Almenraeder, Heckel, and the Development of the Bassoon
Wittenberg University Honors Thesis
Nicholas Weissman
15 April, 2021 Weissman 1
Introduction
The bassoon is one of the most easily recognizable instruments due to both its unique shape and tone quality. Known for its versatility and extensive range, the bassoon has become an indispensable member of wind ensembles, symphony orchestras, and chamber ensembles alike.
With the ability to soar on upper register melodies as well as holding down the lowest and darkest of pedal tones, the bassoon is truly a unique instrument. However, this was not always the case. Some of the earliest bassoons were such poor quality that musicians opted for their antiquated counterpart, the dulcian, instead.1 Despite its humble beginnings, the bassoon over hundreds of years and countless skilled craftsmen has been developed into an instrument of high quality, well suited for its solo and orchestral roles.
Before exploring the extensive, and somewhat complex, history of the bassoon, a brief overview is in order. The bassoon is a woodwind instrument belonging to the double reed family along with the oboe and English horn, among others. Unlike single reed instruments like the saxophone or clarinet, the double reed of the bassoon is capable of producing a buzzing noise on its own without a mouthpiece. As the player blows through and buzzes the reed, the air and vibrations are transferred through the metal crook, also called a bocal, and into the main body of the instrument through the wing joint. The bassoon comes in four parts which must be air tightly assembled prior to playing. These, in the order of the path of the instrument, are the wing joint, boot joint (also called the butt joint), long joint, and bell. The bassoon has a nearly four and a half foot main tube which is folded on itself. The length of this instrument allows it a wide range from Bb1-F4. A fully chromatic range over three and a half octaves requires a significant number of keys to achieve, between 23-27 on a modern bassoon. The bassoon also cannot be tuned the
1 Will Jansen,. The Bassoon: Its History, Construction, Makers, Players and Music. Weissman 2 same way a flute, clarinet, or even brass instrument can be. On those instruments, a tuning slide or mouthpiece is moved either in or out to change the overall length of the instrument and adjust the pitch. On a bassoon there is no such joint that can be moved in or out to adjust tuning. The player can either opt for a different length bocal if all of the notes are tending one direction, but more often than not bassoonists must be able to adjust the intonation of their pitches as they play.
Beyond this, bassoonists must learn their own instrument’s tendencies to know which notes constantly need adjusting, sometimes going as far as using completely different fingerings for a note to keep it in tune. These complexities combine to make the bassoon a rather difficult instrument to learn, but an extremely rewarding one at that.
As a bassoonist writing this for bassoonists and nonbassoonists alike, I would like you to keep the following quote from Will Jansen in mind while travelling through the history of the bassoon from invention to modernity:
There is something mysterious about the bassoon, not only to the listener but as much to its player. To every real musician, his instrument finally becomes part of himself, also to the bassoon player. And still - all bassoon players, also after a lifetime of playing on this strange instrument, have to admit that their instrument has secrets that it never has disclosed to them, that the bassoon is an instrument with many riddles. In every bassoon, there is hidden something of an unfathomable secret. Into the Soul of this marvellous instrument, nobody, not even the greatest of soloists, can penetrate to the bottom.2
Dulcians, Shawms, and the Development of the Bassoon
As with many instruments in the modern orchestra, the history and development of the bassoon is anything but linear. There are several antiquated instruments that share similar qualities or are direct predecessors of the bassoon including the dulcian, shawm, and sarrusophone.3 Although the precise history of the bassoon’s origin is marred by a lack of
2 Ibid. 3 “Bassoon - History.” History - Vienna Symphonic Library. Weissman 3 adequate record keeping and historical documents, it is possible to make sense of the emergence of the bassoon by looking at the various predecessors and the few records that exist. In the simplest terms, the bassoon was developed to fill in gaps and shortcomings of the other instruments of the time. To understand the gap that the bassoon would fill, it is necessary to look at the history of instrumental polyphonic music.
Prior to the Renaissance, instrumental music as its own genre was in its most undeveloped stage. The music of these times and before often revolved around vocals and were frequently tied to religious services and occasions. There were certainly still instruments during these periods, but instrumental music itself was essentially nonexistent. The instruments filled mainly roles as accompaniment to the vocal melodies. For example in the Middle Ages, bagpipes, drums, and various horns were often used to accompany singing and dancing.
However, it would not be until the 16th century that instrumental music was established in its own genres. In order for instrumental music to rival choral music, significant advancements in the quality and ability of instruments was necessary. Among these was the invention of instrument families which were essentially various sizes of the same instruments in order to vary the range.4 This is easily comparable to the modern saxophone family. The standard saxophone would be the alto with many additional instruments in the family either higher or lower in register including the soprano, tenor, and baritone saxophones, among others.
One of these instrument families that was important to the development of the bassoon are the shawms. Some of the earliest records of the shawm date from the 5th century BC in the
Etruscan society located in modern day Italy.5 From there it spread East through Persia and into
India and China as well as West into Western Africa. During the time of the conquistadors, the
4 Ibid. 5 Alison Latham, The Oxford Companion to Music. Weissman 4 shawm was also taken into Central and South America. This widely used instrument would be reminiscent to modern listeners as a form of oboe. In fact, the oboe developed out of the Shawm into its modern form in France during the 17th century by redesigning the reed and narrowing the internal conical bore.6 This conical bore found in the shawm and oboe will also be present in the bassoon. This unique bore shape provides an acoustic improvement over the cylindrical bore leading to a consistent and full-bodied tone because of the presence of additional overtones in the series.7
Up until the Renaissance, the shawm only really existed in its standard form. But, with the emergence of instrumental music and instrument families, the shawm family was also extended. At its peak, it had seven different ranges from a treble shawm down to the great bass shawm.8 This provided flexibility in performing ensembles and helped progress the development of instrumental music. However, as the range of instruments were extended, practical issues arose in the manufacturing and playing of the instruments. For example, the great bass shawm, with a lowest pitch of F2, was an almost three meter long straight tube.9 Not only was it extremely awkward and unwieldy to play, but further extending the range downward would have resulted in unmanageable fingering problems. The solution was a major development with long-lasting implications for the modern bassoon. Instead of extending the length of the straight tube further, instrument makers of the 16th century began experimenting with folding the tubing of woodwind instruments similar to methods of trumpet and sackbut (trombone) manufacturing.
The result was an instrument known as the dulcian which was made from a hollowed out wooden block. The block would have two bores hollowed out that met at the bottom in the form of a ‘U’.
6 “Bassoon - History.” History - Vienna Symphonic Library. 7 Jansen. 8 “Bassoon - History.” History - Vienna Symphonic Library. 9 Ibid. Weissman 5
The dulcian was complete with a conical bore, flared bell, and crook for the double reed making it the clearest and most direct ancestor of the bassoon.10
Figure 1. An incomplete family of shawms consisting of five different pitches. The
highest pitched shawm is missing, but the great bass shawm is on the far right.
Praetorius Syntagma Musicum, (woodcut) 1620, Oxford music.
Along with the advent of the dulcian began the incredibly confusing history of names for the bassoon and similar instruments. Although the dulcian is how we know it, there was very little consistency of instruments from maker to maker. The instruments would all be unique and
10 Jansen. Weissman 6 could even have different ranges depending on the manufacturing. In addition to minute differences in the instrument itself, the name of the instrument varied significantly over geographic locations. Dulcian is the most common, but it was known as the curtall in England, the basson in French, and the fagot in German.11 Basson is the easiest of the names to make sense of, coming from the French ‘bas’ for low and ‘son’ for sounding -- literally “low sounding.” The term fagot or fagott is much more ambiguous however. It is a common misconception in the present day that the word faggot comes from the Italian fagotto which means ‘bundle of sticks.’ Although the modern bassoon does fit this moniker, the justification is implausible. Firstly, the Germans produced bassoons and adopted the name fagott prior to the
Italians ever producing a bassoon. Secondly, the term fagott was used to refer to the dulcian prior to the advent of the bassoon and it being in four segments to resemble a bundle of sticks. The term was around nearly 75 years before the bassoon would even be segmented. In present day you will see the terms fagott, bassoon, and fagotto which all refer to the same modern instrument. But, when looking at documents from the 16th century, the names used are essentially interchangeable and used to refer to the dulcian or bassoon as it was in its development at that time.
The dulcian family consisted of six instruments: discant-fagott, alto-fagott, piccolo-fagott, chorist-fagott, quart-fagott, and quint-fagott.12 Of these six instruments, the chorist-fagott had the largest instrumental range of two octaves plus a fifth.13 This is likely one of the reasons the chorist-fagott is the direct forerunner to the modern bassoon because of its range and pleasant tone quality. Although described as a predecessor, the dulcian and bassoon actually
11 “Bassoon - History.” History - Vienna Symphonic Library. 12 Jansen. 13 Ibid. Weissman 7 existed side by side for quite some time. The dulcian being invented first provided a good framework from which to develop the new bassoon.
Due to lack of record keeping, or subsequent destruction of existing records, it is impossible to say when the first three and four segment bassoons were created. It is known that it occurred sometime between 1650-1700, but the exact date and even the workshop/maker are unknown. It is likely that these first bassoons were actually worse in quality than the dulcians of the time because the dulcians had been produced for some time and the bassoon was new. Over time the bassoon would improve but the dulcian remained relatively stagnant as an instrument.
Eventually the two were of the same quality, and then the bassoon took over in popularity. This trend has continued to present day where bassoons are ubiquitous in symphonic bands and orchestras, but the dulcian is rarely seen or even discussed except as a forerunner of the bassoon.
Early Bassoons and Their Makers
Studying the early bassoons and trying to make sense of a single line of development from very few keys to the modern system is impossible. The adjustments and developments made to the bassoon in the first 50-100 years of its existence were not standardized to any degree. There are many examples of bassoons dating from the exact same time but having different keys or mechanisms from each other. It is all determined by where the bassoon was made and by whom. For example, if early bassoon makers in France added two new keys to the bassoon, it would take time for the adjustments to travel throughout Europe, there was not nearly the communication network we have today. So, it could take months or even years for different advancements of one workshop to make it to another bassoon workshop. For this reason, during the beginnings of the bassoon there is little to no standardization. From the conical bore, to the Weissman 8 size and shape of tone holes, and even the kind of wood and how it’s treated, many factors were experimented with by the early bassoon makers.14 Because of this, bassoons from the 17th and even early 18th century are unique to the workshops and instrument makers that produced them.
All of the bassoons at these times would not have even had the same range or capabilities as one another. This presented an interesting challenge for composers who had to decide what to do with this new instrument and how to write for it with the bassoon still in infancy.
Since it is difficult to pinpoint exact modifications and additions to the bassoon, keys and other advancements are often listed around an approximate period or year. For example, the first additional key (fourth total key) to be added to the bassoon, the G-sharp key, was first added to the bassoon around the year 1700, although it is possible that it existed before that.15 By around
1730, almost all bassoons being produced included a G-sharp key. The addition of the G-sharp key determined once and for all that the bassoon would be played with the left hand on top and right on the bottom because this key could only reasonably be used by the right pinky finger. The
E-flat and F-sharp keys were added in quick succession to each other near the early part of the
18th century.16 But again, it is important to remember that none of these additions were standardized and even into the early 19th century it was possible to find four- and five-key bassoons despite them being outdated.
Some significant work on the general development of the bassoon occurred in the
Grenser family workshop in Germany. The two instrument makers, Karl Augustin Grenser and his nephew Heinrich Grenser, worked from 1778-1813 on developing the bassoon.17 All of the instruments made by the uncle had only four or five keys. But, the bassoons from his nephew
14 Anna Brooks, A Historical Development of the Bassoon. 15 Jansen. 16 Brooks. 17 Jansen. Weissman 9 increased this number up through eleven by the end of his work.18 It is impossible to know how many of these keys were of their own development and how many they had adapted from other workshops. But, significant advancements to the bassoon were made in the span of only a couple generations. In addition to adding more keys to the bassoon, the nephew Heinrich worked extensively on the acoustic properties of the instrument; he made several alterations to the sound tube bore, its length, dimensions, and conical shape.19 Additionally, he made adjustments to the location of various tone holes and increased the size of several other key holes.20 It is likely from the surviving documents that Heinrich was responsible for adding the C-sharp key onto the back of the wing-joint.21 But beyond this key, much of his work revolved around the wooden body of the bassoon and not the keys. A similar story of the general development of the bassoon comes from the Savary workshop in France, a father and son duo. Working in total for about 50 years from 1800-1850, the Savary workshop played a significant role in the development of the modern bassoon. Their first bassoons had five keys, but by the end of their 50 years of work they were producing 17-key bassoons.22 It is not known how many of these 12 new keys were first put on by the Savary team. It is possible that they did not add any new keys but rather just added keys that other workshops had already developed. It is also possible that they developed nearly all of these new keys themselves. They were extremely gifted instrument makers, but we just don’t know for certain.
Even bassoons with the same number of keys did not necessarily function identically. In fact, not even all of the Savary 17-key bassoons from the end of that period would have been the same. Many of them were quite different because the workshop was experimenting with so many
18 Ibid. 19 Brooks. 20 Jansen. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid. Weissman 10 other factors of the production process. It was irrelevant that they had the same number of keys, because each of these instruments would have played slightly to significantly differently. This would have presented unique challenges for the bassoonists of the time. It is true that even today, bassoonists must be accustomed to their own instrument and its tendencies. There are many fingerings that can be altered one way or another to slightly raise or lower the pitch if a note tends a certain way on the instrument. This would have been even more so the case back in the
18th century. These bassoons may have been so different from one another, that one could not even use all of the same fingerings from instrument to instrument. Depending on the instrument, some notes would require cross fingering, more or less of a half-hole, or different variations to ensure it was in tune.
Standardization has been lacking since the beginning of the bassoon’s development.
Bassoonists of today can realistically play on any instrument with little difficulty. There are slight individual tendencies of each instrument, but for the most part bassoons are standardized into one of the two main systems. The lack of standardization in the first centuries of the bassoon’s existence resulted in various challenges for players, composers, and instrument makers alike. It would not be until the German workshop of Almenraeder and Heckel that the bassoon would become standardized and take a major leap towards the bassoons of today.
Almenraeder and Heckel
The bassoon of today would look much different, or not exist at all, if not for two men,
Carl Almenraeder (German: Almenräder) and Johann Adam Heckel. Almenraeder was a German composer and bassoonist, but is most well known for his contributions to the bassoon itself. He was gifted a bassoon by his father at the age of 13, and 11 years later he began playing in Weissman 11 orchestras around Germany including Frankfurt and Cologne.23 Almenraeder had a different philosophy about the bassoon than many of his contemporaries. Since the bassoon was still in its infancy, even the best players of the time were playing on some very low quality instruments.
Even the best bassoons of that time could not compete with some of the student model bassoons of today. This led to issues in rehearsals and performance with wrong notes or other instrument problems. Whereas many bassoonists would get frustrated or discouraged, Almenraeder became curious. Whenever these unexpected mistakes would happen, he would sit down with his bassoon, sometimes even taking it apart to discover why the instrument was responding in such a way.24 At some point, Almenraeder reached the end of his personal skills and had to team up with an expert. He met with Gottfried Weber to discuss and learn about the mathematics and acoustics of sound production and how they would relate to the bassoon. With his newfound knowledge,
Almenraeder came to two major conclusions that set him apart from the other bassoon makers of his time. Firstly, that the bassoon had to be more than a new and improved dulcian. Most of the philosophy around bassoon manufacturing in the beginning revolved around how to take the good qualities of the dulcian and transfer them to the bassoon. Almenraeder decided that the bassoon had enough potential on its own and what it really needed was a major overhaul instead of minor adjustments. This decision by Almenraeder is likely the reason dulcians are so rare today. His second groundbreaking conclusion was that the actual bassoon differed significantly from the theoretical bassoon. By studying with Weber, Almenraeder had the abilities to calculate the theoretical dimensions of the bassoon bore and the location of the tone holes along the tube.
However, these theoretical values were significantly different than the actual locations of tone holes on functional bassoons; and when a bassoon was made with the theoretical values, it was
23 Brooks. 24 Jansen. Weissman 12 of extremely poor quality.25 These conclusions started him on a life-long journey to completely redesign and improve the bassoon.
Almenraeder came to the Schott company in 1824.26 Schott was a family run publishing and instrument manufacturing company in Mainz Germany, and still exists today as an important publishing house. At Schott, Almenraeder had the tools and workshop to test his visions and ideas of the bassoon. He also had the benefit of working with other talented instrument makers, first August Jehring and subsequently Johann Adam Heckel. Heckel joined the team in 1829.
Then in 1830, Almenraeder knew it was time to increase production and focus on improving the bassoon. His bassoons were growing in popularity and were attracting more customers. The
Schott company at the time was trying to withdraw from the instrument making business to focus on their publishing enterprises. Since Schott could not keep up with the increased demand for his bassoons, Almenraeder knew he would have to go elsewhere and he invited his two assistants to join him. Jehring would decline the offer, opting instead to open his own smaller bassoon workshop where he could work at his own pace. Jehring was suffering from an unknown chronic illness that caused debilitation which played a significant role in his decision to work alone.27
Heckel on the other hand was more than interested in teaming with Almenraeder, and on March
11th 1831, in Biebrich Germany, a contract for the Heckel-Almenraeder bassoon workshop was signed.28
Although Almenraeder’s initial contributions are sometimes seen as more significant than
Heckel’s, the two men were equally brilliant craftsmen. They would work together until
Almenraeder’s death in 1846 having together made the most significant improvements to the
25 Ibid. 26 Brooks. 27 Jansen. 28 Ibid. Weissman 13 bassoon in all of its history.29 Of all their contributions, they are recognized by scholars for 16 main improvements to the bassoon: widening the bore, altering the bore’s conicity, altering the location of several tone holes and changing their diameters, lengthening the wing joint, shortening the butt joint, improving the key-mechanism, making better keypads, increasing the precision of manufacturing, increasing the accuracy of bocal production, improving tools and measuring devices, extending the overall range of the bassoon, increasing potential trill and slur options, improving the intonation, increasing sonority, equalizing the strength of the tones, and improving the timbre.30 Together these improvements resulted in the Almenraeder-Heckel bassoon which is the highest quality bassoon on the market today. Heckel continued the work of manufacturing bassoons until his death and passed the business onto his son Willhelm Heckel.31
The Heckel company is still family owned by descendants of Johann Adam.32 Interestingly after all of these years of bassoon superiority, most of the mechanisms and aspects of the Heckel bassoon are not patent protected. The company is so confident in their abilities as bassoon manufacturers that they allow other companies to copy them because they know Heckel bassoons will always stand out above the rest. This has remained true, the exceptional quality of
Heckel bassoons and the years of their method’s perfection have landed them alongside some of the best instrument makers of all time, the likes of Amati and Stradivarius.
29 Brooks. 30 Jansen. 31 “Today and Then.” Wilhelm Heckel GmbH. 32 “Today and Then.” Wilhelm Heckel GmbH. Weissman 14
The German and French Key Systems
To understand the key and valve systems on musical instruments it is necessary to look at the physical principles of sound and tone production. The basis of music comes back to mathematical calculations of the harmonic series. This is most easily understood as it pertains to string instruments. Suppose we have a hypothetical string of length X, and when this string is plucked it vibrates with a frequency of 440 Hz to produce the pitch A in the Western tuning system. When the length of this string is halved to X/2, the pitch goes up an octave to the next A with a frequency of 880 Hz. Similarly if the length is adjusted to X/3, then the pitch sounds a perfect fifth higher than the 880 Hz A. In general, by shortening the vibrational length of the string, the produced pitch increases.
This similar concept applies to simple and complex wind instruments alike. Some of the earliest wind instruments are hollowed out tubes with holes drilled along the length resembling a recorder. When all of the holes are covered, this wind instrument plays a fundamental tone determined by the length of the tube.33 Similar to strings, if the tube length is effectively shortened by opening tone holes, then the pitch goes up. This is the basis for all key and tone hole systems of woodwind instruments. By opening and closing tone holes, the effective length of the instrument is changed which results in a higher or lower pitch. The mathematical calculations are fairly simple for the fundamental and some of the harmonic series. But, things become much more complicated when instruments must be tuned chromatically. It is easy enough to make a simple wind instrument that can play fundamental, fourth, fifth, octave, and even major/minor thirds in that key. But, these simple instruments are often pitched in that particular key because they lack the advanced key systems to be able to play chromatically
33 “A Feeling for Harmony: The 3-Semester Music Theory Course for Earlham College.” 2M Harmonic Series. Weissman 15 without plenty of half holes and cross fingering. It comes as no surprise when looking at the modern bassoon, a lot of time and development went into the complex key and tone hole system of the bassoon which allows for a fully chromatic range of more than three octaves from Bb-F.
After a period of time in which various instrument makers from all over Europe were making their own individual modifications and taking from others, two major systems for bassoon key systems emerged in the 19th century. The first and most common system was developed in Germany by Almenraeder and later by Heckel. The other system is the French version and is attributed to a variety of different French craftsmen including: Savary, Jean
Nicolas, J.F. Simiot de Lyon, and Frederic Triebert among others.34
The Heckel system is the direct continuation of the Almenraeder system and was even produced in the same workshop. Almenraeder did incredible work on the early development of the bassoon, and Heckel added to his work exceptionally. By 1870, the full Heckel system bassoon was finalized and this system is still found on German style bassoons of today.35 There have certainly been adjustments/additions to the bassoon made since this mechanism, but these are mostly technological advantages and refinements rather than actually bettering the musical quality of the instrument. There have also been some high register keys added to make fingerings in the extreme register more manageable. It is possible to play the entire range of the bassoon from low Bb up to high F on the 1870 Heckel system bassoon. However, on modern bassoons there will often be an additional left handed thumb key for playing high D and F that is not found in the Heckel system. Additionally, the Heckel system lacks a whisper key lock, but these are commonplace on modern bassoons.36 Any note lower than top space G in the bass clef is fingered using the whisper key which allows for easier response in the lower registers. Often
34 “Bassoon - History.” History - Vienna Symphonic Library. 35 Jansen. 36 Brooks. Weissman 16 when there are extensive passages in the lower register, it is easier to ‘lock’ the whisper key closed rather than to continuously hold it down with the left thumb. This is especially helpful because the lowest notes of the bassoon require the left thumb to finger keys other than the whisper key. Although not necessary, it allows for improved and smoother technique.
The German bassoon workshops were the first to include rollers in between various keys on the instrument such as the F/F#/G# keys for the right pinky and the D#/C# keys for the left pinky.37 These rollers allow for seamless transitions between those notes rather than having to entirely lift the finger off the instrument. Although the aforementioned keys are the standard for roller keys, other rollers can be fitted between almost any two spatula keys. The bassoon I play has roller keys between the E/Bb keys as well as the others. This was far from the only modification to the bassoon made by Heckel and Almenraeder. One of the most significant improvements was their mechanism for the lowest register, low D down to Bb. Prior to
Almenraeder, the C key was an open tone hole and the D and B keys were independent from other keys.38 Almenraeder realized that it could be made functionally better if these keys were to be layered and connected. Since every note below D requires the D key to be depressed, it makes more sense for the other keys to just hold the D key down. So, Almenraeder developed a mechanism of spatula keys and metal carrier strips as well as adding a key to the open C tone hole so that when the B key is depressed, both the B and C keys are closed; and when the Bb key is closed, the C and B keys are also held closed.39 Heckel added to this by including the D key in the system so that when the C key is depressed, the D key is as well.40 This makes the role of the left thumb much easier to accomplish. The left thumb is already responsible for nine keys on its
37 Jansen. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid. Weissman 17 own, so these modifications at least make it so in most cases the left thumb only needs to press one key at a time. There are exceptions to this such as the fingering for C# where the left thumb must press both the whisper key and C# keys simultaneously.
Two other major breakthroughs can be credited to the German designers, both of which relate more closely to the science behind tone production. Both Almenraeder and Heckel were involved in changing the location of tone holes, changing their sizes, and in some cases even their shape. These modifications and experiments had the goal of achieving better and more pure tone quality while also still allowing for convenient fingering. The first of these breakthroughs involves the drilling of tone holes themselves. On a clarinet or flute for example, the tone holes on these instruments, for the most part, are straight and perpendicular to the main tube of the instrument. Due to the size of the bassoon, this is impractical because of the locations that the holes would need to be drilled. The holes would be so far apart from each other that it would be impossible to finger with the size of a human hand.41 The solution to this was drilling tone holes at an angle. This allows for the holes to be placed more ergonomically while still allowing for the correct tones to be produced. Almenraeder was incredibly vital to the process of determining the location of tone holes not only on the external bore, but also on the internal bore, and the requisite angle of the bore hole between them.42 Another one of the German team’s breakthroughs is most noticeable on the low E key, colloquially known as the pancake key due to its round flat shape. Most keys cover a single tone hole of a certain diameter and by changing where along the length of the tube that tone hole is, the pitch can be changed up or down. In trying to adjust the pitch of a specific note, usually the tone hole is moved up or down the
41 “Bassoon - History.” History - Vienna Symphonic Library. 42 Jansen. Weissman 18 instrument.43 However, Heckel and Almenraeder realized that the location of the tone hole was not the only thing that affected the pitch. By adjusting the diameter and even the shape from circular to oblong, the pitch can be finely manipulated.44 Through many trials and calculations, they discovered the correct tone hole system for the E key which includes 3 separate smaller tone holes of different diameters and with different drill angles from the external to internal bore.45
This combination produced the best tone quality and responsiveness while maintaining the location of the key along the length of the instrument. Almenraeder and Heckel set out with a mission to revolutionize the bassoon, and through their decades of dedication produced an instrument that has stood the test of time.
The history of the French bassoon is not as straightforward as the Heckel system. It was clear that Almenraeder started first, began working with Heckel, and then after he died passed the work entirely on to Heckel to complete. Such a direct lineage is not so easily found with the
French bassoon craftsmen of the 19th century. The beginnings of the French bassoon come from the workshop of Savary.46 The two Savary craftsmen made good progress in improving the bassoon from the dulcian and block bassoon into a much better instrument. However, the final instruments of Savary are still nowhere near as complete as the Heckel system, and the last
Savary died before anything could be done about that. Unfortunately, the Savary workshop was so far ahead of the rest of French bassoon workshops that after his death, the bassoon actually started going backwards in terms of development. It was not until a Frenchman by the name of
Auger Buffet came along that the French bassoon could be brought to the level of completeness we find with the Heckel bassoons.47 Although Buffet was the first to revive the work of Savary,
43 Carl Almenraeder,. Remarks About Wind Instruments With Tone Holes; Especially Concerning the Double Holes on the Bassoon. 44 Ibid. 45 Jansen. 46 “Bassoon - History.” History - Vienna Symphonic Library. 47 Brooks. Weissman 19 the French bassoon’s development was split and passed around between at least a dozen different craftsmen in France, some of which more capable than the others. Eugene Jancourt is a name familiar to almost any bassoonist. Usually the recognition is not so pleasant as Jancourt is best known for his sets of technical etudes for bassoon in every key. Regardless, without Jancourt the
French bassoon would not have come to fruition. In the later years of the French bassoon’s development, Jancourt worked extensively as an adviser to the bassoon makers of France.48
Being a virtuosic bassoonist himself, Jancourt had the expertise to steer the design in the right direction. Then in 1860, after decades of work, the French (Buffet) system of bassoon was completed.49
There are several significant differences between the French and German bassoon systems including key and fingering differences as well as variations in the acoustical dimensions of the instrument. To the untrained eye, the visual differences between a French and
German bassoon are minimal. This results from the standard required keys and tone holes for the diatonic playing of the bassoon which are present in both systems.50 However, the two systems differ almost everywhere else.
First, there are several differences in the location and usage of keys between the two systems. For one, the low D# and C# keys are located on the front side of the wing joint and used by the left thumb in the French system.51 Whereas in the German system, these keys are both actuated by the left pinky and reside on the back part of the instrument. In the German system, the key for the low Bb is open in the relaxed position and closes when the key is depressed. This mechanism is opposite on French bassoons as the low Bb key is closed rather than open.52
48 Jansen. 49 Brooks. 50 Almenraeder. 51 Jansen. 52 Ibid. Weissman 20
Another important difference in the keys of the Buffet bassoon is that of the whisper key, also known as the crook key because the tone hole is actually on the bocal of the bassoon which is known as the crook. On the German bassoon, there is a helpful mechanism that connects the low
E key to the whisper key. This makes it so that on any note E or lower, the whisper key will be closed regardless whether the thumb is pressing the actual whisper key or not. This ensures an easier response of the lowest register of the instrument. The French bassoon changes this completely. The crook key is not connected to any of the lower register keys and must therefore be held down individually whenever necessary. Additionally, the position of the crook key on the front of the wing joint was changed from the German system. Another slight difference between the two systems comes with the G tone hole played by the right ring finger. In the German system, this tone hole is covered by a key which actually affects a tone hole on the backside of the instrument by means of a rod through the bassoon. On some older French bassoons, this G tone hole is open like the other five main tone holes.53 The main tone holes are those played by the pointer, middle, and ring finger on either hand and labelled 1,2, and 3 on fingering charts. All of these are open tone holes except for the G tone hole on the German system and newer French bassoons. The open tone holes allow for half- and quarter-hole fingering techniques required to keep specific notes in tune or assist in the responsiveness of the upper registers especially. For example, the Ab on the top line of the bass clef is fingered with a ¾ hole on the first tone hole of the wing joint. Fully occluding the hole or only covering half will result in the note breaking, cracking, or not speaking at all.
In addition to differences in the key system, the bore of the French bassoon is quite different from that of the German system. First, the main bore of the instrument is longer than on
Heckel bassoons. Additionally, the entire bore is more narrow than German bassoons and has a
53 Brooks. Weissman 21 different degree of conicity.54 The French bassoons also use different style bocals and reeds from their German counterparts. All of these differences combine to give the French bassoon a lighter and reedier sound. The Heckel bassoon was designed with the ensemble in mind. This bassoon has a darker richer tone that blends well into the orchestra. The French bassoon on the other hand with its bright and reedy sound is more suited for solo performance. Additionally, due to the differences in bore and manufacturing, the French bassoon plays much easier in the highest register of the instrument than the German bassoon. It is not surprising then that the majority of
French music for bassoon is written in the upper registers and, more often than not, in tenor clef.
The superiority of French bassoons in the upper register is so significant that many professional bassoonists learn the French system just for occasions such as playing Ravel’s Bolero or
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. This is not as simple a task as switching between the alto and tenor saxophone for example where the fingerings remain the same. The French bassoon has two fewer keys than the Heckel system and simpler key mechanisms.55 For this reason, many of the chromatic notes have much more complicated fingerings than on the German bassoon. However, many of the notes have exactly the same fingering on both systems. This just makes it more confusing for the bassoonist switching between the two systems, which is why you will not find this practice except at the highest level of orchestral and professional playing.
Conclusion
The bassoon may be one of the most recently developed instruments as far as the standard symphonic orchestra goes, but it quickly found its place as an indispensable member of the ensemble. With its unique tone quality and extensive range, the bassoon is irreplaceable in its
54 Brooks. 55 “French Bassoon.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Weissman 22 role in the orchestra. Despite the long list of bassoon makers and workshops which contributed to its development, none were more important or influential than Carl Almenraeder and Johan
Adam Heckel. They came up with creative and ingenious solutions to problems that other bassoon makers had not even realized were problems yet. The initiative to study mathematics and acoustics further sets the pair apart because the majority of instrument makers were musicians with little to no scientific or mathematical background. They also worked at a decisive time in the bassoon’s development when it had to prove itself as capable and superior to the dulcian. Without the thorough and high-quality work of Almenraeder and Heckel, the bassoon might not even be a member of the modern orchestra. The adjustments they provided for the bassoon improved it in nearly every manner. The bassoons prior to their developments would be out of place in any advanced orchestral setting of today. However with their dedication to the cause, the Heckel bassoon can be widely found today at the highest level of professional playing.
For example, Judith Leclair, the longtime principal bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic, plays on a 1937 Heckel bassoon. The craftsmanship of the Heckel bassoons are unmatched by other top brands. Each Heckel bassoon today is made individually for the customer to their specifications and takes several years from the time of ordering to the finished product. They are also the most expensive model, for good reason. Despite the lack of patent protection, the particular care and attention to detail of the Heckel bassoon company consistently sets their instruments above the rest. Other manufacturers might follow the German design to the letter and still not end up with an instrument of the same quality as the Heckel bassoons. The enduring legacy of the Heckel-Almenraeder bassoon and their impact on the entirety of the bassoon’s development confirm Carl Almenraeder and Johan Adam Heckel as the most skilled, important, and influential bassoon makers in history. Weissman 23
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