It was very interesting for me to observe at Edinburgh, while performing as a member of the North American French Bassoon Quartet, the high respect and esteem that the French players had for Jerry Corey. It was Jerry, always an innovator, who had almost singlehandedly resurrected and championed that cause of the French bassoon when, after Raymond Allard's retirement from the principal bassoon position in the Boston Symphony in the early 1950's, the instrument had all but become extinct in North America. Today there are more and more players in America, and I proudly count myself among them, who have been smitten by the haunting siren sound of "la bassoon Francais" and have taken up its call. With this issue of the Double Reed I would like to begin a regular column to popularize its cause even more.
I have a dream. I would like to see a professorship of French bassoon established in the United States in the next decade. I would ultimately foresee a future where all bassoonists would learn both systems. I feel that there is enough general bassoon "carryover" from one to the other so that one person, particularly if he begins at an early age could be able to become a significant artist on both. For you German players who have never tried to wrestle with a Buffet, I implore you to "give it a try." Sure, it initially seems difficult, but have you so easily forgotten the early days of your struggle with the German system? Besides, there are some nice tradeoffs -- things that finger so easily on the French system that are so hard on the German and vice versa. I find neither technically superior -- they are both difficult!! (But isn't that also a blessing?) The real difference is in the quality, the timbre, the sound. And again I cannot choose between them -- between the even smoothness of the German sound and the trumpet-like clarity and roundness of the French sound. I serve both mistresses, and I love them both. So c'mon, German players, c'mon French players too! Double your pleasure!!
For you North American players who might be interested but don't know where to begin, here is incomplete list of persons known to me who are presently experimenting or who have performed on the French bassoon in North America at sometime in the past ten years:
Gerald Corey(Again, he needs no introduction!)
411 Carpenter Way #13
Ottawa, Ont. K1K 4C9
Charles Holdeman(Chuck is probably the only American player who has given up the German system to play exclusively on the French. He also sells excellent reeds for the French system.)
1613 N. Jackson St.
Wilmington, Del. 19806
Kim Laskowski(Kim, like Chuck and Gerry, has studied with Allard, but is the only one to have actually taken the bassoon course at the Paris Conservatoire under him. She plays like a dream and I believe is finding enough work on the Buffet in New York that she hasn't had to go back to the Heckel. Incidentally, she is a Juilliard graduate on German bassoon!)
2015 Gerritsen Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11229
Lawrence Ibish(Many of you probably read Larry's article "St. Louis Woman" in the last Double Reed, dealing with the French bassoon.)
5430 Netherland Avenue
Bronx, NY 10471
Ralph Burge(Ralph has been playing Buffet since Allard's first performance for the IDRS in Toronto in 1976.)
1315 So. Pollard St.
Arlington, VA 22204
Scott Vigder(Scott is a new convert but very capable and enthusiastic.)
10382 Mississippi Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Dr. Art Norris(Art was one of the first elected officers in the early IDRS days, and way back in about 1967 or 68 went to England and studied Buffet with Cecil James. He also gave me a beautiful Triébert-Cousenon bassoon and got me started on the French system many years ago. I don't know if he's still at the above address or not.)
2404 N. 41 st Street
Milwaukee, Wl 53210
Two final items: one is the address of Henri Neuranter, 27 Rue des Bleuts, F-77400, Lagny, France, who sells French bassoon reeds for about 12FF apiece, according to Andy Ojanto, a Finnish player of the Buffet who currently lives in England. The final item is a long quote from the record jacket notes by Dr. William Ober found on the George Zuckerman recording (Turnabout TV 34304), of the "Phenix" Quartet by Corrette and other works. In it Dr. Ober, who is, I believe, English compares the two bassoon systems, French and German, and arrives at some interesting, if somewhat biased conclusions!
The bassoon traces its ancestry back to 1539 when a treatise in Latin by Teseo Albonesi refers to the Phagotum, the invention of which he ascribes to his uncle, Canon Afranio of Ferrara. It is from this instrument that the modern term fagoto (lit., a bundle of sticks) is derived, but, apart from its having been bored from a single block of wood, Afranio's Phagotum bears little resemblance to the modern bassoon. It had two single-beating reeds of metal, a cylindrical bore, and was blown by bellows and a bag. The modern bassoon, which dates from the late 17th and early 18th century, features a double reed of cane, a conical bore, and is, of course, mouth blown. The famous French bassoons with their distinctive timbre, were evolved by Savary, Triebert, and Buffet-Crampon. Its limitation lay not so much in cross-fingered notes as in the unevenness and instability of some of the notes in the simple scale. The 18th century French instrument was improved around 1824 by Carl Almenraeder who revised the positions of the essential holes and keys, thereby achieving a more even response, and further improved some 50 years later by Wilhelm Heckel who restored its full rich tone without losing the evenness and steadiness Almenraeder had achieved. The modern German bassoon is based on Heckel's model and is regularly used throughout the world except in France, Belgium, and Italy. Anthony Baines tells us that "French and German bassoons, often referred to respectively as the Buffet and the Heckel after the makers who perfected the two systems, differ so markedly in musical character as almost to constitute instruments of different species. Though more complex mechanically, the Heckel bassoon is no easier to finger. It is, however, immensely easier to blow, and it solves most of the problems of intonation, rapid legato, and response to an average reed, which traditionally worried all but the most expert players of the intractable Buffet . . . but the Buffet is the more sensitive instrument of the two. Its freer sound blends better, and gives more support as a bass, while in the hands of a true artist it displays a more flexible response to melodic line; also, its variety of expression, from pathos to grotesquerie, is very much greater." Clearly, the wedding guest did not beat his breast on hearing a Heckel bassoon; it must have been the Buffetings of chance which left his head bloody but unbowed.
from Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
The wedding-guest here beat his breast;
He heard the loud bassoon . . .
Ronald Klimko