History of the Bassoon
The bassoon is one of the most unique instruments of the modern orchestra, both in how it looks and how it sounds. So how did the instrument we know today transform over time from a primitive "apricot pipe" into the technologically advanced instrument we know today? The following is a brief history of the evolution from the earliest double reeds to the bassoon we know and love today.
The Duduk - 500 A.D. (possibly 1200 B.C.)
To explore the history of the bassoon one needs to start at the beginning of its unique, double reed sound. The Armenian duduk is widely considered the oldest double reed instrument, with western scholars suggesting it is around 1,500 years old, but Armenian musicologists citing evidence of its use as early as 1,200 B.C. The instrument is originally called the tsiranapoug, literally meaning "apricot pipe" since the duduk is made from apricot wood. The name duduk isn't widely used until the early Soviet era of the 1920's, when a pro-Slavic influence used the Turkish and Slavic words "düdük" and dudka to replace the Armenian pronunciation. Some famous duduk players include Djivan Gasparyan and Pedro Eustache. With a mellow and haunting tone more like a clarinet than an oboe or bassoon, the duduk's unique timbre can be easily recognized in films like Avatar, Syriana and Gladiator, and is a symbol of the national Armenian identity.
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The Dulcian - 1532
The bassoon can find its more modern origins in the form of the dulcian, a double reed instrument that found its popularity between the 16th and 18th centuries. Although after the duduk there are other double reed instruments, just one look at the dulcian and it becomes obvious how the bassoon came to be. The name dulcian comes to us from Italian and is derived from the Latin word "dulcis" which means soft or sweet and refers to the instruments more subdued tone quality, but is also known as the curtal in English and the bajón in Spanish. Even though there are older instruments which have qualities of the modern bassoon, the dulcian was the first instrument to combine the conical bore of the shawm with the folded parallel bores of the sordune and kortholt. The conical bore gives the instrument a more mellow timbre, while the folded-over bore drastically reduces the length of the instrument, making it easier to handle. There are dulcians from the soprano to the contrabass range, and on average can be as short as 12 inches or as long as 4 or 5 feet. Add to this a bell extending past a curved bocal, called a crook on the dulcian, and we can see that the this is the oldest instrument to have the general look and sound of the modern bassoon that is used today.
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The Bassoon - 1823
After the dulcian's popularity between 1550 and 1700, the bassoon began to develop, not simply as an evolution of the dulcian, but as a newly invented instrument, the baroque bassoon. Sometime around the 1650's, Martin Hotteterre conceived this predecessor to the modern bassoon as an instrument constructed of four separate pieces like the bassoons of today, but with many fewer keys. During the first half of the 18th century, a fourth and fifth key were added to the baroque bassoon, which allowed composers like Bach, Vivaldi, and Tellemann to write more complicated music for the baroque bassoon. In the 19th century, as the size of great concert halls demanded more volume, and the composers and musicians evolved towards virtuosity, the bassoon continued to evolve to fit the new demands of a new classical world. The modern bassoon of today belongs to either the Buffet system from France, and the Heckel system from Germany. The Buffet system developed over time as a series of small changes to the baroque bassoon eventually stabilized as the modern Buffet bassoon with 22 keys, a similar range to the Heckel bassoon, but more ease of play in the upper register, and a much reedier tone than its German counterpart. The Heckel system can be traced back to 1823 when Carl Almenräder attempted to reinvent the bassoon with his 17 key design, which he would later take to the factory of Johann Adam Heckel in 1831. The Heckel family would spend three generations making refinements to Almenräder's design to create a 24 key bassoon system that dominates the classical world today.
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