Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 89
Scan 89
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
4 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 69. See the scan on archive.org.
1produce a more compact and reliable bass were made. This led to the doubling of the tube of the pommer, which then became the fagotto. The invention is usually ascribed to Afranio, a canon of Pavia, and the earliest description is contained in a work entitled Introductio in Chaldaicam Linguam, auctore Theseo Ambrosio, Pavia, 1539. The first instrument was constructed by Bavilius, of Ferrara, to Afranio's design. Superior to the old bass pommers, the fagotto, as it was called from its peculiar shape, became generally adopted, and was improved upon by Sigismond Schweitzer, of Nuremberg. A complete family of these instruments soon came into existence, and are described particularly by Prætorius. The smaller varieties were never much used, but the fagottino in F and the fagotto in C have lasted until now. The instrument, described by Prætorius, had only two keys, which gave F and D. According to M. de Pontécoulant (Organographie, 1861) the bassoon, like the oboe, first appeared in the orchestra in Cambert's opera "Pomone" in 1659. The compass had been then extended downwards by the addition of a key, which gave B♭. This necessitated a prolongation of the bell; and the long form of the bassoon, as distinguished from the earlier fagotto, dates from that time. The fourth key, for G♯, appeared in the early part of the 18th century; and the bassoon in general use in 1751 seems to have had but four keys (L'Encyclopédie, MM. Diderot and d'Alembert, 1751-1780). Additional keys were added later by the makers, Kusder, Wood, Preston, and Key in England, and by Portheaux and Adler in Paris. The instrument was finally perfected by the well-known maker Savary, who, indeed, became to the bassoon what Stradivari was to the violin; and Savary bassoons are at the present day scarce and highly prized by players and collectors; and the peculiar singing quality of tone of these instruments has never been excelled in bassoons by other makers, before or since.
3Early in the present century attempts to construct the bassoon according to more correct acoustical principles, were made by Simiot of Lyons, and by Almenräder in Germany. And Adolphe Sax, in 1840, produced instruments in which the holes were placed in their proper positions along the bore, and were all closed by keys; the idea was that of Sax père of Brussels, in 1830, but the first application of it was made by Adolphe Sax.
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