(The following article first appeared in Vol. XXXII, No. 4, Summer, 1984, issue of the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors journal, and is reprinted here with the kind permissions of the editor, Richard Weerts, and the author. Ed.)

Valuable insights into eighteenth -century pedagogical practices used in teaching the bassoon may be found in the following works which represent the major bassoon tutors published during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries:

1. Pierre Cugnier's "Le Basson, " in Jean Benjamin de Laborde's Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne (Paris: P. D. Pierres, 1780, Vol. 11, pp. 323-343).

2. Joseph Fröhlich's "Fagottschule," in his Vollständige theoretisch-praktische Musiklehre (Bonn: N. Simrock, 1810-11).

3. Etienne Ozi's Méthode nouvelle et raisonnée pour le basson (Paris: Boyer, 1787) and his Nouvelle méthode de basson (Paris: Imprimerie du Conservatoire, 1803).

4. Johann J. Quantz's Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (Berlin: Johann Friedrich Voss, 1752).

Cugnier's article was written for a five-keyed bassoon. It was published seven years before Ozi's Méthode nouvelle et raisoneé which is written for a six- or seven-keyed bassoon. Cugnier's article remained the major source of instruction for the bassoon in France and Germany until the appearance of Ozi's methods. Fröhlich's "Fagottschule" is the first known German tutor written after J. P. Eisel's Musicus autodidactus1 published in 1738. Fröhlich's work is written for an eight- keyed Grenser bassoon which was the most widely used bassoon in Germany between 1800 and 1820. Most of Fröhlich's instructions are German translations of Ozi's Nouvelle méthode de basson (1803) which is recognized as one of the most significant contributions to the pedagogical literature of the eighteenth-century bassoon. It was acclaimed in Germany and Italy as well as France and was the official bassoon tutor of the Paris Conservatory until 1847 when it was superseded by Jancourt's Méthode de basson (Op. 15).2 Quantz's Versuch is well-known as the major flute treatise of the mid-eighteenth century. It was, however, not intended as a manual restricted only to the flute: Quantz indicated that his instructions were directly applicable to the bassoon and oboe.

Instructions on embouchure, position, fingering, intonation, and tonguing from these tutors are compared and discussed separately below.

the left,

to the right,

or whether no slant

was recommended at all; 2) the lip placement on the reed, that is, the amount of reed inserted into the mouth; and 3) the amount of lip pressure on the blades of the reed. The following discussion on forming the e ighte enth -century bassoon embouchure is divided according to these three factors.

Reed Slant. In his Méthode nouvelle et raisonnée (1787) Ozi advised against placing the reed into the mouth so that the blades of the reed are parallel with the lips. He stated that the reed positioned in the mouth in this manner hindered embouchure control and produced only harsh sounds. He claimed that most players turned the reed slightly outward (to the player's right). However, he found that one had more control and a more mellow tone if the reed was turned slightly inward to the player's left. He further maintained that such a reed position eliminated the undesirable practice of turning the head to the right or left while playing the bassoon. This turning of the head to the right is implied by the playing position of the bassoonist in the engraving found in Cugnier's article. Cugnier recommended the outward slanting of the reed to the player's right which could possibly explain the rather strange-looking position of the player's head in the engraving.

In the Nouvelle méthode de basson (1803) Ozi recommended that the reed be slanted in order to I 'modify the vibration of the reed" ("modifier A volonte ne pourroit maitrise cette vibration"). He added that this procedure helped to make the bassoon tone "round" and facilitate control:

Besides [being] the means of rounding sounds, the slant of the reed provides facility for regulating the embouchure and for traversing with surety all the sounds comprising the range of the bassoon .3

Fröhlich also advocated that the reed be slanted. His brief directions on this aspect of the bassoon embouchure appeared to be identical with the description in Ozi's Nouvelle méthode de basson (1803).

Cugnier enlightens us further on this practice of slanting the reed. He advocated slanting the reed to the player's right in order to keep the reed from closing on high notes due to increased lip pressure:

For the lowest tones such as B, C, D, which are the lowest of the bassoon, the reed must be pressed lightly as one ascends, so that for the highest tones it must be compressed between the lips so that it forms only an opening sufficient to let the wind pass into the instrument. In order that it does not close entirely, which would happen if one held it entirely flat between the lips, and which would cause the wind not to have any more passage, one must hold it a bit obliquely; so that one of the sides of the reed touches the upper lip and the other the lower lip about in the manner that this oval represents.

By means of this position the wind passes easily into the instrument in sufficient quantity to produce all the tones of its range.4

Finally, an interesting comment was made by Quantz in his Versuch regarding this practice of slanting the bassoon reed. It is evident from the following that Quantz did not agree with the practice:

Some players, particularly bassoonists, have a way of taking the reed between their lips rather obliquely, so that they can express the high notes more easily. This not only produces a poor and hissing tone, but also frequently makes the disagreeable hiss of the wind that escapes at the side of the reed audible at a distance. Hence it is much better to take the reed straight between the lips, so that a sustained and pleasing tone can be drawn from the instrument.5

Since Quantz's work was published in 1752, it would seem that the practice of slanting the reed already existed during the first half of the eighteenth century. The practice lasted in France well into the nineteenth century since both Frederic Berr (1836)6 and J. Willent Bordogni (1844)7 recommended slanting the reed in their tutors. The following chart shows graphically the statements made by Cugnier, Fröhlich, Ozi, and Quantz on the principle of reed slant:

Lip Placement. Ozi was quite specific regarding this aspect of the bassoon embouchure. In his 1787 tutor he recommended inserting the reed blades into the mouth so that the lips are positioned two or three lignes (4.5 mm. to 6.8 mm.) from the first wire. According to Ozi's reed-making instructions in his 1803 tutor, the lips would actually be placed on the bark between the scraped part of the reed and the first wire since he advocated the scraping of the blades to begin at a point of five lignes (11. 2 8 mm.) in front of the first wire. Ozi's recommended reed dimensions which "can vary according to the good or bad quality of the cane, " and his recommended point of lip placement on the reed is shown below.

In the 1787 tutor, Ozi cautioned against inserting the reed too far into the mouth as this "might result in the player's jerking the tones and would prevent him from using his tongue advantageously" (car cela mettroit dans lecas de saccader les tons, et empêcheroit de se servir advantageusement de la langue). In the 1803 tutor he was even more specific in that he designated a lip placement for a specific tone. Here Ozi recommended that the lips be placed at a distance of three lignes (6.8 mm.) from the first wire for the tones C and D. He advocated "drawing in" (rentrer graduellement les lèvres) the lips in order to "give higher tones more strength." This undoubtedly meant to draw more of the lip flesh in between the teeth and reed, thereby creating a firmer lip cushion for high notes and at the same time drawing the reed slightly into the mouth. For the low notes he advised putting the "lips back out" (resortir graduellement les lèvres) which decreases the amount of lip cushion on the reed and at the same time slightly withdraws the reed from the mouth.

This is probably similar to the technique Quantz had proposed when he suggested the following for adjusting the pitch on the oboe and bassoon:

On the oboe and the bassoon the pitch is raised by pushing the reed further into the mouth, and by pressing the lips more firmly together, and is lowered by withdrawing the reed, and relaxing the lips.8

Fröhlich used Ozi's description in his explanation of embouchure control. However, somewhere in the translation from French to German to English, the meaning of this procedure became misconstrued. Dagrade in his translation of Fröhlich's Fagottschule, made the following observation:

Fröhlich makes some rather confusing statements concerning embouchure, however. He suggests drawing the lips in (einziehen) as the player ascends the scale and moving the lips forward (vorwarts) as he descends. The two terms are not opposites as the situation would suggest. If his intent is to draw the lips back for the high range as opposed to forward in a sort of pucker, he is refering to a practice not commonly accepted today on German system bassoons, since drawing the lips back creates a thin, pinched tone.9

Cugnier offered further discussion on the results caused by positioning the lips at various places on the blades of the reed. He advised against placing the lips on the tip of the blades. He claimed that this would result in a "sort of whistling" or "buzzing" ("une espece de sifflement") which he called a "comb tone" ("son de peigne") because it resembled the noise caused by passing a knife blade quickly over a comb. On the other hand he cautioned against advancing the lips too close to the first wire. This practice, he claimed, would make the reed hard to blow, tire the lips, and create a "hard and raucous" ("dur & rauque") sound. According to Cugnier, the ideal placement of the lips was halfway between the tip and the first wire:

All that one can say on this subject, is that the reed must be held in the mouth, from its tip until about the middle of the space which is between this tip and the little wire or brass ligature which serves to contain the two blades of the reed.10

Cugnier, however, indicated that the reed could be advanced into the mouth a little further than this halfway mark in order to sustain the tones in places of music such as Rameau's operas, where a louder tone is desired for continuo playing. This type of sound, he maintained, was "very opposed" (bien opposés) to the sound which one used in concerto playing.

Lip Pressure. Cugnier, Ozi, Quantz, and Fröhlich all advised against forcing or biting the reed. Cugnier indicated that the "pointedness" ("mordant") of the bassoon tone is dependent on lip pressure on the reed:

... but as the more or less pointed [or piercing] sound which is characteristic of the bassoon depends on the more or less firm pressure of the reed between the lips, an amateur can, by himself, succeed in forming an agreeable tone by avoiding the forcing of the reed which produces a bad tone. 11

Ozi cautioned the student not to support the lips with the teeth:

When the embouchure is not perfectly formed and the lips become tired, one must avoid forcing them, for the sounds can be produced only by supporting the lips with the teeth: this method is faulty; and to the drawback of contributing to a poor quality of sound, it joins that of producing only a jerky playing.12

Quantz also advised against biting:

You must not bite the lips in between the teeth too much or too little. In the first case, the tone becomes dull, in the second it becomes too blaring and strident.13

Finally, Fröhlich instructed the student to avoid pinching for the extreme high register of the bassoon as this is detrimental to the embouchure and the tone quality of the lower register:

But take care not to push the exercises too high, to g1 at the highest, as striving for the high register without an especially firm embouchure ruins the low range which a real artist on this instrument needs more, so to speak, than the high, if he is to use the instrument according to its nature. Who would not prefer a full, manly tenor voice to an excited, exclusively high one! This procedure is double damaging with a beginner because through the premature effort that he must make to produce these tones, the lips stiffen and lose the flexibility which is necessary to a good embouchure. A full, rounded, thereby smooth tone, with fullness in the low register, beautiful middle tones, and a not too pinched high register is the most desirable means to the expressive performance which the connoisseur demands, just as he must, in contrast, deride the empty conceit of many players over a cup of hard-won high notes to the neglect of the principles given above.14

Ozi, Fröhlich, and Cugnier indicated that the bassoon was to be supported by a cord or ribbon, one end of which was fastened to a button on the player's jacket. The other end as attached to a ring at the top of the boot. All three writers emphasized the importance of adjusting the cord so that the bocal was situated directly opposite the mouth and so that the player's head was neither lowered nor raised. The instrument was to be balanced between the inner side of the two index fingers:

... by pressing the inner side of the right index finger bone beside the first hole of the boot, which leans on the lower abdomen of the right side; and the inner side of the left index finger bone beside the first hole of the tenor joint.15

Ozi and Fröhlich advised keeping the righthand wrist low enough so that the fingers could more easily accommodate their respective holes and keys. In his Méthode nouvelle et raisonnée (1787), Ozi recommended keeping the right elbow six pouces (approximately six inches) away from the body and the left elbow two pouces (about two inches) away. He also recommended keeping both thumbs above the E and C holes rather than resting them on the instrument as this caused stiffness in the fingers of the player and hindered the movement to the thumb keys. Both Ozi and Fröhlich advised the player to support the top of the wing joint with the left hand when placing the reed on the bocal in order to prevent undue "strain on the instrument. " Rather than being in line with the instrument, Ozi and Fröhlich advised turning the bocal outward (to the right) in order to facilitate the hand and finger position.

Quantz provided the following advice on position to both oboists and bassoonists:

In holding both of these instruments you must be mindful of a good natural posture. Hold the arms away from the body, and extend them forwards, so that the head need not hang down, constricting the throat and hampering breathing. In an orchestra the oboist must hold his instrument up as much as possible. If he pokes it below the stand, the tone loses its force.16

According to Quantz, pitch standards in the eighteenth century varied not only from country to country, but from city to city:

After the French had transformed the German cross-pipe into the transverse flute, the shawm into the oboe, and the bombard into the bassoon, using their lower and more agreeable pitch, the high choir pitch began in Germany to be supplanted by the chamber pitch, as is demonstrated by some of the most famous new organs. At the present time the Venetian pitch is the highest; it is almost the same as our old choir pitch. The Roman pitch of about twenty years ago was low, and was equal to that of Paris. At present, however, the Parisian pitch is beginning almost to equal that of Venice.17

Quantz's reference to the rising pitch in Paris was also observed by Cugnier who stated in 1780 that the pitch at the Concert spirituel had risen to such an extent that the low-pitched bassoons could no longer be used there:

... the pitch which one makes in all sorts of music, and particularly at the Concert spiritual, being much higher than the diapason which one used when one began to use the bassoon, it is necessary that the length of this instrument be diminished in proportion, in order to make the bassoon on the pitch which one uses now; because there is no possibility to play high with a low instrument...18

The above statement by Cugnier was published within a year from the time in which Ozi made his debut at the Concert spirituel (December 31, 1779). He may have used one of the bassoons whose length was "diminished in proportion," since, according to a review of that performance, Ozi's intonation was flawless. Although the older bassoons were unsuitable for the Concert spirituel, Cugnier stated that they were still used for church music where the organs were low in pitch and also at the Opera where the pitch appeared to be continually fluctuating:

The bassoons which are made in the proportion of eight feet reduced to four, according to the old system of manufacture, are appropriate for playing in cathedrals, where ordinarily the pitch of the organ is very low, as was that of the Eglise des Innocents and the Chapelle du Roi in Versailles. These bassoons are still used in the Paris Opera, where one changes pitch in accord with lower or higher roles; thus the pitch is sometimes so low, that all wind instruments are necessarily in discord by the difficulty, one can even say the impossibility, that there is in playing in tune with an instrument too high or too low.19

It is interesting to speculate about the manner in which a virtuoso like Ozi who was a member of the Chapelle du Roi, soloist at the Concert spirituel, and later a member of the Opera orchestra, dealt with these fluctuating Parisian pitch standards described by Cugnier. A possible solution might have been that he owned several differently pitched bassoons. Ozi has not provided detailed information on intonation in his tutors. The only advice found in his tutors was in Article V in the 1803 tutor. Here he presented a discussion on the use of alternate fingerings to correct the pitch of certain notes "since fingering determines good intonation and evenness In sound." However, this Article deals only with the pitch of specific tones, not with the general pitch level of the instrument. The fact that pitch problems were plaguing bassoonists in the late eighteenth century was corroborated in Fröhlich's tutor. He was informed us that not only were bocals interchanged 'in an attempt to change the pitch of the bassoon, but that some bassoons were actually being manufactured with as many as three different wing joints of varying lengths:

To lower the pitch of a bassoon one may simply use a longer bocal. But one must watch that the bocal does not disturb the proportions of the entire instrument, which is easily noticed by the i ncorrect intonation of the instrument. Better in every respect, therefore, are those instruments on which pitch can be lowered by lengthening the wing joint as well as using a longer bocal. There are also bassoons with three wing joints and as many bocals.20

It should be noted that not only the bocals and wing joints varied in length to accommodate pitch changes, but the length of the reed also affected the pitch of the bassoons. Cugnier has indicated that reeds were being used during this time which varied in length from twentyeight to thirty-two lignes (66 mm. to 71.5 mm.). This variance of almost six millimeters most certainly affected the pitch of the bassoon. It is noteworthy to observe that Ozi used the shorter of Cugnier's suggested dimensions. In Article IV, "On the Quality of the Reed," in his Nouvelle méthode de basson (1803), Ozi advocated a reed length of twenty-eight lignes (66 mm.).21

The distance from the first bar or wire to the tip of the reed was also considered in the eighteenth century to be an important factor in regulating pitch. In fact, Diderot compared the first wire of the bassoon reed to the rasette on the organ pipe which is a moveable piece of bent steel wire which lengthens and shortens the vibrating portion of the metal tongue (langette) thereby raising and lowering the pitch.22 Cugnier (although he did not compare the first wire of the bassoon reed to the rasette of the organ), also maintained that the first wire (placed approximately in the middle of the reed) served as a regulator of "the necessary vibration."

Any substantial alteration of' the pitch level affected as a result of interchanging bocals, wing joints, and reeds inevitably causes the bassoon to be out of tune with itself. As early as 1752 Quantz commented about problems by the practice of shortening reeds and bocals:

The oboes and bassoons in particular would become completely false if forced up by shortening the reeds and bocals (Röhre und Esse). The octaves would be expanded, that is, the lower note of an octave would lower, while the upper note would become higher; just as in the opposite case, when the reed is pulled out too far and the bocal is lengthened, the octaves contract, and the lower note becomes higher, the upper note lower.23

Cugnier expressed similar observations regarding the shortening of the wing joint, bocal, and reed:

However, the pitch of the bassoon can be changed, that is, made higher or lower to some extent, by means of a wing joint shorter than usual, of the [shorter] bocal, and of' a reed, also shorter; but this changing of pieces brings a difference only in the tones which leave the holes 1, 2, and 3 of the wing joint. As a result, only these tones can go up and those which leave from the rest of the instrument, which stay in the same position, become too low; so that it is almost not possible to play in tune with a bassoon of this sort, especially when there is too large a difference between the pieces which one substitutes one for the other.24

Eighteenth-century bassoonists were aware of pitch fluctuations caused by temperature changes; Quantz gave the following advice:

In warm weather the wind instruments can be tuned a little lower than the violins, since their pitch rises with blowing, while that of stringed instruments is lowered by warmth.25

Eighteenth-century performers also appeared to be cognizant of the intonational implications of enharmonic relationships in a musical work. Quantz maintained that a sharpened note must be played slightly lower than its flattened equivalent. He indicated that these minute adjustments of pitch on the bassoon were accomplished through subtle embouchure changes for which he gave specific instructions:

Upon wind instruments this variation is accomplished through the embouchure. On the oboe and the bassoon the pitch is raised by pushing the reed further into the mouth, and by pressing the lips more firmly together, and is lowered by withdrawing the reed, and relaxing the I lips.26

Ozi may have had this type of enharmonic pitch adjustment in mind when he wrote:

It is up to the ear, which understands the intonation of the sounds and their length, to indicate the volume of' air necessary for the formation of each tone that, according to its pitch, should be produced by the instrument.27

Cugnier maintained that good intonation depended on the player's aural sensitivity even though the instrument, bocal, and reed were constructed with the most exact proportions. He cited some of the notes, most frequently unstable in terms of pitch, but he, unlike Ozi, did not attempt to provide fingering corrections for these notes:

Whatever meticulousness which one brings to the manufacturing of the bassoon, according to the most exact proportions, the same as for the choice of the reed and of the bocal, it is scarcely possible to find an instrument which has all tone and semitones exact and fixed, as one finds them on the monochord; there are always a few tones which are a little strong or a bit weak; the ear must guide the embouchure, to give a little force to the tones which are weak, and diminish on the contrary those which are a little strong. For example, it is rare that the two A's are made from one octave to another, on stopping up the holes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, are exactly accurate the same as those which one sees noted here;28 when one can use only the same fingering indicated in the chart which one saw here before.29

A final intonational observation was offered by Ozi. He indicated that clothing sometimes interfered with the operation of the low D key thereby causing intonation fluctuation. He gave the following advice:

Since the key of low D is placed just at the place where one must support the bassoon, it is absolutely necessary to surround the movement of this key with a grill or a guard key, so that the key is not found closed involuntarily; many people neglect this precaution. That is why they are often subject to missing several tones and playing out of tune.30

In Article V of his Nouvelle méthode de basson (1803) Ozi offered the following advice on finger position:

... not to remove, when playing, the fingers too far from the holes and always to hold them facing [the keys], so that they can act freely and without effort, as need be; and so that in their action, they hit on the keys instead of sliding on them: this method exactly followed will give clarity to the execution.32

Cugnier offered the following general remarks regarding the importance of developing good finger technique:

The fingers serve to stop up or unstop the holes which produce the different tones of the bassoon. They should be placed on the instrument, in such a way that they can act freely, and that the holes are stopped up exactly according to the requisite of the tones which they produce. They are not prone to the same faults as the tongue, because the great lightness of the fingers is one of the best qualities that one can desire; but the softness, the weight, and the stiffness are important faults which one corrects with difficulty. The charm that one can pour into the song played on this instrument, like the broken and sustained trills, the ports des voix and others depends on the feel of the fingers; it is necessary, therefore, that the fingers have springiness without stiffness, and flexibility without softness, and that they always act in conjunction with the tongue.33

Fröhlich has provided no general comments on fingering. Most of Quantz's instructions on finger position apply to the flute only. However, Quantz did furnish the following general advice on fingering which is applicable to performance on the bassoon:

It is also necessary to pay diligent attention to your fingers, so that you do not become accustomed to raising them too high, or to lifting one finger higher than the others; this would make it impossible to execute passage-work very quickly, roundly, and distinctly, and these matters are extremely important in playing. Yet the fingers must not be held too close to the holes; if the clarity and trueness of the tone are not to be impaired, they must be held at least the breadth of the little finger above the holes.34

Ozi described three basic types of articulation in his 1803 tutor:

1 . legato (coulé)

2. detached (detaché)

3. staccato (piqué)

He indicated that these three types were distinguished by the action of the tongue on the reed. The legato was produced by drawing back the tongue from the tip opening of the reed and pronouncing the word "tu" on the first note of the grouping. He recommended using as little lip pressure as possible, in order to "not alter the smoothness of the tone." (... pour ne pas alterer le moëlleux du son.) Ozi explained that the only difference between the detached and staccato articulations was for the staccato to be executed with "less force" ("moins de force") and was to be "less dry" ("moins sec") than the détaché.

As early as 1752 Quantz was recommending a difference in the performance of notes with dots and dashes:

The notes with strokes must be played with completely detached strokes, and those with dots simply with short strokes and in a sustained manner.35

Fröhlich's instructions on articulation are for the most part the same as those found in Ozi's Nouvelle méthode de basson. He even used the same musical illustrations. However, instead of three articulations, he stated that there were only two: "slurring and tonguing, the latter being divided into firmer and lighter attach." Fröhlich added words of advice not found in Ozi's method:

Avoid gutteral sounds and moving the chin. These faults rob the tongue of its necessary lightness and create the habit of distorting the tones. With staccato the first and last notes must be given somewhat more stress.36

Also not found in Ozi's method were Fröhlich's statements regarding the use of vowel changes when tonguing in the high range:

Although the effectiveness of the attack depends mostly upon the consonants, and less upon the vowels, the latter do give the tone more fullness if through them a fuller mouth formation results. In the high range some change the 'tu' to 'ta' and occasionally to 'te', but the tone becomes somewhat pinched.37

Dagrade commented on these rather confusing statements made by Fröhlich:

It is unclear why the syllable 'ta' should cause a ,somewhat pinched' tone in the upper range, unless perhaps the German umlaut has been accidentally omitted from the vowel, thus raising the position of the tongue in the mouth.38

Cugnier's description of tonguing was not as explicit as Ozi's or Fröhlich's. However, his lengthy discussion provides insights into the subtleties of articulation which were possible on the eighteenth-century bassoon. Cugnier made analogies to string instruments and the human voice in discussing various note lengths and strengths of' attack:

The tongue is to wind instruments, what the bow Is to string instruments; Just as for the latter, therefore one articulates the notes with the bow according to their different values, one should, for wind instruments, articulate them with the tongue. There are several ways to use the tongue for this; it is not possible to go into detail here; one can say in general, that all the notes which are not linked together, must be detached by a stroke of the tongue, which must be more or less articulated, according to the expression and the movement required by different pieces of music which one performs. As the bassoon is suited to accompanying the voice, when it is used for this purpose, if it is an accompaniment whose notes follow the words which the voice sings, one must apply oneself to render the notes such that the articulation of the tongue on the instrument imitates as much as possible that of the voice, being careful to make the syllables long and short the same as the voice. With this type of accompaniment, especially in pieces of expression, the tone of the instrument must be used in such a way that it melts, so to speak, with that of the voice, and the stroke of the tongue must be softened in proportion to the syllables which the voice pronounces.39

Like Ozi, Cugnier also emphasized the matching of the "strokes of the tongue" with the expression of the music:

For that which concerns all other genres of music than accompaniment, the stroke of the tongue must be proportionate also to the expression and to the movement of which they are capable. It is the affair of the masters to teach the way of giving the different strokes of the tongue. Whatever type of music which one performs, one must avoid the two drawbacks, which result from a too hard tonguing, and from too little articulation, both of' which make the instrument unpleasant to hear.40

Cugnier then discussed the problem some bassoonists experience in terms of speed of tonguing. He appeared to be defending his own position by categorizing bassoonists into two basic groups: those with great technical facility and those like himself, who, according to Laborde, specialized in the lyrical aspects of bassoon playing:

... but as there are some who depend on the more or less agility of the tongue; likewise there are persons to whom the best masters will never be able to give the necessary turn of mind to articulate well certain fast pieces. However, this difficulty must not discourage the amateurs; they can compensate for this fault of the great freedom of the tongue by applying themselves to render well other pieces of music, which, although they are not capable of' the greatest performance, are nevertheless pleasant for the connoisseur and the listener. Besides, it has always been noted that the big difficult piece is rarely rendered on the bassoon, still more so than for other wind instruments, with the necessity, the accuracy and the precision necessary to make it agreeable. This comes from the fact that most of those who play pieces of' great difficulty become necessarily and in spite of themselves, carried away by a too precipitous tonguing which puts them out of time. It is as difficult to reduce a too free tongue, as to give lightness to the one which is heavy and thick. This latter fault of the tongue produces the contrary effect of the other and slows down the beat; so that if two persons having these two faults performed together a piece of music which would demand speed it would be impossible for them to stay together, and they would cross each other continually by their irregular movements the cleverest masters who would play the same part with them. The great difficult piece has yet another drawback; independently of the much greater fatigue which it demands, the tone of the bassoon can never be as beautiful as when one performs pieces of music which only demand a pleasant melody. Amateurs are invited, however, not to be satisfied with what one calls the terre-a-terre. It is good and even necessary, to practice the difficult piece in order to develop one's embouchure and fingers, and to acquire the habit of playing certain difficult passages easily. When one has reached this degree, one will choose the type that one likes best, the pleasing or the surprising.41

About the writer...

H. Gene Griswold is professor of Music and Bassoon Instructor at Towson (Maryland) State University. In August 1982 Gene hosted the Annual Conference of the IDRS.

1 . J. P. Eisel, Musicus autodidactus (Erfurt: 1738), 1). 104.

2. Eugene Jancourt, Méthode theorique et pratique pour le, basson en a parties (Paris: G. Richault, 1847).

3. Eitenne Ozi, Nouvelle méthode de basson (Paris: Imprimerie du Conservatoire, 1803), p. 2.

4. Pierre Cugnier, "Le Basson," in Jean Benjamin de Laborde's Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne (Paris: P. D. Pierres, 1780), Vol. 11, 1). 332.

5. Johann Joachim Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (Berlin: Johann Friedrich Voss, 1752), trans. Edward R. Reilly, On Playing the Flute, A Complete Translation with an Introduction and Notes (London: Faber and Faber, 1966), p. 86.

6. Frederic Berr, Méthode complète de Basson (Paris: J. Meissonnier, 1836), p. 4.

7. J. Willem Bordogni, Méthode complète pour le basson (Paris: Mason Troupenas, 1844), pp. 2-3.

8. Reilly, p. 270.

9. Marvin Donald Dagrade, A Translation and Study of' the Bassoon Section of' Joseph Fröhlich's Vollständige Theoretisch- Praktisthe Musiklehre (1810-1811) and a performance edition of his Serenade for Flute, Clarinet, Viola, Bassoon or Cello." Diss. Indiana University 1970, p. 67.

10. Cugnier, p. 332.

11. Ibid., p. 333.

12. Ozi, Nouvelle méthode de basson, p. 3.

13. Reilly, p. 86.

14. Dagrade, pp. 32-4.

15. Etienne Ozi, Méthode nouvelle et raisonnée pour le basson (Paris: Boyer, 1787), p. 2.

16. Reilly, p. 86.

17. Ibid., p. 268.

18. Cugnier, p. 328.

19. Ibid., p. 329.

20. Dagrade, pp. 8-9.

21. For a more complete discussion on late eighteenth-century reed-making practices, see the present writer's article, "Reed- making: Etienne Ozi (1754-1813)" in The Journal of the International Double Reed Society, No. 9, (1981), pp. 17-25.

22. Denis Diderot and jean Lerond d'Alembert, "Basson du Hautbois," in Encyclopedie, Nouvelle impression en facsimile de la premiere edition de 1751-80 (Stuttgart; Friedrich Frommann Verlag, 1967), Vol. 11, p. 127.

23. Reilly, p. 268.

24. Cugnier, pp. 328-29.

25. Reilly, p. 267.

26. Ibid.

27. Ozi, Nouvelle méthode de basson, p. 2.

28. Forty years later, Almenrader's alterations in the construction of the bassoon greatly improved the intonation on these tones. See Herbert Heyde, "Carl Almenraders Verdienst um das Fagott," in Beitrage zu Musikwissenschaft, XIV/3 (1972), p. 227.

29. Cugnier, pp. 334-35.

30. Ozi, Méthode nouvelle et raisonnée, pp. 2-3.

31. For a complete list of specific fingerings used during this time, see the present writer's article, "Comparing Fingerings for Evolving Bassoons from the Second Half of the 18th Century to the Beginning of the 19th Century," in The Double Reed, 11/2 (October, 1979), pp. 18-24.

32. Ozi, Nouvelle méthode de basson, p. 2.

33. Cugnier, p. 342.

34. Reilly, pp. 37-8.

35. Ibid., p. 223.

36. Dagrade, p. 35.

37. Ibid., pp. 21-2.

38. Ibid., p. 67.

39. Cugnier, p. 340.

40. Ibid., p. 341.

41. Ibid., p. 342.

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