In 1937, upon the untimely death of bassoonist Walter Guetter, Sol Schoenbach, at the age of 22, joined the legendary wind section of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The seasoned principal winds of that golden era included William Kincaid, flute; Marcel Tabuteau, oboe; and Robert McGinnis, clarinet. In a recent interview with Dr. Schoenbach in his Philadelphia home, I asked him about his early years with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Dr. Schoenbach's reminiscences about this and events Pertaining to the early years of hi's career lend insight to the origins of the "American system of bassoon playing.

William Dietz: I understand that at the time you started studying seriously, the French bassoon was, in effect, as popular in the United States as the German bassoon. Would you talk about that period and how it came about that you began to play on the German system instrument.

Sol Schoenbach: To understand the story completely I must give you a little background. At that time there were two orchestras in New York, the New York Philharmonic and the New York Symphony. Walter Damrosch, the conductor of the New York Symphony, dominated the entire New York City educational system of music. He had a theory that all string players should be Russian or Polish Jews, that all brass players should be German, and that all woodwind players should be French. His orchestra was made up of these different ethnic groups and he would hire European musicians each year from these various countries to staff openings in his orchestra. Two important wind players who were involved in this European importation were the flutist George Barrere, and Marcel Tabuteau, the famous oboist. Others included the French bassoonists Auguste Mesnard and Louis Letellier. This fine group of wind players became part of' the faculty of the Institute of Musical Art, which was founded by Frank Damrosch, the older brother of Walter Damrosch. The Institute of Musical Arts later merged with the Juilliard School. At that time all the young high school age bassoon students studied the French bassoon.

By chance I happened to take a different path. My brother studied violin with Isidor Strasner, a member of the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Strasner conducted a children's orchestra in Harlem at the Hecksher Foundation. This children's orchestra lacked a bassoonist, so when I would accompany my brother to rehearsal, Mr. Strasner would always suggest that I learn to play the bassoon and join the orchestra. At the time I was studying the piano and didn't know exactly what a bassoon was. Nevertheless, I was fascinated with the idea, so they got me a bassoon and I began to study with Benjamin Kohon, the famous solo bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic! Naturally, since Kohon played the German bassoon, which was the tradition in the New York Philharmonic, I started on the German system and was the only young bassoon student in New York at that time who was learning the Heckel system. Kohon was a very strict teacher. A typical lesson assignment might include the preparation of three pages, by memory, from the Otto Langey Tutor which was popular then. In addition to this I also had to bring in something prepared on the piano! He was a fabulous pianist and felt it was very necessary to know how to play the piano.

Like most youngsters, I didn't want to spend all my time practicing the bassoon and the piano. I was more interested in baseball. Kohon felt I wasn't sincere and serious so he turned me over to the second bassoonist in the orchestra, Simon Kovar. This turned out to be very fortunate for both of us. At the time Kovar had just arrived from Europe. He didn't have any students and was totally unknown in this country. He spoke a language all his own which was a mixture of Russian, Yiddish, Italian (a la Toscanini), and something which I never could figure out. I could barely understand what he was saying, but he was quite dedicated and devoted, and gave me enormous lessons.

As I improved I began to play around the city and think that I made quite an impression with my German bassoon. Other young bassoonists heard me and my German system bassoon, and over a period of time Kovar's class of students grew larger. Eventually the German system became the dominant instrument and the French system became secondary. Of course it happened gradually.

At Juilliard they maintained teachers for both systems. When I went to Juilliard I was the first student on the German system and I insisted that Kovar be my teacher. Letellier was the professor for the French bassoon and had a class of students that included Leonard Sharrow. Eli Carmen was a close friend of mine, and came at my encouragement to study the German system. Eli and I always had a sort of friendly rivalry with the students of the French bassoon.

I feel now that it was inevitable that the German system would eventually replace the French bassoon due to its carrying power. Also, the advent of sound movies helped the German bassoon gain dominance over the French because the German bassoon recorded better than the French bassoon on the equipment they had in those days. The engineers would complain that they couldn't pick up the French bassoon clearly on their microphones.

Of course there were marvelous French bassoonists around town like Letellier, Mesnard, and Duhamel. In Boston, Koussevitzky had inherited the French bassoonists Laos, and Allard, the uncle of Maurice Allard. Still, slowly but surely, the German instrument began to supplant the French. This happened not for any patriotic reason, but I believe, because people preferred the German sound. It is happening in France and other countries today.

I once received a letter from the Italian bassoonist, Muccetti of La Scala, asking me for fingerings for the German bassoon. It seems that when Toscanini went back to La Scala to rebuild it, he was so accustomed to hearing the German bassoon, that he bought four Heckel bassoons for the section there!

WD: So most of those gentlemen who had studied the French bassoon, including Sharrow, decided to make a big switch somewhere along the way.

SS: When Sharrow graduated from Juilliard we all went to a pawn shop and pawned his French bassoon. We got him a Heckel and showed him the fingerings. Sharrow went off right away to the National Symphony, which was under the direction of Kindler, and incorporated many of the fingerings and approaches that he had learned on the French bassoon.

But the Italians, the French, and the older generation of bassoonists all played on the French bassoon. In the Philadelphia Orchestra, which had a very Germanic background, there was no discussion about it. Even a man like Tabuteau had changed his oboe playing to fit more with the louder sounding German bassoons. He didn't have the narrowness of sound that was common to the French oboe players of that time. In the United States it seems the tendency is for all the various different sounds and styles to begin to conform to a norm.

WD: Do you feel that your sound evolved during your time with the Philadelphia Orchestra?

SS: Oh yes. There is no relationship between the way I play now and the way I played originally. The vibrato is completely tamed down, the basic tone has changed, and so on. When you play with people like Tabuteau, you have to begin to hear what they are doing and try to work together with them. When I started out we weren't always doing things the same way. But after a number of years the Philadelphia Orchestra has a way of grinding everyone into a certain pattern. It's such a huge machine that people must change - even Garfield is not the same as when he started. I think that everyone reacts to their environment, unless they are completely insensitive.

WD: Do you think it is always a change for the better?

SS: Yes, I think so. The Philadelphia Orchestra has a unique and wonderful sound. Everyone there seems to be in accord. Sometimes I hear other orchestras in which there is little unanimity in phrasing or sound. Each person goes their own merry way. There were many heterogeneous sounding wind sections back when I was a kid.

WD: During the period that you were in the Philadelphia Orchestra, you mentioned Tabuteau as a big influence...

SS: The greatest musical influence in my life.

WD: What was it about Tabuteau that influenced you and others so much?

SS: The French have a certain logic, and he brought this logic to music in a way that had always escaped me. Tabuteau contended that music has a certain inevitability inherent in it, especially the works of Beethoven. Furthermore, he believed that to achieve this inevitability, one needed to understand and utilize a logical system of execution which took into account the placement and ordering of the notes and their relationship to each other. This idea of relationships of notes to other notes, was a novel idea for me. For example, a line of music has a relationship within itself based on pitch differences, rhythmic differences, and harmonic differences. These elements are basically the core of all music. Tabuteau was especially smart about the relationship between the rhythm and meter. I noticed that when he played, there was a special kind of flow to the music. He was able to transcend the bar line. He didn't hesitate at the bar line or start every bar with a new strength on the first beat. When I would ask him questions about his playing he would give me answers, but he would never volunteer any information, particularly to a bassoon player. Tabuteau had it all, plus a forceful personality. His musical ideas were presented with so much conviction that one could never consider that it could be any other way. I modeled my approach on his. I thought everything out carefully, and presented it with confidence, and nobody bothered me! I was just a dumb kid, so it was easy for everyone to give me lessons. The conductors were all waiting for someone to jump on.

WD: What is the worst thing a conductor can do to a wind player.

SS: Interfere with his playing. The worst thing in the world is to be psychologically defeated. The only way you can avoid that is to get the upper hand. The only way you can get the upper hand is to be sure of yourself.

WD: Did the conductors allow you freedom to express the solo bassoon passages as you liked?

SS: Yes, because once I got myself organized they recognized that I had something to offer. But before that, everyone was ready with a suggestion.

WD: Were there others who influenced you.

SS: Kincaid was a wonderful colleague too, and had a lot to offer along the same lines as Tabuteau. Perhaps he wasn't as thorough as Tabuteau, but he still had plenty to contribute. McClain, the clarinetist, once pointed out to me that I had a tendency to mouth each note. He explained that by changing the embouchure for each note, I was missing the opportunity to have a genuine line of articulation, so that each and every note sounded as if it came from the same fellow. As you can see, I've had a lot of contacts with many people in my life, and I must say that there is nothing original in anything I've said. I've never thought of anything that's original. Everything I know I have picked up from working with other artists. I tried to find out what made them special and take it over for myself.

WD: Was it difficult for you to take all this advice and criticism?

SS: It depended on what they had to say. If I thought something was not valid, I just thanked them and went about my own way, which I often do anyway.

WD: Well you did have quite an extraordinary group of musicians advising you!

SS: Everyone! With everyone I ever played, I would listen carefully to see if they had something to offer me. If so, I'd learn it for myself. You can learn from everyone, and it doesn't cost anything. (Much laughter).

About the writer...

William Dietz, professor of bassoon at the University of Arizona in Tucson, has studied at West Virginia University, the University of Washington, and Florida State University. Mr. Dietz has performed with orchestras in West Virginia and Florida, and was principal bassoonist with the National Symphony of Costa Rica, from 1976-198 1. He also served on the faculty of the Conservatory of the University of Costa Rica. In 1981 he was chosen by the Cultural Division of the Organization of American States to present master classes for bassoon students from throughout Latin America. In 1985, Mr. Dietz was invited to return to Costa Rica to present a series of master classes at the Programa Junvenil of Costa Rica. In addition to his duties as Professor of Bassoon and Chamber Music at the University of Arizona, Mr. Dietz performs with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and is principal bassoon of the Arizona Opera Orchestra, and the Flagstaff Festival of the Arts Orchestra. In 1986, Mr. Dietz presented a recital of contemporary works by American composers at the MTNA National Convention in Portland, Oregon, and appeared with the Arizona Wind Quintet at the MENC National Convention in Anaheim, California.

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