The Bassoon (German: Fagott) is a wind instrument from the double reed family, the bass of the oboe family. Its narrow conical bore leads from the curved metal crook, onto which the double reed is placed. It has about 9' 2" of conical wood tubing in a narrow U shape, in four sections of maple or pearwood: the tenor, the butt, the bass and the bell.
The bassoon normally has eight finger holes (usually controlled by keys) and ten or more additional key-controlled holes. It has a normal range from B flat below the bass staff to the D in the second octave above middle C, the most used melodic range coinciding with that of the tenor voice. Since the mid 19th century, the range has been extended up to treble E. The bassoon is held on a sling slant across the body and the top of the instrument projects above the player's head, to project the sound out of the orchestra.
Click the bassoon to hear a short excerpt from Franz Hummel's Grand Concerto in F played by Klaus Thünemann.
The bassoon is a 17th century development of the earlier fagotto, or dulzian, known in England as the curtal. It was first mentioned in about 1540 in Italy, with the descending and ascending bores contained in a single piece of maple or pearwood. The present construction in four separate joints is thought to have been developed in France in 1636, closely following the reconstruction of the shawm, the predecessor of the oboe.
The four-keyed bassoon was a standard during Mozart's time in the late 18th century, no mechanism was required beyond this as most of the semitones outside the natural scale of C have been well obtained by cross-fingering the holes. More keys were added to the 20 key French version in the mid 19th century, made by the firm Buffet-Crampon. This bassoon was difficult to control and alterations were made by the Germans Wilhelm Heckal and Carl Almenrader and the new German system that evolved is the more common type of instrument used today. It performed efficiently but produced a warm, rich tone, noticeably different from that of the French.
The date of the bassoon's introduction into the orchestra is uncertain but it has been used in the orchestra since the Baroque period. The early composers used the bassoon mainly as a bass doubling instrument, supporting the cello line. Gradually, composers began to hear players that were capable of doing more with the instrument and began writing more interesting parts for the bassoon. French Composer Jean-Baptiste Lully scored specifically for it in 1674. Vivaldi wrote over 38 concerti for it, Beethoven and Mozart also wrote incredibly lyric parts for the bassoon, validating it as an important instrument in the woodwind family.
The bassoon is also known as the orchestral comedian, and a staple to many Loony Tune cartoons. It is also known for its character building qualities, which can be heard in the Sorcerer's Apprentice and Peter and the Wolf. It also has been employed when a solo requires great depth and meaning. A few examples include Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Shostakovitch's ninth symphony, Beethoven's ninth symphony and Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony.
The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is the lowest wind instrument of the orchestra. Pitched an octave lower than the bassoon, its range extends to an octave below the B below the bass clef. The contrabassoon sounds an octave lower than written. Developed in 1880, it has a tube more than 16 ft long that doubles back four times with its metal bell pointing downwards. The tone is fluent and flexible but lacks sufficient volume for proper balance in fortissimo orchestral passages.
