coin, and now at Leipzig.'7
Dulzians were termed "offen" or "gedackt" according
to the absence or presence of a Schallkapsel.

13 Reproduced in Mahillon, Catal. du Musde Instr. de Bruxelles,

vol. II (Gand, 1909), p. 25, from a picture by Van Alsloot painted in
I6I6, now in the National Galleryof Paintingand Sculpturein Madrid:
"La procession de tous les ordres religieux de la ville d'Anvers le jour
de la fete de la Vierge du Rosaire."
I4 Musical Times, August, 1938: "A I7th Century Wood-wind
Curiosity," by L. G. Langwill.
Lexicon der Tonkinstler
x5 E. L. Gerber, Historisch-Biographisches
(Leipzig, 1790-92).
x6J. G. Doppelmayr, HistorischeNachrichtvon den Niirnbergischen
Kinstlern . ., p. 293 (Nurnberg, 1730).
17 Heyer-Leipzig Catal. Nos. 1356, 1357, 1358, I360, I359, 1361.

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution 5
From right to left they are:-
No. 1356. Alt Dulzian (lowest note c in bass).
No. I357. Offen Bassett or Tenor Dulzian (lowest note G).
No. I358. Gedackt Bassett or Tenor Dulzian (lowest
note G).
No. I360. Gedackt Chorist Fagott or Bass Dulzian (lowest
note C below bass stave).
(This last instrument is of special interest being the
work of Joh. Christ. Denner, Nurnberg, the reputed
inventor of the clarinet, c. I690.)
No. 1359 is an offen Chorist Fagott or Bass Dulzian
(lowest note C below bass stave) and lastly, a Doppel
Fagott or Grosser Bass Dulzian (lowest note Contra F).
In the Museum of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde,
Vienna,'8 may be seen these two Dulzians and a Rankett,
Rackett (Ger. ranke=crooked), or Sausage Bassoon. The
last is also by J. C. Denner and is dated 1709. One of the
Dulzians (No. 117)19 bears the following quaint verse
around the bell and seems to show that the Dulzian, even
in its heyday, was not in very general use:
Der Dulcin bin ich genant
Nit einem jedem wof pek&t
Der mich wil recht pfeifen
Der mus mich wol lerne greifen.
In the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, are three
sixteenth or seventeenth century Dulzians,20 unique since
they illustrate :2 (i) the one-piece type-two channels
bored in one stock; (2) the two-piece type found convenient
when a long channel rendered boring a practical difficulty,
and (3) the three-piece type, when the " wing " and " long-
joint" became separate pieces. The addition of a fourth
or " bell-joint " to this last type brought about the modern
Bassoon construction.
It is difficult to say at what point in the seventeenth
century the transformation from Dulzian to Bassoon took
place. In Mersenne's Harmonie Universelle (636),22 the
three-keyed Dulzian is designated " Fagot ou Basson," but
is still a Dulzian in essence.
r8
Catalogue of the Museum of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
in Wien (1912), pp. I66-167; and 170, Nos. 1I7, II8 and 173.
[9 Facsimile described and illustratedas No. 994 in Mahillon, Catal.
du Muse. . . de Bruxelles,vol. II, pp. 266-7. Cp. also Day's Catal.
R. M. Exhib., No. 149.
20 Schlosser's
Catal., Nos. 195, I99 and o20.
2 Musical Times, April, 1937: "The Curtail (I550-1750)", by
L. G. Langwill.
22 M. Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle
(Paris, 1636).

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6 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution
Circa I688, Randle Holme in a manuscript work on
heraldry, made a drawing and description23 of the English
Double Curtaile, and this provides valuable evidence that
the Dulzian had, since I636, acquired a separate wing-
joint for the left hand, and a bell-joint. The MS. states
that the instrument had three keys, D and F of the Dulzian,
and Contra Bb.
The earliest occurrence I have found of this note is in
an exercise published at Venice in I638 in the form of
variations for Fagotto solo with Basso continuo, by a monk
Fray Bartolome de Selma y Salaverde.24 The variations
demand a very high degree of technique and are evidence
that the development of the bassoon at this time may have
been taking place in Italy.
From the year 1698 we have a woodcut by Christoff
Weigel, of Niirnberg,25giving remarkable evidence of the
transition period from Dulzian to Bassoon. The Bassoon-
maker is at work boring the finger-holes of a Dulzian while
on the floor beside him lies another Dulzian. Leaning
against his bench, however, is a three-keyed bassoon of
transitional form. Another drawing26byWeigel of the same
date shows a left-handed bassoon-player with an instrument
like that leaning on the bench in the woodcut. I venture
to suggest, therefore, that the Bassoon assumed much of
its present form in the second half of the seventeenth
century.
The two-keyed Dulzian, for which Daniel Speer27 pub-
lished a fingering chart in I697, was no longer in fashion in
1738 according to Eisel28 who gave fingering charts for it
(calling it Teutsche Basson) and for the four-keyed bassoon.
Mattheson29 in I713 describes "der stolze Basson"
giving it a compass from C below the bass to f or g in the
treble stave, adding that occasionally Contra B and A
are found. Majer3O(1732 and I741) shows the three-keyed
23 Brit Mus. MS. Harl. 2034, f. 207 b.
.24 Lavignac, Encyclopedie de la Mus., Art. " La Musique en Espagne,"
by R. Mitjana, pp. 2085-7.
25 Gemein-nitzlichen
Hauptstdnde (I698) reproduced in Handbuch
der Musikwissenschaft (Potsdam, I929), p. 33; also in Der Fagott, by
W. H. Heckel (Leipzig, I931), p. 44.
26 Musikalisches Theatrum: Farbige Stiche, by Joh. Christ. Weigal,
reproduced in Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft (Potsdam, 1929), p. 5I.
27 D. Speer,
Grundrichtiger Unterricht . . . (Ulm, 1687; 2nd edit.,
I697).
28 J. T. Eisel, Musicus autodidactus
(Erfurt, 1738).
29Johann Mattheson, Das neu-er6ffnete Orchester (Hamburg, 1713).
3? J. F. B. C. Majer, Neu-eroffneter ... Music-Saal (1732; 2nd edit.,
Nirnberg, 174I).

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution 7
type described in Walther's3' Lexikon of 1732, but by
1738 Eisel, as stated, showed the four-keyed bassoon to be
standard.
An interesting Address Card32 of circa 1705 is that of
Coenraad Rykel, master flute maker, who was born in
Amsterdam in 1667, and was a nephew of and apprenticed
in I679 to Richard Haka, wood-wind maker. Rykel later
became Haka's partner until the latter's death c. 1705. The
bassoon shown has clearly four keys.
The fourth key (G#) certainly dates from about I700,
and accordingly much earlier than I75I, the date frequently
stated-merely because the four-keyed type is depicted in
this plate in Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopddie33
which appeared in Paris from I75I onwards.
The addition of the fifth and sixth (dosed) keys was
almost simultaneous. It is probable that low Eb (for left
thumb on French and English bassoons and for left little
finger on the German type) was the earlier of the two keys.
It appears in Paris fingering charts of Abrahame,34 and
Laborde,35 both circa 1780. In my collection of photo-
graphs of over 360 bassoons in public and private collec-
tions throughout the world, there is only one instance of a
five-keyed bassoon with F# as the fifth key and it is clearly
a later addition. The six-keyed bassoon was standard
towards the close of the century.
The earliest reference to an orchestral bassoon-player
appears to be in I578 when Philip van Ranst was appointed
Court Fagottist at Brussels.36 Three years later a fagotto
was included in the orchestra for a ballet composed for the
marriage of Margaret of Lorraine.37 German Inventars
mention a " Dultzian" at Brandenburg in 1580,38
"Dolzoni" at Dresden in I593,39 and Discant, Tenor and

31J. G. Walther, MusikalischesLexikon (Leipzig, 1732).

32 Frontispieceto MusicalWindInstruments,
by AdamCarse(London,
I939).
33Diderot and D'Alembert, Encyclopediemdthodique.Plate:
Lutherie (Paris, 1751-72).
34Abrahame,Principede Basson(Paris).
35 J. B. de Laborde, Essai sur la Musique(Paris, 1780), pp. 325 and
342. The section dealingwith the Bassoonis the work of Pierre
Cugnier,an accomplished player.
36 E. van der Straeten,La Musiqueaux Pays-Bas,IV, 73 (I867-88).
Ibid., Les mdndstrelsaux Pays-Bas (Bruxelles, 1878), p. 7.
37 H. Eichborn, Die Trompete. . . (Leipzig,188I), p. 6.
38 Gropius, Beitrdge zur Geschichte Berlins (I840), vol. II.
39M. Furstenau, Beitrdge zur Geschichteder kgl. sdchs. Capelle,
Dresden, I849, p. 40 f.

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8 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution
Chorist Fagotte at Stuttgart in I589.40 Austrian Inventars
of I577-90 specify Bassdulzani,41and the Ambras Inventar
of 1596 includes " Tolzanae,"42both of which probably
refer to Dulzians.43
The earliest scores to include Fagotte are those of
Heinrich Schutz (1585-I672) who employed two in 16I9
and five in I625 44 Lavoix45 mentions, among others to
employ the Bassoon, Rauch (I648), Neri (I65I), B6ddecker
(I660), Glettle (i667-70), all prior to Lully's use of the
instrument in the French Opera in Psyche (I674).46 In
nearly every work of reference, it is stated that Cambert
introduced the Bassoon in the orchestra in his Pomone
(I671). Lavignac's Encyclop6die (I927) states definitely
that this assertion is incapable of proof.47 The frag-
mentary MS. music of Pomone in the library of the Paris
Conservatoire mentions "hautbois," but not "bassons."
We must remember, however, that the later seventeenth
century composers commonly used their wood-wind in
unison with the strings, merely adding, e.g. con or senza
fagotto as required, and the bassoon may indeed have taken
part in Pomone. In any event, even prior to Cambert's
Pomone, Cesti, in his grand opera II pomo d'oro (1667-68),
used fagotti combined with two cornetti, three trombones
and a regal to suggest the terrors of Hades.48
This engraving49 shows " Les douze grands hautbois du
Roi," at the Coronation of Louis XV in 1722. Note that

G. Bossert, "Die Hofkapelle unter Eberhard III." Wartt.

40
XXI, 134 ff.
Vierteljahrshafte (1912),
4 Jahrbuch der Kunstsammlungender Allerh6chsten Kaiserhauses,
VII, xxxi.
42Cited by Sachs, Handbuchder Instrumentenkunde
(Berlin, 1920),
P. 325.
43 C. Sachs, Real Lexikon, s.v. Tolzana=Dolzaina=Krummhorn.
Vide Sammelbdnde der I.M.G., XI, 590 ff.
44 E. Euting, Zur Geschichteder Blasinstrumente im i6 u. I7 Jhrhund.
(Berlin, I899).
45 H. Lavoix, Histoire de l'Instrumentation (i878). P. 244, Andrea
Rauch, " Currus triomphalis " (an angel with Bassoon on frontispiece)
(Vienna, x648); p. 207, Massimiliano Neri, Sonata for I2 instruments
including a Bassoon (Venice, 1651); p. 245, B6ddecker, " Melosirenicum"
including a Bassoon (i66o); p. 246, Melchoir Glettle, "Expeditiones
musicae" (I667-70). Fifth series includes Fagotto.
46 " French opera before I750," by Dr. J. E. Borland. Proceedings
of the Musical Association 1906-7, p. 150.
47 Lavignac, Encyclopddie de la Mus. s.v. Basson, p. 1570.
48 Adler, Denkmaler der Tonkunst in Oesterreichi Band iii, p. xxv.
49 Reproduced facing p. 32 in Les Hotteterre et les Chddevilleby
E. Thoinan (Paris, I894).

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution 9
ten oboes have as a bass two bassoons-seen in the back-
ground.
Bach regarded eb' or ff' as the normal upward limit of
the bassoon, and only in the period 1731-34 did he exceed
this, in three Cantatas (97, 149 and I77) with g', and in
No. 42 and the " Quoniam" of the Hohe Messe with a'.
Dr. Sanford Terry's interesting survey of Bach's treatment
of the bassoon makes one wish that the use of the instrument
by other composers might receive similar detailed
investigation.50
Bach introduced the Bassoon into one of his scores first
in 1708 (Cantata No. 71), using the compass Bb,-c'. In
only five scores does he take it below C-in four of these
to an occasional B , or B~, (the latter then as good as
impracticable), and in one case (Cantata No. 31 of 1715)
he takes it down to G,, requiring the Quart (or Quint)
Fagott. In I723 and 1731 Bach's direction "Bassono
grosso " and " Bassono " are unique designations for the
bassoon.
In the Bagford Collection of Trade Cards at the British
Museum is a curious one of John Ashbury, wind-
instrument maker in London at the end of the seventeenth
century. The engraving is by John Sturt (I658-1730) who
has ingeniously employed bassoons, oboes, horns, and
trumpets to form the letters.
This engravings' of an unknown French bassoonist is
the work of Madame Doublet, a noted Parisian artist who
lived 1677-I77I. The bassoon has obviously a bell-joint,
and is played left-handed.
Felix Reiner52 (I732-82) was Chamber Bassoonist to the
Duke of Bavaria.
Thos. Delcambre53 (I766-I828), who was a noted
Parisian bassoonist at the time of the Revolution, as a
Colonel (Oberst) has been erroneously designated Oboist
in a German hand.
I know of no portraits of seventeenth century British
bassoonists and there are but few of the eighteenth century,
when as soloists, there lived Baumgarten, Lampe, Miller,
Parkinson, Holmes, Ashley, and Jenkinson.

50 Dr. C. Sanford Terry, Bach's Orchestra (London,

1932), pp. I 12-119
and Table XIII.
5' The portrait is probably that of a Court Bassoonist.
52 Vide G. Schilling: Universal-Lexikon(Stuttgart,1837).
53 Vide F. J. Fftis: BiographieUniverselle(Paris, i878).

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IO The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution
The Lord Chamberlain's Records,54 however, show that
curtails were in use in the Royal music at least from I661-
69.55 In the latter year " two double curtolls " were bought
at a cost of ?52. At the Coronation of James II (1685),56
two sackbuts and a double courtal took part in the pro-
cession, and Hawkins states the courtal figured again in
I714 at the Coronation of George I.57 The four Waits of
Coventry in I678 played " Two treables, one tenor and a
double curtail, all of them to be tunable."58 The trebles
certainly and the tenor probably refer to shawms. In r696
the Waits of Edinburgh were directed to play " the French
hautboyes and double curtle."59 At Exeter in I738-a
hundred and sixty years after the first mention of the curtail
there-we read of the Waits' "Snuffling courtal."6? At
York, about the same time, a broadside mentions the
Waits' "cortal with deep hum, hum."61 In 1707 Ed. Ward
wrote "With voice as hoarse as double curtal,"62 and
Dr. Creighton in 1727 wrote the curious line "Where
curtals and bassoons their murmurs breathe."63 The two
names were, of course, synonymous. It was in 1722 that
a curtail was added to the English Grenadiers' music, and
by I783 the band included four clarinets, two horns, one
trumpet and two bassoons, etc.64
The enactment of I644 which banned church organs in
England soon gave opportunities for instrumental accom-
paniment, and this was frequently supplied by the Waits
of a municipality, or in the country by amateurs whose
Christmas music-making and carol-singing gained for them

54 H. C. de Lafontaine, The King's Musick (London, I909), pp. 147

158 and 220.
55 E. Ashmore, Institution Laws, etc., of the Order of the Garter
(London, 1672), p. 576.
56 F. Sandford's History of the Coronation of James II (London, 1687),
p. 70.
57 J. Hawkins, Hist. of Music (London, 1776), Bk. XVII, Chap. CLIX
footnote.
58 T. Sharp, Dissertation on Pageants . .. at Coventry (Coventry, I825),
p. 210.
59 Town Council MS. Records, V. 35, fol. 249, I7th April, 1696.
60 A. Brice, The Mobiad : or the Battle of the Voice ... (Exeter, 1770)
cited in Notes and Queries, 2nd Series, vol. X, p. 464.
6r Proclamations, Broadsides, etc., in Chetham Lib., Manchester,
" York
No. 1524, Waits," quoted in Notes and Queries, 3rd Series,
Vol. VII, p. 380.
62 Edward Ward, Hudibras Redivivus (3rd Edit., London, 1715),
vol. II, p. 24.
63 Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 37074.
64 History of the H.A.C. by Capt. G. A. Raikes (London, I878),
vol. I, p. 270 and vol. II, p. 93.

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution II

the title of Waits. For over two centuries the West Gallery
of many an English church was occupied by a group
playing clarinet, flute, sometimes oboe and almost invariably
a 'cello or bassoon. The Churchwardens' Accounts of
many an English parish contain frequent references to the
bassoon:-
1712. At Bunbury, Cheshire, one was bought for ?5 5s. od.
At St. Giles, Northampton do. ?4 I3s. 6d.
and the player received io/6 per annum until
1799 when the salary was raised to ?i I os.65
I818. At Cockshutt, Salop, a Bassoon for the Church cost
?2 10 od.66
I772. Hayfield, Derbyshire. The arrival of a bassoon
was made the occasion of special rejoicing.67 The
Churchwardens record:
Spent with singers when the new Bazoon came 2S. 6d.
and, charges when the Bassoune came 3s. 6d.
There is a well-known painting6 by Thomas Webster,
R.A. (I800-86), entitled " The Village Choir," circa I846
-and believed to be that of Bow Brickhill, Bucks. The
Parish Clerk, the Clarinet, Bassoon and 'Cello are clearly
shown.
I have brought for your inspection an old church
bassoon by Cahusac, London, dated I769 (with four keys)
played in Brailes Church, Warwickshire. An Astor bassoon
(eight-keyed) now in Bucks. County Museum, played in
Hawridge Church, Bucks., bears the following verse,
suggestive of Quaker influence:-
I hear some men hate music, let them shew
In holy writ what else the angels do;
Then those who do despise such sacred mirth
Are neither fit for heaven nor for earth.
My friend, Canon K. H. MacDermott, Rector of Buxted,
Sussex, has collected a great mass of information on Church
Bands, and his book " Sussex Church Music in the Past "69
gives the results of investigation of the church music in xi
Sussex Parishes. Twenty-two of these had a Bassoon, and
at Alfriston there were five, and at Brightling a famous
iron-master John Fuller, M.P. (1757-I834) presented nine
bassoons to the Parish Church, but only so that they might
drown the voices of the choir ! In Feock Church, Cornwall,
65 Rev. J. C. Cox, English ChurchFittings (1923), pp.
66 240-1.
Unpublished MS. Kindly communicated by the Rev. Canon
McDermott.
67 The Reliquary (April, 1908), p. I44.
68 Original in Victoriaand Albert Museum
(SheepshanksCollection).
69Sussex ChurchMusic in the Past, 2nd Edit. (Chichester, 1923).

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12 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution
it is said that on one occasion seven bassoons played the
bass and " when they all closed down on low F it was like
Heaven."70
The barrel organ, and, after 1840, the harmonium,
finally displaced the church bands.
Before outlining the nineteenth century development of
the Bassoon, I will deal rapidly with the Contrabassoon.
The Quart Fagott descending to G,, and the Quint Fagott
descending to F,, were the deepest members, until 16I9
when Praetorius stated7Tthat the Director of Music at the
Electoral Court of Berlin, Hans Schreiber, was at work on
a large Contrafagott to descend a fourth lower than the
Quint Fagott, i.e. to I6 foot C, an octave below the Chorist
Fagott. "Should he succeed," writes Praetorius, "it will
be a splendid instrument, the like of which has never been
seen, and will really be something to marvel at, because
organ-builders also have tried hard to bring out clearly
and well the lowest two notes C, and D, of the I6 foot on
the Bass Trombone stop. Time will show." Schreiber
must have been only partially successful, for, although such
an instrument is mentioned in the Inventar of the Barfusser-
kirche in Frankfurt a/M. in I626,72we hear nothing more of
the Contrabassoon until Handel included it in his Hymn
for the Coronation of George II in I727. As no Contra
was available, Thomas Stanesby Senior was commissioned
to make one, and Handel's bassoonist J. F. Lampe was
engaged to play it. Burney73 informs us that either the
player or his reeds failed. An announcement in theLondon
Daily Post of 6th August, 1739, states that at Marylebone
Gardens "the usual Evening Concert will include two
Grand or Double Bassoons made by Mr. Stanesby, Senior."
Handel included the Double Bassoon in his L'Allegro in
1740, but with what success we do not know. At the
Handel Festival in 1784, Parke'4who was one of the twenty-
six oboes, states that
Mr. Ashley, a sub-director, and first bassoon at Covent Garden
Theatre, played for the first time on a newly-invented instrument
called the double-bassoon. . . which rested on a stand and had a sort
of flue affixedto the top of it, similar (with the exception of smoke) to
that of a Richmond steamboat.
70" Cornish Christmas,"by A. K. Hamilton Jenkin in Good House-
keeping, Dec., 1938.
7 De Organographia(16I9), chap. XI, p. 38.
72 Cited by Sachs in Handbuchder Instrumentenkunde(Berlin, 1920),
p. 323.
73Account of Musical Performancesin WestminsterAbbey, by Dr.
Burney (London, 1785), p. 7.
74W. T. Parke, Musical Memoirs(London, I830), vol. I, pp. 42-3.

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution I3

He concludes by saying that it had never been heard and

was never seen after the performances were ended.
Fortunately a Contra of this period survives. It is the
earliest known British Bassoon, is stamped "Stanesby
Junior, London 1739," and is now in the National Museum,
Dublin. It has been stated75that this is the Contra made
for Handel, but that instrument was by Stanesby Senior,
not Junior. It has also been said to be the Contra played
by Lampe at Marylebone Gardens in 1739, but the Contras
advertised were likewise by Stanesby Senior and this Contra
is by Stanesby Junior. In any case, the picture gives no
idea of this four-keyed giant, 8' 4" high with a tube
of i6'. descending to Sub-Contra Bb, a note scored by
Haydn in I785 in The Creation. The vibration number
of such a note is so low as to make smooth tone-production
a matter of considerable difficulty. This accounts for C,
or even D, being the lowest limit of the continental Contras
of the nineteenth century.
Everyone is doubtless familiar with the Contrabassoon
illustrated in the first two editions of Grove and the same
block appears in Prout and Schlesinger. It is precisely
this Contra seen here which, with the other instruments
in the group, belonging to the late Dr. Wm. H. Stone
(i830-9I)-a keen player of Tenoroon, Bassoon and Contra,
and author of the articles on those and other instruments
in the first two editions of Grove. The instruments passed
to the late Mr. Cyril Spottiswoode, to whose widow I am
indebted for the photograph and permission to examine
the bassoons. Dr. Stone does not seem to have been-as
he claimed-the designer of this type of Contra, now
obsolete, but he certainly deserves the credit of re-intro-
ducing the Contra at the Handel Festival of I871, after it
had been disused since its ill-starred appearance at the
Handel Commemoration of I784. This Contra was really
the eighteen-keyed Contrabassophon invented and made in
1849 by H. J. Haseneier, an instrument-maker at Coblenz.76
Its tube 16' 4", enlarging from I" to 4" was curved fourfold
and its compass was from Contra C to middle c. The
holes were all bored of graduated size and at their theoretical
intervals and were covered by keys. The sound was
powerful but "rumbling " and "coarse." It lacked the
75Catal. Royal Mil. Exhib. (Day) (London, 189I), p. 8I.
76 It is correctly designated in the Guide to the Internat. Inventions
Exhib., p. 56, when the instrument was lent by Dr. Stone. For illus-
tration and details, see Cat. of Royal Mil. Exhib. 1890, pp. 8I-2, and
Plate VIII B.

3 Vol. 66

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I4 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution
low Bb2 and Bt2. Alfred Morton (London)77 and Fontaine-
Besson (Paris) made a few such contras. The alternative
Brass Double-Bassoon or Contrebasse-i-anche with fifteen
keys, made originally in I839, by Schollnast und Sohn, of
Pressburg (Bratislava), improved by V. F. Cerv6ny, of
Koniggratz in I856 and I867 and by Mahillon of Brussels
in I868, lacked even the low C, and C,, stopping at Contra
D.78 Forsyth describes its tone as " coarse and blurty,"
and though this Contra was easily played, it was practically
unknown to English players.
In the middle are three beautiful rosewood and maple
bassoons by the celebrated Jean-Nicolas Savary, called
Savary Jeune (I786-c.1850). On the right are two
excellent little sixteen and fourteen-keyed tenoroons by the
same maker.79 Passing reference, however brief, must be
made to a curious error made by Dr. Stone who maintained
in his article in Grove that the Oboe da Caccia of Bach was
the Tenoroon, i.e. a Bassoon raised a fourth, and not the
Cor Anglais which is, of course, an Oboe lowered a fifth.
His erroneous contention that Tenoroon and the Oboe da
Caccia were identical was based on no stronger evidence
than a similarity of treatment in transposition, but there
can be no doubt that the Oboe da Caccia was the ancestor
of the Cor Anglais, and bore no relationship to the
Tenoroon.
The usual Contra to-day is by Heckel of Biebrich, who
makes several types descending to C, or, as with those
shown, to B 2 and A2, an incredibly low note to be reached
with full round smooth tone. French type Contras by
Buffet-Crampon of Paris are also used, descending likewise
to C, or Bb2. Wagner praised the Heckel Contra highly
in 1879, but, as Herr Heckel explains in his book Der Fagott,8?
Wagner wrote only Parsifal after that date and so we do
not find the Contra in his earlier works-although it has
been added in places by Richter. Circa I888 attempts to
lighten the Contrabassoon were made by Berthold and
S6hne of Speyer-am-Rhein. Modelled on Haseneier's
Contra of I849, Berthold's Contra was made of papier
mache.81
77 Catal. Royal Mil. Exhib. I890, p. 82, Nos. 172 and 173, the latter
in F, and lent by Sir Arthur Sullivan.
78 Catal. Royal Mil. Exhib. I890, pp. 82-3, with illustration.
79 Catal. Royal Mil. Exhib., Nos. I64 and I65. Designated "A pair
of Oboi da Caccia or Alti Fagotti by Savary," they were lent by Dr.
Stone at the I885 Internat. Inventions Exhib., London.
80
Page 20.
81 Illustration in Der Fagott, p. 23.

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution 15

Only passing reference need be made to the Sarrusophone,

a family of eighteen-keyed double-reed brass instruments
invented in I863 by Sarrus-a French Army bandmaster-
in seven sizes, but known now mainly by the Contrabass
in Eb or in C. It has been scored by Saint-Saens, Massenet
in Esclarmonde, by Delius in his Dance Rhapsody, by
Holbrooke in Apollo and the Seaman, and by Ravel in his
Rapsodie espagnole. Wide conical bore, and large holes
bored at theoretical intervals give a tone-quality which is
fuller and stronger, but harder and less expressive than
that of the Bassoon family.
In the early years of the nineteenth century there was
felt the need for extending the upper register of the bassoon.
The upper limit of g', observed by Mozart, and by Haydn
and Beethoven in their earlier works, was first extended to
a' by the addition of a " wing-key" operated by the left
thumb and assisting in the production of the twelfth of the
fundamental scale. One such key could be used to give
a', bb', and b' and a second, when added, gave c", c#",
and d". The seven-keyed bassoon in Ozi's Mdthode of
I80382 has the normal six and one wing key. Koch's
Lexikon of I80283 also gives seven keys but no low Fs, and
two wing-keys which he states are found " only on modern
bassoons." The bassoon's true position as a tenor instru-
ment was now realised and it was no longer relegated to
doubling the bass.
At this period the German and the French types began
to evolve, and each was to acquire peculiarities of con-
struction, key mechanism and bore, which radically
affected the tone-quality.
Among celebrated German makers were K. A. Grenser
(172-1I807) and his nephew J. H. Grenser (I764-1813),
and Grundmann, all of Dresden, also Kirst of Potsdam.
The so-called "Dresden bassoon," however, possessed
inequalities and inaccuracies in intonation which could at
most be partially counteracted by cross-fingering and
" forking." Carl Almenraeder (I786-I843), an accom-
plished bassoonist, determined to remedy these defects
with the guidance of Gottfried Weber, celebrated as a
theorist and acoustician. In I817 Almenraeder experi-
mented in Schott's factory at Mainz and published his
findings in a treatise in I820,84 describing a fifteen-keyed
82 E. Ozi, Mdthode de Basson (2nd Edit., Paris, I803).
83 H. C. Koch, Musicalisches Lexikon (Offenbach, i802).
84 C. Almenraeder, Traitd sur le perfectionnement du Basson, avec
deux tableaux (Mainz, c. I820).

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i6 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution
bassoon. Gottfried Weber dealt with this and later
improvements in Caecilia in I825 and i828.85 The forma-
tion of a partnership between Almenraeder and J. A. Heckel
in 183I at Biebrich am Rhein, and the subsequent develop-
ment of the bassoon family in the factory of three generations
of Heckels is described in the Centenary Edition of Der
Fagott published in I931. I was privileged to revise with
Herr Wilhelm Heckel personally my translation of that
booklet, and I am indebted to him for much learned in the
course of a visit to his workshops and his rich instrumental
museum. Almenraeder's Fagottschule appeared first in
I841, but Weissenborn's Schule of I885 dealt with the
twenty-one keyed Heckel bassoonwhich by then had largely
become standardised.
In I889 Heckel patented the ebonite lining of the wing
and the narrow tube of the butt, and this device was later
widely adopted. It is interesting to learn that Lafleur's
catalogue of about I875 mentions this lining as being fitted
by Morton of London, who thus appears to have forestalled
Heckel.
At the risk of arousing controversy I must express my
own preference for the French rather than the German
tone-quality. I believe that the French is the true bassoon
tone-less round and smooth than the German perhaps,
but fuller, more reedy and with much more character,
while equally capable of blending, as it so often must, with
the horns, etc. From the technical point of view, the German
type is said to be more even throughout its compass, and
offers many alternative fingerings besides greater facility
in the upper register which Heckel claims can be played
to ab". It is questionable if notes above c" are really worth
while.
In France, Porthaux and Savary (p6re) were followed from
I823-42 by Jean Nicolas Savary (Savary jeune), who was
both an accomplished bassoonist and a highly skilled maker.
J. F. Simiot of Lyons and F. G. Adler of Paris among others
contributed to the development of the French bassoon,
before Buffet-Crampon and Goumas commenced to give
effect to improvements devised by E. Jancourt (I815-1901),
professor of Bassoon at Paris Conservatoire. Jancourt's
Mdthode of I847 recommends bassoons by Savary, Adler,
and Buffet-Crampon. The Buffet shown is a modern
twenty-one keyed type. Later editions of Jancourt mention

85 Ceecilia Band 2, No. 6, pp. 123-40 and Band 9, No. 34, pp. 128-30
(Mainz, Feb., 1825 and 1828).

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution I7
F. TriEbert (8I13-78) who is known in connection with the
bassoon only through his attempt to apply to it the system
of covered holes bored at theoretical intervals and popularly
though inaccurately termed " Boehm-system."
As early as I825 C. J. Sax (p6re) exhibited at Haarlem
a bassoon with covered holes, and in 842 he patented86in
Brussels a metal bassoon on this system. Triebert and
Marzoli, working together in Paris, on suggestions of
Boehm, produced a twenty-nine keyed wooden bassoon
which was exhibited in I855. A Marzoli " Boehm-type"
is shown on the right of this group from the Fine Arts
Museum, Boston.87 Meanwhile in London, Cornelius Ward
had devised a similar type with twenty-three keys,88
patented in 1853, after being exhibited in I85i. Although
Ward's bassoon was highly praised by Tamplini the bassoon
virtuoso (I817-88), and Triebert Boehm-Bassoons were
still on the market for ?6o about 1875, they had no success
nor had any of the others on similar rational acoustical
principles.89 Their failure was due to several causes: the
timbre was denaturalised as a result of the altered position
and depth of the holes; the numerous keys necessitated
complicated mechanism; there was extreme difficulty in
keeping so many keys air-tight; the weight was excessive;
and the price was very considerable. How apt are the words
of Dr. Stone9g:-
The Bassoon. . . has evidentlyoriginatedin a fortuitousmanner,
developedby successiveimprovements ratherof an empiricalthan of
a theoreticalnature. Variousattemptshavebeenmadeto give greater
accuracyand completenessto its singularlycapriciousscale,but up to
the presentall theseseemeitherto havediminishedthe flexibilityof the
instrumentin floridpassages,or to haveimpairedits peculiarbut telling
and characteristictone . . . Even a fine playercannotplay upon an
unfamiliarinstrument. Each has to be learnedindependently,and
althoughthe theoreticalimperfection of sucha courseis obvious,it has
a certaincompensation in the factthata bassoon-playermustnecessarily
rely upon his ear alonefor correctintonation,and that he thus more
nearlyapproximates to the manipulation of stringedinstrumentsthan
any memberof the orchestraexceptthe trombones.
In conclusion, may I add a word or two upon the
characteristics and capabilities of the modern bassoon. I
must protest, first against Prout's innocent but unfortunate
description of it as " the clown of the orchestra." A recent

86Belgian Patent. Brevet I634/1415. Applied for 7th July, 1842.

87Royal Mil. Exhib., No. i66, p. 79.
88British Patent, No. 140 of 1853.
89G. Tamplini, Brevi cenni sul sistemaBoehme della sua applicazione
al fagotto (Bologna, I888).
90 Grove, Diet. of Music, 2nd Edit. (I900), s.v. Bassoon.

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I8 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution
writer in the Radio Times altered this to " the low comedian
of the orchestra." A Timescritic has deplored the unfortun-
ate assonance of bassoon and buffoon, and has written in
defence in The Times of I5th August, I925, one of the best
articles on the instrument under the heading "The
Gentleman of the Orchestra." The occasion was the
performance by Archie Camden in Queen's Hall of Mozart's
Bassoon Concerto of 1774. I wish the article could be
reprinted in extenso in a standard work of reference.
The Times critic gives instances of the wide range of the
bassoon's capabilities, its whimsical grace, its combination
of agility and dignity, its cantabile powers, and its incisive-
ness where strong rhythmic definition is required. The
plaintive quality of the upper register, the middle adapted
for singing passages, and the lower notes grim, grotesque,
or comical at will-such is the versatility of the bassoon,
revealing an unusual sensibility "which has been abused
by the buffoons of orchestration, but has endeared him as
a gentleman of character to the great composers among
whom Mozart and Beethoven have done him most honour."

DISCUSSION.
THE CHAIRMAN(Canon Francis W. Galpin): We all know
that the objects of our Association embrace a large field. It
has been said that we do not consider modem music as we
should. We not only consider our present-day music, but
the future of music, which is still better. But more
especially we are to deal with the history of music and
musical instruments, and we are very grateful to Mr.
Langwill for giving us a lecture on the bassoon. I say so
with feeling, because it is commonly said: " How wonder-
fully a composer uses such and such an instrument I How
marvellous is the execution of such and such a player I "
forgetting the ingenuity, the skill, the patience spent by
the makers upon perfecting the instrument itself.
I have with me a book by Ambrosio, printed in I539, in
which the Phagotum is illustrated.9' When I first saw that
picture, I thought what a magnificent structure it was.
But really it is only quite small, about twenty-two inches
high. The player sat down, and it rested on his knees. It
is in fact a double clarinet, but played with bellows under
one arm and a bag as a wind reservoir, under the other.

9' Introductioin Chaldaicamlinguam. . .et descriptioac simulachrum

Phagoti Afranii. Theseo Ambrosio authore (Pavia, 1539).

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution I9
But the point is this-and all credit to Canon Afranio-it
is the first known instance of a block of wood bored with
two parallel tubes, thus shortening its length by half. The
two tubes were connected by a little loop. It gave birth
to the other instruments of a similar form, such as Dulzians
and Bassoons.
The character of the bassoon has been well alluded to by
our lecturer. It seems to me to be such a human instrument.
One instrument is not like another. Its ways must be
studied, its little tricks even; and when this has been done
then the player can depend on it as a trusty friend which
will answer every desire, every whim.
It once fell to my lot to play the double-bassoon in
Haydn's Creation. In the bass solo "Now heaven in
fullest glory shone," after the words "with heavy beasts
the ground is trod," there is a note on the double bassoon
(sforzando) in the thirty-two foot octave. My bassoon was
one of the gigantic ones, it was ten feet high. I remember
as the soloist came to that particular word, "trod," I managed
to get out the deepest Bb from the instrument; he turned
round and looked at me, wondering what sort of beast was
really coming I
Dr. Stone's bassoon, as the lecturer has said, only
descended to the sixteen foot C. I was told on good
authority that when he came to that passage in Haydn's
Creation, he would roll up his music and stuff it into the
bell of his instrument and then with a loose lip he was able
to get the lowest Bb.
The SECRETARY: The lecturer referred to the dignity
of the bassoon. I shall never forget the extraordinarily
impressive opening of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps.
This work opens with a solo bassoon, commencing on top
C. The solo continues for several bars in this high register-
it is joined later by horn and clarinets-and the effect is
arresting and dignified in the extreme.
Mr. JOHNPARR:I have much enjoyed Mr. Langwill's lecture.
I was hoping to write a book on the bassoon and tackled
several publishers about it. One said: "How many
bassoon-players were there in the country?" I said about
a couple of thousand. " Will they all buy it ? " he asked.
I said " No," so he maintained it would not pay to print it.
I have a collection of about thirty bassoons from early
dates. The earliest is 1763 by Milhouse. Then I have
four tenoroons .and a little discant instrument made by
Hawkes (c. I920); one with only six keys on it, and another

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 20 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution
which came into the possession of the late John Anderson.
It is a very beautiful instrument, by Morton.
I have the only original bass oboe in this country, made
by Piatet et Benoit in France. It has quite a unique tone.
If any members come to Sheffield and care to see my
collection, I shall be very pleased to show it.
Mr. CARSE: Mr. Langwill and I have exchanged informa-
tion on the subject of the bassoon for a good many years
and I do not think we have many points of disagreement.
If we have they are small and of little consequence. As to
the origin of the bassoon from the strange apparition, the
Phagotum, I differ from most authorities. Canon Galpin
is a believer in the origin of the bassoon from this instru-
ment, but Mr. Langwill is, I think, not quite convinced.
I see so little resemblance between the two instruments
that I cannot accept the phagotum as being the origin of
the bassoon. The shortening of the length of an instru-
ment by doubling the tube was well-known even in the
sixteenth century or earlier. Trombones and trumpets
were all doubled.
I am the possessor of a collection of bassoons, twenty-five
or so, the earliest one by Caleb Gedney, between 1750 and
I770. I have several from that time onwards, to the end
of the eighteenth century, and a good number of nineteenth
century specimens. Like Mr. Parr I am always glad to
show my instruments to anyone who is interested.
I wish this lecture could be expanded and fuller details
be given in a form that could be studied at leisure. The
proposed book on the bassoon ought to materialise, but it
needs funds, it wants a public subsidy, as I know books on
such subjects will not be undertaken as commercial
speculations.
Mr. R. B. CHATWIN:I think I have a right to say some-
thing, as Mr. Langwill has been kindly sending me notes
about the history of the bassoon for many years. It is
perhaps not realised how much interesting information on
this subject Mr. Langwill has collected; he has enough
material for at least twenty lectures.
The CHAIRMAN:Before we draw to a close I want again
to thank Mr. Langwill for a most interesting paper with
numbers of very fine lantern slides.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.
By the same Author-
"The Curtal"(1550o-1750),
TheMusical Times,April, 1937 (illustrated).
"A 17th Century Wood-wind Curiosity", TheMusicalTimes,August,
1938.

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 The Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution 21

Alter Fagottbauer bei der Arbeit in seiner \Verkstatt

Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts.
Nadc ChristoffWeigel, Ni;rnberg 1698.
(see footnote 25).

(see footnote I3),

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