Geoffrey Burgess -- Zelenka Trio, mystery incipit
Joseph Robinson -- "Haydn" Oboe Concerto
Paul Laubin -- Hard rubber inserts in oboes
Robert Kay -- Further low A's for bassoon and contrabassoon
Michel Jolivet -- Further low A's for bassoon
John F. Price -- Critique of Kay's Low A article
Dick Rusch -- Comments on Kay's Low A article
Richard Plaster -- Sarrusaphone
Robert H. Cronin -- Critique of Oromszegi's article
Reuben Berman -- Comments on Jürg Schaeftlein

(It is envigorating to us, the editors, to have such interesting and intense reactions from the readers to the articles in our publications. We happily share some of these with all of you. Ed.)

26th March, 1987

Dear Dan,

Interest has been expressed in my work on the Zelenka Trios, so I've prepared a paper on the sources, dating and context of these works, focused on interpretational problems. Readers should be aware that there are no clear-cut solutions to the plethora of problems, but my speculations should be of interest, so I'll send over a copy once it's readable.

Islay-May Renwick, please accept my heartiest thanks for clearing up the ambiguities in my discussion of the Mozart Oboe Concerto, and the errors which crept into the checklist which I was not able to proofread before it went to press. By the way, Barenreiter has printed a performing edition of the Concerto: no. 4856a in their catalogue.

"A Profile of Mr. Ling: English Oboe Reeds around 1800" is on its way to Oxford and should be in time for the next issue of the Journal of the Fellowship of Makers and Researchers of Historical Instruments.

Finally, can anyone identify the following incipit which appears in the portrait of an unknown oboist owned by the Berlin Staatliches Institut fur Musikforschung?

Bruce Haynes, in "A Preliminary checklist of iconography for oboe-type instruments, reeds, and players c.1630-c.1830" FoMRHI Comm. 764 suggests it was painted in c. 17 10. It would be nice to think that it shows Francois Le Riche, one of the most famous oboists of the day. The portrait is reproduced in Haynes "Making Baroque Oboe Reeds", EM,4,317; on the cover of Bruce's "Concerti per oboe, archi e cembalo" (RCA RL3037 1) & Joppig,G., Oboe & Fagott. The concerto may be extant only in a transcription and/or transposition. It should serve as identification of the oboist, who, if not the composer, would have been closely associated with the concerto. I welcome any clues in helping to solve this mystery.

Geoffrey Burgess
6 Romford Rd.
Epping, 2121
NSW, Australia


September 10, 1987 Dear Dan:

In a recent I.D.R.S. Journal article entitled "The so-called Haydn oboe concerto: a curious modern edition," Benjamin Folkman rejects the 1977 Peters edition (Nr. 8233) as a version of this delightful piece which "cannot, in the final analysis, be recommended for performance. " In his critique, Mr. Folkman demonstrates thorough-going musicological detective work which is somewhat surprising in light of his scant regard for the "so-called Haydn oboe concerto;" and he writes with a clever and scintillating style which is the critic's "verbal advantage" in musical commentary in general. But Mr. Folkman's musical judgments about this music do not coincide with mine; and since I performed this version (by editor Rolf Julius Koch) eight times in subscription concerts of the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta last year - and no other solo concerto with the same artist has been as widely programmed in the same season during my nine years as principal oboist, I think it is appropriate to explain to fellow oboists some of my reasons for choosing to play the Koch/ Peters edition.

Something of a paradox exists in the popularity of the "Haydn" Oboe Concerto among students, who almost always fall in love with the Breitkopf & Haertel edition (Nr. 5349) early in their studies, and in its neglect in recent years by American professional oboists, almost none of whom have programmed the work in an important concert setting. Of course, some players outgrow its simple charms, and others may become more concerned about the question of dubious authorship as they advance within the profession. Still another reason for this disparity arises, however, from the traditional version of the piece itself, which I have always found to be overgrown and over-blown, particularly in the accompaniment. The accompaniment "frame" tended to overwhelm the soloistic "picture. " Any new version of the concerto that streamlined and shortened the tutti sections would have appealed to me, therefore, and the Koch/ Peters edition accomplishes both purposes admirably.

Mr. Folkman takes issue with editor Koch on three basic grounds: first, for simplifying the scoring in the accompaniment - ie, using pairs of flutes and horns instead of trumpets, clarinets (or oboes), and timpani; second, for eliminating the third theme of the first movement:

and third, for abridging the conclusion of the first movement and for omitting two tutti refrains in the finale. But it is precisely these deletions and changes that appeal to me, and which increased the pace and energy and coherence and ultimate effectiveness of the concerto in performance. No first movement motif really requires trumpet and timpani reinforcement, and the "C theme" for which Mr. Folkman shows such affection has always seemed to me to be one of the most banal melodies ever written for the oboe - a kind of personification of Chicken Little in the barnyard! Furthermore, Mr. Koch's cadenza at the end of the first movement is much more dramatic and expressive than Mr. Wunderer's in the familiar Breitkopf & Haertel edition.

When Zubin Mehta asked me several years ago to play the "Haydn" Oboe Concerto instead of the Mozart, he based his preference upon several very successful concerts in Berlin with the great German oboist Lothar Koch (no relation to Rolf Julius). In addition to the eight performances at Avery Fisher Hall in October and November 1986, the "Haydn" Oboe concerto was aired on at least three separate programs throughout the Exxon-New York Philharmonic radio network this year, and it soon will be included in a special album of solo performances by Philharmonic first-chair players. No appearances in my career have been more warmly and enthusiastically acclaimed; one subscriber told me that my "Haydn" performance was the most joyful experience in his twenty years of concert-going at Lincoln Center!

Because Mr. Folkman's gloomy assessment of the Koch/Peters edition appeared in the Philharmonic's program notes, I spent far too much time backstage in the Green Room following my concerts reassuring listeners who liked the "Haydn" Oboe Concerto far more than Mr. Folkman said they should. The Philharmonic had paid a writer to deprecate the music its patrons were about to hear! Editorializing about the value of the music, rather than merely elucidating its development, should be the critic's concern and not the annotator's.

Finally, I urge all student and professional oboists to reconsider the "Haydn" Oboe Concerto in its new Koch/Peters edition. Decide for yourself whether you agree with me about it, or with Benjamin Folkman.

Joseph Robinson
Demarest, New Jersey


April 13, 1987

Dear Dan,

I read with interest the recent interview with Hans Kreul done by Nora Post. I feel that I must point out some inaccuracies in this article.

At the conclusion of the article, it is stated that Kreul is the only oboe manufacturer to use a hard-rubber lining in the upper joint of their instruments. We at A. Laubin have used the hard rubber sleeve since 1958! Ralph Gomberg and Bert Gassman both used Laubin instruments with sleeves since the late 50's. At first, we used a sleeve only for an instrument made for a player who had experienced repeated problems with instruments cracking or who lived in a climate where the risk of major cracks was high. Even before 1958, we used the rubber sleeve as a repair procedure for severe cracks. We have also used hard rubber tone-hole bushings, both in our new instruments and as replacements for at least 40 years.

This information is well known by oboists in this country and should come as no surprise to Ms. Post.

Regarding the use of rosewood for oboes, we began to use rosewood at least 30 years ago. This was well before Kreul or Loree resumed production of rosewood instruments. Approximately one-third of our production for the past dozen years has been rosewood.

Let me state that I have no objection to Kreul or anyone else using rubber liners. We have no patent on this procedure. But Hans Kreul cannot claim credit for the invention of a technique that Alfred Laubin created.

Concerning Ben Storch, you may be interested to know that he got most of his information from my father, Alfred Laubin. Obviously this was useful when it came to dealing with Kreul and other instrument manufacturers. Ben freely admitted this. In a conversation with me shortly before his death, Ben told me that he could never have gone into the oboe business without the help of my father. It seems only fair to give credit where credit is due.

Despite my disagreement with the statements in this article, I must tell you that I have enjoyed many articles in the Double Reed publication. At this time, I would like to order a subscription to be sent to our shop, where it will be shared with employees and customers.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Paul Laubin
President

The article on Low A on the bassoon by Robert Kay in last summer's journal has elicited a lot of response from the readership, including from the author himself!

December 12, 1987 Dear Ron:

The following is additional information regarding Low A for the bassoon:

Low A for the bassoon in orchestral music...

The following additional interesting examples of low A have been noted (see Section 4 of main article).

J.S. BACH (1685-1750) includes sub-Bb notes in several of his cantatas, for example in Cantata 31 (low G) and Cantata 150 (exposed low A's). These were probably written with a greatbass curtal or semi-contra in mind.[1]

RAFF (1822-1882) writes low A for 2nd bassoon in his Symphony No. 5, instructing the 2nd player to double the 1st part of a low-A instrument is not available. Raff was for a time Liszt's copyist and orchestrator, and it is possible, though unlikely[2] that the Cradle to the Grave Low A was written at Raff's instigation.

R. STRAUSS writes at least two low Ab's for bassoon, in Der Rosenkavalier (1910) and Der Aegyptische Helena (1927). The author has seen no information to suggest that a Low-Ab bassoon was ever constructed, which in view of the comments in Section 7 of the main article is probably just as well! The low Ab's must be a product of over-optimism on the part of Strauss, Berg (see below) and Shostakovich (see main article). The Shostakovich low A's, Ab's and G's have in fact been corrected in the 1982 collected edition of his works.

SIBELIUS (1865-1957) includes Low A in Symphony No. 1 (1899).

BERG (1885-1935), a distinguished post-Mahlerian, writes low A in several of his works. Its first appearance is in Three Orchestral Pieces (1915), this work also containing low Ab. The operas Wozzeck (1921) - for Ist, 2nd and 3rd - and Lulu (1935) - for Ist and 2nd - also contain low A, and there is an isolated low A for 2nd bassoon in the Violin Concerto (1935).

DELIUS includes low A in Appalachia (1902). It appears that some low A's in Delius' scores may in fact be editorial additions by Sir Thomas Beecham: for example, in Appalachia the Beecham edition adds a contra low A an octave below the bassoons.

Low A for the contrabassoon...

Two further contra low A's, in addition to that in Appalachia (see Section 6 of main article).

Ruth GIPPS (b. 1921) in her 2nd Symphony.[3] Gipps is the composer of one of the few solo works for contra and orchestra - Leviathan (1976) - although this latter work only descends to Bb.

John ANTILL (b. 1905) in his ballet Corroboree (1948).[4]

It should be noted that the caption in Picture 6 in the main article is incorrect and should read "... mounted next to the Eb and C sharp keys".

Robert Kay
Ledbury, England

ENDNOTES
1. Baines op. cit. (see main article) p. 290.

2. In view of the information in Walker op. cit. pp.

279-80.

3. Letter to author from Mark Fitz-Gerald, 24th

November 1987. 1 am indebted to Mr. Fitz

Gerald for much of the information contained in

this update.

4. Letter to author from Anthony Baines, 5th June

1987.

July 29, 1987

Dear Ron,

I thought I would add a few comments regarding the article on low A by Robert Kay.

I can think of two other pieces calling for low A:

1. Bach Cantata #150 - An article by Ronald Bukoff in Vol. 9, No. I of The Double Reed explains why this note occurs in Bach's music.

2. Marcel Farago, Variations on a Theme by Paganini for unaccompanied bassoon. The note occurs at the end of the last variation and is easily played by using a cardboard extension.

Another way to produce low A in the Nielsen Quintet is to use the bell of the English horn!! It works beautifully. This also demonstrates that length of bore is not the only determinant of pitch.

It is also possible to generate a predominantly low A multiphonic using the following fingering: (Ie. low F without whisper key or left third finger)

When I was a student at the University of Washington I performed a piece with the Soni Ventorum which called for sub contra B flat. The contra I was using only descended to contra C. Arthur Grossman and I experimented with different lengths of cardboard until we had the proper pitch. After determining the length, Mr. Grossman cut a length of PVC pipe which was of the correct diameter. We were both surprised to find that the addition of the PVC pipe prevented the lowest tone from speaking at all - it was as if the contra had been sealed up completely at the bell. This proves again that length of bore is only one component of pitch.

Sincerely,
Michel Jolivet
Seattle, Washington

p.s. The contrabass sarrusophone is still alive and well (if barely) - I saw an episode of Saturday Night Live, and they were using one in the band and it even had a little solo! Also another show of the same series had a skit about Simon and Garfunkel featuring them as bassoonists - one played French and the other played German system - very bizarre! Finally, the movie Smashing Time, starring Michael York, Rita Tushingham, and Lynn Redgrave, shows 2 contrabassoons playing in a studio combo. There are two closeups of them, showing two old men playing in thirds!!

(Be sure to catch Michel's interesting article on the contrabassoon in another section of this issue. Ed.)

July 28, 1987

Dear Mr. Klimko,

I'm writing to you concerning my disagreement with the recent article on low A by R.H. Kay.

I find difficulty with the "Delsey" appellation since Delsey, like other toilet paper, is on a 4 1/2 " core. I find inserting a 4 1/2 " core into a bassoon and leaving 7" exposed just slightly more difficult than "The Impossible Dream". Maybe he should call it the "Bounty" method, since paper toweling is a core of I I ", making it much more possible to expose 7".

My other disagreement is in the diameter of Delsey, or, for that matter Bounty, both of which measure IV. Now I don't have a bassoon handy to measure, since all my instruments are constructed of African Blackwood (Grenadilla or Dalbergia Melonoxylon). However I do have a large cork handy which many times in a lighthearted moment I have used to "silence" the lower notes of the bassoon, the low B flat becoming absolutely tacet. This cork indicates to me that the opening at the end of a bassoon is about 1 13/16". Thus Delsey would retreat far enough into the instrument to at least close the low B, if not the low C hole.

I think Mr. Kay would be well advised to either promote the temporary method of inserting a rolled up sheet of music, or the more permanent method of making a core of the proper size and tuned to give an accurate A. Note that I have specified a cone (Delsey is a cylinder). I have made cones for B flat and even A for all my larger oboes (oboe d'amore, cor anglais, bass oboe). In order to correct the stuffy C caused by these extensions I find it necessary to increase the conicity in the extension rather than follow the cone of the instrument - that is, I flair it out somewhat. This helps correct the stuffy C, and I suggest may help the low B of the bassoon as well. Please see the cross sectional sketch below.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
John F. Price
West Allis, Wisconsin

(Perhaps the discrepancies between Mr. Kay's concept of the dimensions of Delsey rolls and those of Mr. Price might be explained by differences in "manufacturers' specifications- between the U.K. and the U.S., although I don't know for sure. Ed.)

Dear Ron,

I enjoyed the fine article by Robert Kay on bassoon low A. It brought to mind another example and yet another method for producing it. One of the interior resolutions in the slow movement of the Stravinsky Septet takes the bassoon to low A. It comes at the end of a bass line marked with a piano or two and, as the root of the chord, is rather exposed. The conductor, Ralph Shapey in our first year of the Contemporary Chamber Players and we wanted everything to be just right, asked if that would be a problem and I blithely responded that it would not. Then in a flurry of experimentation and accidental discovery I found that the old standby "handkerchief mute" would, when positioned exactly right, produced a nice, mellow A from a Bb fingering. The movement has no Bb and, since it is quite soft throughout, the muting was no real drawback. The handkerchief subsequently had a partially un-bent paperclip attached to it for proper placement and speedy removal. The placement determination can get to be a bit fussy, but it works. And, unlike the cardboard tube, it doesn't show. However, there is a certain amount of kitsch attached to the onstage alteration of an instrument.

Dick Rusch


The Sarrusaphone

There has been a lot of interest recently on information concerning the Sarrusaphone, as witnessed by the recent article by Michel Jolivet and Robert Richart - The Double Reed, Vol. 8, No. 2, Fall, 1985, pp. 42-45; the article on Sarrus by George Conrey elsewhere in this issue,- and by the following letter and pictures from Richard Plaster. Ed.

November 14, 1987 Dear Mr. Klimko:

A recent Double Reed journal contained an article about Sarrusaphone to which could be added this information: the orchestra Sarrusophone (spelled with either a or o, apparently) was made like a French bassoon, not like a Saxophone as the band Sarrusophones were. Its bore was narrower than that of the corresponding band instrument, the contrabass in E- flat. The E-flat one is best known in the U.S. due to its manufacture by Conn and use in World War I army bands. The C instrument is only three or four inches longer than the band instrument notwithstanding that it plays low C (the band instrument goes down to C# only, an obstacle to using it in the orchestra). It has a smaller bell, and the bell is removed to put the instrument in its case. That makes its case much lighter and more compact than the band instrument. Before leaving the subject of compass, there is a laminated wood mute like an over-size trumpet straight mute which makes it possible to play low C, B, or B-flat depending on your embouchure.

Enclosed are photographs of the two instruments for comparison. The band instrument has keys like Saxophone keys with certain exceptions: the left thumb has two octave keys, not automatic; it has also the low B-flat key; the right thumb has an octave key (to mystify sax players?)

The orchestra instrument, by contrast, has low C, C#, D, and D# plus two octave keys for the left thumb, and low E and F# for the right thumb, as on the bassoon.

The two instruments in the pictures bear engraved information on their bells: U. S. Q M. C., C.G. Conn, Elkhart; and Evette & Schaeffer, Ane. Mon., Buffet Crampon & Cie. a Paris, 18 & 20 Passage du Gd. Cerf, Paris. The latter was imported by the Boston Symphony in 1906. The former appears to be a copy of an Evette & Schaeffer model I have seen in a museum, probably the Metropolitan in New York, which displayed the whole family of Sarrusophones.

Yours truly,
Richard Plaster
Lexington, Massachusetts

Connections Between the Bass Bombard and the Bassoon

After receiving the following letter from Mr. Cronin, I phoned him and asked him if he would be willing to serve as part of a review board to referee historical and/or organological articles submitted for publication in the future, and he has consented to do so. Phil Gottling of Hawaii and William Waterhouse of London, England, have also consented to serve. Other readers who would be willing to review such articles are requested to contact the editors. By so doing we would hope to avoid printing problematic articles in the future. We want to stress, however, that we still welcome articles covering all areas of double reeding from the readership, and would use such an editorial board only for articles where we are concerned about the scholarship and the research involved in their writing. Ed.

20 October 1987

Dear Mr. Klimko:

The article "Connections between the bass bombard and the bassoon" by Otto Oromszegi in the 1987 issue of The I.D.R.S. Journal contains a number of inaccuracies suggesting that the author is ignorant of much of the historical evidence concerning the development and use of woodwinds in the renaissance and early baroque periods. Other errors in unsupported statements about the capabilities of renaissance double reeds reveal that the author cannot have had any practical experience playing the instrument he writes about.

The primary historical error is the assertion in the opening paragraph that bass bombards (bass shawms in modern American usage) existed prior to 1500. The other side of this error is the equally incorrect statement, also in the opening paragraph, that the bass shawm was obsolete by the 16th century. Consider the historical evidence: Virdung (1511) and Agricola (1529 and 1545) mention no shawm larger than the alto, a 1-key instrument standing a tone above the modern English horn. Fifteenthcentury illustrations of shawmists clearly show treble and alto instruments playing with slide trumpet, but no bass shawm. The first appearance of a bass shawm in an inventory is in Augsburg, 1540, according to Anthony Baines, writing in The New Grove. Bass shawms are listed at York in 1546, and along with two basset shawms in Ghent in 1551. As for the supposed obsolescence of the bass shawm, Praetorius (1618) describes the complete family of shawms as known in Germany without in any way suggesting that they had become obsolete. The French court band under Louis XIII, who ruled from 1610 to 1643, included two bass shawms.

Oromszegi is equally incorrect, in my opinion, to view the curtal or dulcian as an instrument designed to replace the inadequate bass shawm. The historical evidence is that dulcians and bass shawms began to appear in inventories and contemporary accounts at roughly the same time in the 16th.century. (Some confusion exists because, evidently, the term fagotto was applied to both instruments, a mystery since either the straight shawm nor the one-piece dulcian resembled a bundle of sticks). Both types were made well into the 17th century, the bass shawm becoming obsolete somewhat before the dulcian gave way to the baroque bassoon. The Nuremberg Stadtpfieffer replaced their bass shawm with a dulcian only in 1643.

Oromszegi's statements regarding the capabilities of the bass shawm and dulcian are far off the mark. I have played both instruments in professional and amateur ensembles for over ten years, and far from being "hardly possible", overblowing on the bass shawm is as easy as on the dulcian, both instruments ascending easily to G above middle C, which, it might be added, remained the standard top note for the bassoon until the second half of the18th century. Therefore the bass shawm is not inferior to the dulcian in terms of range. The sweeter tone of the dulcian, a consequence of its comparatively narrow bell, is definitely more suited to solo playing, and to blending with other instruments and voices, such as in the Symphoniae Sacrae of Schuetz, but the bass shawm is more effective as the bass in the shawm band than the dulcian.

I do not wish to imply that the bass shawm is as capable as the dulcian in all musical contexts. The principal advantages of the dulcian over the bass shawm derive from the arrangement of keys and thumbholes for the ascending bore. On the bass shawm the right little finger and the right thumb each control two overlapping keys. Pressing the keys in turn gives low F, E, D and C. Sliding between the keys is not feasible. Because of the overlapping construction the E key cannot be operated independently of the F key, and the C key is similarly linked to the D key. On the dulcian the left thumb has one tone hole to manage, and the right thumb controls a key and a tone hole. The right little finger has only one key. As a result facility in passages involving the low notes is greatly enhanced. Further, since the thumb holes and the keys are not linked, certain fingerings are possible on the dulcian, notably a good fingering for low F sharp, and half-holed low E flat, and an excellent middle G sharp. These notes are difficult or impossible on the bass shawm.

I take issue with Oromszegi's completely unsupported statement about 16th-century reed quality. Unlike the modern perfected (well, almost) instrument, the mechanically unsophisticated shawm and dulcian require reeds of great sophistication. The need to produce quite a few notes by fork-fingering coupled with the need to overblow without the aid of a register hole puts nontrivial demands on the reed. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary we must assume that the players of these instruments in the Renaissance made good music and therefore must have possessed formidable reedmaking skills.

Sincerely,
Robert H. Cronin
Menlo Park, California

December 8, 1987

Dear Mr. Klimko:

Congratulations on the elegant Fall 1987 issue of The Double Reed. You gave me a much better look at the workroom of the Heckel house than I was able to get actually visiting there last year.

I am intrigued by Jürg Schaeftlein's explanation of his breathing problems playing the Bach Concerto. He mentions he was playing in a room with candles lit and doesn't remember playing the trio because of lack of oxygen!

I think the respiratory distress playing a wind instrument, particularly the oboe with its tiny reed orifice, is difficulty in expiration. And the chief problem is not oxygen deprivation but carbon dioxide build-up in the blood. The problem is greatest in long staccato passages and requires pauses for exhaling as well as inhaling air. Fanie Jooste, professor of bassoon at the Potchefstroom University of South Africa, has an excellent description of this respiratory problem.[1] He annotates the score with differing signals for inspiration and expiration.

Sincerely, Reuben Berman, M.D.

1. Jooste, S.J. (Fame): judicious Breathing in Bassoon Playing, Woodwind, Brass, and Percussion, 23:17-19; Dec., 1984.

(See also Joseph Robinson's excellent article "Oboists, Exhale Before Playing", reprinted elsewhere in this issue. Ed.)

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