Bassoon
Bassoon (fagott / basson)
| Category | Woodwind |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Italy / Germany (late 16th to early 17th century) |
| Wikidata | Q159998 |
Overview
The bassoon is the tenor-bass voice of the woodwind family — a long double-reed instrument folded back on itself, made of six pieces of maple, traditionally played seated using a seat strap or standing with a harness. Wikidata catalogues the standard German Heckel-system instrument under Hornbostel-Sachs 422.112-71: a double-reed conical-bore woodwind with keys. Bassoon notation uses bass and tenor clefs, occasionally rising into the treble clef for the highest passages.
The instrument’s tonal character is unusually wide: dark and reedy in the lowest register (B♭1 to D3), warm and singing in the tenor register (D3 to B♭4), and increasingly thin and tense in the high register up to E♭5 in standard repertoire. Composers exploit all three colours, sometimes within a single phrase.
Origin & History
The bassoon descends from the Renaissance dulcian — a single-piece folded double-reed instrument used across 16th-century Europe. The first multi-section bassoon, built in Italy and the Holy Roman Empire from the early 17th century, divided the long bore into separate joints joined by metal sleeves. By 1700 the four-piece Baroque bassoon was an established member of the orchestra, prominent in Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and Telemann.
The instrument grew through the 18th and 19th centuries as composers demanded a wider range and more reliable intonation. Two parallel reform programmes shaped the modern instrument:
- The Heckel system (Carl Almenräder and Johann Adam Heckel, working in Biebrich, Germany, from the 1820s; standardised in the 1879 patent of Wilhelm Heckel) — the system used in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and most of the world today.
- The Buffet system (developed in Paris by the Buffet-Crampon and Triébert workshops across the 19th century) — the system that remained standard in France and parts of South America into the late 20th century, retained today in some French orchestras alongside the Heckel.
The two systems have different bores, different fingering patterns, different reeds, and different tonal characters. They are not interchangeable.
Construction & Materials
A modern Heckel-system bassoon is built in six pieces: bell, long joint, bass joint, boot (the bottom U-bend), tenor joint (also called the wing joint), and crook (the curved metal tube that connects the reed to the body). Body material is traditionally maple — most commonly mountain maple from the Bohemian forests of the historic Heckel supply chain — with metal-lined bores at the joints, around 25 silver-plated keys, and a vulcanised hard-rubber lining at the most-touched parts of the boot.
Total bore length is about 2.5 metres folded into an instrument that stands about 1.3 metres tall. The reed is made of Arundo donax cane, gouged, shaped, profiled, and tied to a brass wire by the player. Reed-making is essential to the instrument: most professional bassoonists make their own reeds throughout their careers, and the daily reed-shaping bench is part of the standard professional workspace.
How It’s Played
The player sits with the instrument supported by a seat strap or stands using a body harness. The right hand is positioned low (operating the boot and bass joint keys), the left hand high (operating the tenor joint and the long joint thumb keys). The reed is taken into the mouth with both lips covering the teeth (double-lip embouchure standard).
Standard technique covers single, double, and (rarely) triple tonguing across the full B♭1 to E♭5 range; the famous high-A in the opening of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913) — written above the working register of the time — became the de facto upper limit for routine playing. Complex cross-fingerings are required throughout the upper register. Vibrato is continuous in the modern American school, more sparing in German playing, and almost absent in the French Buffet tradition.
Cultural Significance
The bassoon sits in the woodwind section of every symphony orchestra (typically two players, occasionally with a third doubling on contrabassoon — the lowest member of the family). It is a member of the woodwind quintet and a regular soloist in concerto and chamber repertoire. The Mozart concerto K. 191 (1774), the Vivaldi 39 concertos, the Weber concerto and Andante e Rondo Ungarese, the Hummel concerto, the Strauss Duett-Concertino (1947), and the Jolivet concerto (1954) define the central solo repertoire. The opening of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913) is the single most famous orchestral bassoon solo.
In film and television scoring the bassoon’s distinctive comic possibilities — exploited by Mickey Mouse’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Dukas / Disney 1940) and Prokofiev’s well-known Peter and the Wolf setting (1936, the bassoon plays Grandfather) — gave the instrument a popular identity beyond the concert hall.
Notable Examples & Recordings
- Recording landmarks: Klaus Thunemann (Vivaldi concertos), Sergio Azzolini (Vivaldi and Mozart on period and modern instruments), Milan Turković (chamber music), Gustavo Núñez (Royal Concertgebouw principal), Sophie Dervaux (Berlin Philharmonic), Bram van Sambeek (concertos and contemporary repertoire). The Walter Ritchie / Stephen Maxym (American) and Klaus Thunemann (German) lineages document the central modern professional traditions.
Related Instruments
- Contrabassoon — the C double-reed instrument an octave below the standard, with about 5 metres of bore.
- Oboe — the soprano voice of the double-reed family.
- Cor anglais — the alto oboe in F.
- Tenoroon — the rare F or G tenor bassoon, treated separately at tenoroon.
- Dulcian — the Renaissance folded double-reed ancestor.
- Sarrusophone — the 19th-century metal double-reed instrument designed as a bassoon substitute.
- Bassoon-shaped instruments worldwide — the Armenian duduk, a different acoustic principle but a similar folk role as the dark-toned reed bass voice.
Where to Hear It
Live: every full-time symphony orchestra and woodwind quintet in the world. The International Double Reed Society annual conference is the central professional showcase. Specialist Baroque ensembles perform the substantial Vivaldi and Bach bassoon repertoire on period instruments.
Learning Resources
A student bassoon costs around 4,000 to 7,000 USD (the floor is high because the instrument is mechanically complex); an intermediate instrument 8,000 to 14,000 USD; a professional Heckel, Püchner, Yamaha YFG-812, Moosmann, Fox Renard, or Heckel-pattern instrument by Wolf or Mollenhauer typically 18,000 to 50,000 USD. A genuine Heckel-built instrument (Wiesbaden) commands a six-figure sum. Standard methods include the Weissenborn Practical Bassoon School (Op. 8, the central historical text), the Milde 50 concert studies, the Oubradous Gammes et exercices, the Ferling 48 études (adapted), and the Bourdeau Méthode complète. The Stephen Maxym (Juilliard) and Klaus Thunemann (Hannover) lineages dominate the modern Heckel-school teaching.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are there two different bassoon systems?
Because German and French makers solved the 19th-century redesign problem in different ways and neither system displaced the other. The Heckel design dominates internationally because of its more even tone across registers and its slightly easier high register; the French Buffet design has more chromatic agility and a brighter tone that some French orchestral repertoire (Ravel, Debussy) is sometimes argued to favour.
Why is the bassoon so expensive?
Because the instrument has roughly 25 keys, requires precise hand-finishing of long bores in two parallel pieces, uses scarce mountain maple, and has a small market that does not benefit from the manufacturing scale of clarinet or saxophone production. A new Heckel-built instrument has a multi-year wait list.
Is the bassoon really the comic instrument?
It can be (Dukas, Disney, Prokofiev) but most of its repertoire is not comic at all. The opening of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the Mozart concerto’s slow movement, and the Strauss Duett-Concertino are all serious lyrical writing. The comic association comes from selective use of the lowest register and staccato repeated notes.
How is the bassoon different from the contrabassoon?
The contrabassoon plays an octave lower (down to B♭0 — the lowest note in standard orchestral writing), has roughly twice as much tubing, and weighs about 7 kg compared with the bassoon’s 3 kg. It is treated as a separate instrument and most orchestras employ a specialist contrabassoonist.
Why is the German bassoon called a “Heckel”?
After Wilhelm Heckel of Biebrich (Germany), whose 1879 patent fixed the modern design and whose family’s instruments are still made today and considered the reference. The factory has operated continuously since the 1830s.
