Bassoon
The modern bassoon evolved from a 16th century instrument
known by a variety of names - curtal or curtail (English), basson or fagot
(French), dulcian or fagott (German), fagotto (Italian), and bajon
(Spanish). This ancestor of the bassoon, which was also played with a double
reed, was fashioned out of a single piece of wood rather than the four
separate sections common to today's bassoon.
In the early 17th century,
the curtal came in six sizes ranging in length from as short as 15" to
as long as 4' 9". It was the French who later in that same century
transformed the one-piece bass curtal into the four-piece instrument.
During the 18th and 19th centuries the bassoon was gradually improved
and refined. It evolved from the 1713 three-key model played during the
time of Mozart to six keys during Hayden's time to the the present 17 to
24 key versions of today. Two schools of bassoon-making arose in the
1880s: the French school under Buffet and the German school under
Heckel. Each had it own solutions to tone production, fingering and
intonation.
19th century experiments in bassoon construction resulted in many
interesting variations. There were bassoons for military bands with
globular and other odd-shaped brass and wooden bells, bassoons in F and
G called tenoroons, semi contrabassoons, and sub contrabassoons. (Follow
this link to see photos of some of these unusual instruments.)
When organs were banned from English churches in 1644 as monuments to
superstition and idolatry, music was supplied by small groups of
instruments including the bassoon. Therefore, one of the earliest places
bassoonists performed was in church.
In most early music written for the bassoon, it was used merely to play
the bass line and it was usually tied to the continuo part. Then, in
1678, it became part of orchestras for French opera when Lully called
for bassoons in his opera, Psyche.
During the 18th century, major solo and orchestral music was written for
the bassoon elevating it's importance in the orchestra and it began to
break away from just playing the continuo part.
Today the bassoon is used extensively in the symphony orchestra, opera,
and most recently in the contemporary musicals of the 20th century,
television, and movie soundtracks. Innumerable composers have written
for the bassoon, particularly during the 18th century, and the
repertoire includes impressive parts in orchestral scores, woodwind
ensemble music and many bassoon solo concertos.
