Bassoon quartets have become so popular in the last few years that it is difficult to imagine a time when they did not exist. Yet scarcely a generation ago, the bassoon quartet was known to only a handful of bassoonists, primarily through an old 78 RPM record of William Schuman's Quartettino and the early French Erato recording of Corrette's Le Phenix with Paul Hongne and colleagues. There was very little music published for the combination and interest in bassoon ensemble playing was generally low.
During my early student years in Baltimore in the 1950's I was taken with the idea of making four bassoons into a legitimate chamber ensemble, and this early fascination helped lead to the establishment in 1962 of one of America's first permanent bassoon quartets. That group was the inspiration for most of the ensemble music currently found in the catalogue of the Bubonic Publishing Company; and while the music is well known to many, the story of the group has hitherto remained untold.
The Bubonic Bassoon Quartet actually grew out of the many duet playing sessions in which David Carroll and I frequently indulged while we were students in Boston. Although we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, bassoon duets cannot sustain anyone indefinitely, and we began to think about forming a trio or quartet. Our fellow students Crawford Best and Frank Nizzari, we soon discovered, shared our enthusiasm for the sound of multiple bassoons, an enthusiasm that was to become almost fanatical!
We played the few pieces in our library over and over again in every possible permutation and combination until, for variety, we were literally playing them upside down and backwards. Our rehearsals would typically last the greater part of a day, proceeding non-stop without break for refreshment or recuperation. To supply the quantity of music thus required we began to seek out and arrange suitable Renaissance polyphony for bassoons alone or bassoons and voices. Mezzo-soprano Donna Klimoska was almost a regular member of the group, so often did she sing with us as we experimented with sounds.
Our first concert, for which we were named the New Art Bassoon Ensemble, took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Music Library in February, 1962. The program consisted mostly of Renaissance music for bassoons and voice in various combinations, plus the standard pieces by Prokofiev, William Schuman, Stefan De Haan, and Granville Bantock.
David Carroll had on occasion produced some be-bop arrangements which were strictly for our own amusement; however, they proved to be so much fun that David and I were both inspired to experiment further in various jazz and popular idioms. As much as we enjoyed these arrangements, it was several years before we ventured to perform any of them in public, concentrating instead on the "serious" side of the literature.
The first in a long series of compositions written for us received premier performances at our second MIT Music Library concert in December, 1962. The program included Five Secular Songs for two voices and four bassoons by Joseph Byrd, Tryptych for soprano and four bassoons by Johnathan Elkus, and Canzonetta for bassoon quartet by John Harbison. While playing with the Santa Fe Opera the previous summer, I had met these young men who were attending a composers' conference organized in conjunction with the Opera Company's celebration of Stravinsky's 80th birthday. After listening to me extol the virtues of bassoon quartets, they agreed to write something for our newly formed ensemble.
Frank Nizzari went into the Army in 1962 and we were seriously concerned about finding a suitable replacement for him. Besides the requisite bassoon playing skills, a special somewhat zany personality and musical philosophy were necessary to fit into this group. We were fortunate to find the ideal person in Don Rosenthal. Even though Don lived in Connecticut and worked in New York City, the lure of the quartet proved sufficient to bring him to Boston very frequently, and he remained with the group until our final dissolution.
Surprising as it may seem, after only one and one-half years we had acquired some notoriety and were now playing regularly at the Gardner Museum, MIT, New England Conservatory and other colleges in the area. We also played occasional children's concerts, radio broadcasts, and even private parties. Two more original compositions received first performances in our 1963 concert season: Two Movements by William Ames, and Three Settings by William Tesson.
Crawford Best left in the fall of 1963 to become principal of the New Orleans Philharmonic, and, fortunately, Frank Nizzari returned to Boston and the quartet soon thereafter. This group remained together until 1969, despite a three year hiatus while David Carroll and I were in Europe studying bassoon on Fulbright Grants. While abroad neither of us abandoned the bassoon ensemble as a vehicle for altruistic musical expression; David introduced Parisian bassoonists to our style of quartet playing and I did likewise for my Dutch colleagues. Members of both these original groups are still performing and coaching European students in the proper interpretation of the Bubonic repertory. In fact, Joep Terwey, now principal of the Concertgebouw Orchestra and a member of my trio in Amsterdam in 1965, incorporated several Bubonic trio arrangements into the international tour programs of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble.
When we returned to Boston and our quartet resumed performing in 1967 we made a decision to emphasize the entertaining, humorous music which appealed so much to us and to our audiences. This of course meant that our programs featured our own jazz, pop, and funny arrangements in ever increasing numbers. We also decided to choose a new name. It was quickly agreed upon that it must be alliterative and unusual. We thought of "Budapest" and "Buddhist", but "Bubonic" won out.
In the early days we had adopted concert uniforms consisting of suits and ugly hand-painted 1940's neckties which we found in trash cans or at the Salvation Army. The ties had become one of our hallmarks, but to match our new name something more dramatic was required. Because of the Medieval connotations of the word "Bubonic", we decided to perform in austere, ancient-looking monks' robes, and to call ourselves a "plague on music".
Each member of the quartet had a distinct specialty. Don Rosenthal, possessor of a superb bass voice, did the narrating and singing, and played contra-bassoon, recorder, and anything else unusual that the arrangements called for. Frank Nizzari is one of the few musicians in existence who can maintain integrity of sound and technique on the bassoon while improvising in every jazz style. David Carroll supplied many arrangements and expertly handled all parts in the extreme altissimo register. I also did some arranging and most of the producing, managing and programming of the group.
In 1968 a small studio in Boston expressed interest in recording the Bubonic Bassoon Quartet, and we approached the project with great enthusiasm. It was decided that we would do only our own arrangements and we created several new ones especially for these sessions. Some of them have never been published, and, in fact, could never be performed live! To create a special atmosphere on a few appropriate tracks we included Freddy Buda of Boston Pops fame on drums and percussion.
Shortly after we completed the recording the studio went bankrupt, and we were fortunate to get the master tapes from the owner before they closed the doors permanently. However, we did not have any means to mix the tapes or to release the finished product. At this point, Nat Johnson, a producer for WGBH-FM in Boston, learned of our predicament and offered to do the mastering in exchange for unlimited broadcast privileges of the material.
WGBH did broadcast the show many times, including a long series of April Fool's Day airings, and as a result, the Bubonic Bassoon Quartet has a considerable underground reputation in the New England area.
For several years we tried to interest commercial recording companies in producing the album, but even after some valiant championing by none other than Peter Schickele, we made no progress. Not one A and R man was convinced of the almost universal appeal of a program of witty bassoon quartets. How strange those non-double-reed-playing mortals be!
At last, in belated response to 14 years of innumerable requests, the Bubonic Publishing Company is pleased to announce that a cassette of the original 1968 Bubonic Bassoon Quartet recordings will soon be available. It will be a modern re-mastering using Dolby noise reduction and all the latest appropriate technology. The price will be $11.00 postpaid from the publisher.*
The 1968 season was the last for the Bubonic Bassoon Quartet. Don Rosenthal returned to Alaska to take up permanent residence, David Carroll moved to the Montreal Symphony as principal in 1969, and in 1971 I became principal of the Minnesota Orchestra to complete the far-flung dispersal of the group. Only Frank Nizzari remained in Boston where he still is an active free-lance performer.
Beginning in 1972 an offshoot of the Bubonic, the Buddhist Bassoon Quartet (or Trio) organized by Boston bassoonist Steve Young, convened yearly in the Boston area. This group performed the Bubonic literature plus many excellent arrangements by Steve Young and numerous works written especially for it. Among the most infamous of these were two semi-theatrical productions: one called "Vox Bassoonae" by noted conductor-composer Newton Wayland, and the other, a first opus by WGBH's well known radio host Robert J. Lurtsema. Robert J. so enjoyed our performances over the years that he began the study of music theory at the New England Conservatory just to be able to write a piece for us.
Lamentably these concerts ceased last year when scheduling difficulties made it impossible to put the ensemble together. Among the players who have performed in the Buddhist Bassoon concerts are Messrs. Carroll, Young, Nizzari, Miller, and Bob Williams, principal of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
The recording of the original 1968 Bubonic Bassoon Quartet may be obtained, as may any of the Bubonic arrangements and compositions by writing to either:
Bubonic Publishing Co.
John Miller
706 Lincoln Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55105
or
Bubonic Publishing Co.
David Carroll
66 Farnham Ave.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 1 H4
This article was a result of a discussion with John Miller last summer at Towson. In responding to its potential publication David Carroll added the following comments to me in a letter dated September 20, 1982:
"As you probably know, our quartet underwent a name change at least once a year, simply for our own amusement. We evolved from a duo (John and I) to a trio (and Frank Nizzari) and finally to a quartet (and Crawford Best) and went public with a concert at MIT, where the printed program provided us with the sobriquet 'New Art Bassoon Quartet.' Thereafter we always made up our own names and they were always alliterative, 'Buddhist' and 'Bubonic' being the two longest running titles. John dreamt up the latter, as it was his turn that year, and the name was in effect when we parted company in the sixties. I assume John told you about 'Buddhist':
We heard a radio announcer make a slip of the tongue while announcing the Budapest String Quartet, and adopted his gaffe for our own. In time with the mid-sixties we frequently performed in monks' robes, incense burning on the floor. Two nuns at one of our 'Buddhist' appearances quizzed us about our theological background, but I don't recall our replies. Upon learning that one of the nuns actually played bassoon herself, we begged her to make a guest appearance with our quartet, she in full nun regalia, we in our costumes. She was game, but her order refused permission. This was one of the greatest disappointments we ever suffered.
Our quartet was the greatest social and musical fun of my college years, and I still miss it. One unusual aspect of our group -- we didn't have a designated first, second, third and fourth bassoonist; we always drew parts face down, sometimes even for concerts. There were exceptions: Anyone who composed or arranged a particularly difficult first bassoon part had to play it if the guy who drew it didn't want to (the punishment fit the crime). There were certainly individual strengths and preferences in our foursome, and we used them quite often when playing for our own enjoyment--John was and is an excellent Lead Bassoon, I was usually handed Screech Bassoon parts (an ability I seem to have lost), Frank was an unparalleled Hot Bassoonist (jazz), and Don Rosenthal liked to function as Utility Bassoon, especially on contra. We all played all parts though, and each of us including Crawford functioned as first bassoon of the Springfield (Mass.) Symphony one season or another, and our final personnel (Don having replaced Crawford) even served as the bassoon section in Springfield for a marvelous performance of the Verdi Requiem.
A funny thing we did once: each of us gave the guy on his left the worst reed he had with him and then we tried to play the Dubensky quartet or something. It sounded repulsive.
I miss the sound and the guys who made them, but take great satisfaction in seeing the enormous proliferation of bassoon quartets everywhere, many of whom got together to try out our old charts and took off from there."