For quite a long time after the appearance rather than the "invention" of the bassoon, about which we know very little, players and students had to do without tutors. Playing the bassoon was learned by sheer practice, the teacher showing his students how to play. And there were, in fact, in those early days no "teachers" as we know them today. Orchestral bassoonists taught their pupils to play probably by writing out scales and exercises in manuscript. The brightest example being Antonio Vivaldi who wrote about 43 "bassoon concertos" which were, in fact, exercises in concert form for his pupils of the bassoon and not primarily concerti to be performed before audiences. It was all still very far from printed tutors.
Several bassoon methods, old and some not so very old, have become well-known. But little indeed is known about the men who wrote them. In this article I would like to give some data on several of the more famous among them.
The oldest real bassoon tutor - and already quite a large one - was that of Ozi who in his time was France's most famous bassoon soloist and teacher. Etienne Ozi was born December 9th, 1753, in Nimes. In 1777 he went to Paris where, at the age of 24, he became teacher of bassoon at the always famous Paris Conservatoire (however not named always as today). He also became principal bassoonist of the Feydeau opera orchestra and in the royal chamber orchestra. His abilities were outstanding. Although the bassoons of his time were far from perfect, he performed upon them faultlessly with technical and aesthetical qualities which were then unsurpassed. The first edition of his tutor appeared in 1788, and it was followed by many later and enlarged editions. It was also translated into German, Italian and Spanish. Etienne Ozi died in Paris, October 5th, 1812.
Another early French tutor for the bassoon was Willent's "Grande Methode complete pour le basson," first edited in 1844, and used for a long time as an annex to Ozi's method. Jean Baptiste Joseph Willent-Bordogni was born December 8th 1809, in Douai (Nord), studied at the Paris Conservatory and received first prize for bassoon solo performance. He was a born bassoon virtuoso and made solo concert tours already at the age of 16. After spending some years in London, he returned to Paris where he became principal bassoon of the Italian Opera and remained there until 1834. Subsequently he traveled to New York City, then returned to Europe for a tour of Belgium during which he was offered the position of teacher at the Brussels Conservatory; but Paris called him back. He went home and became principal of the Grande Opera and teacher at the Conservatoire.
His real name was Willent. He married a daughter of the very famous Italian singing teacher, Marco Bordogni, who lived in Paris. Willent added his wife's family name to his own to honor her. Louise Bordogni herself was a fine singer who performed in Italy and in the United States.
Willent was an accomplished bassoonist and thoroughly schooled in theoretics. Following his bassoon studies with Lecompte in Douai, he won first prize in Paris after only one year of additional studies. In order to write a tutor and to compose music, he studied composition and harmony with famous teachers such as: Jelensperger, Reicha, Fetis, and Berton. The number of solo concert tours Willent made is quite outstanding. Willent-Bordogni died in Paris, May 11, 1853.
No teacher of bassoon ever acquired the fame and appreciation bestowed upon Jancourt. Also there never was a teacher of bassoon more industrious. Although he was active for a very long period, when one studies his life and work one wonders where he found the time to accomplish all he did. He was principal in several opera orchestras, soloist, member of a wind ensemble, teacher at the Conservatoire and the composer of over 250 works for bassoon - tutors, multiple exercises and even more concert pieces of practically every form save large bassoon concertos. He must have been working day and night. Louis Marie Eugene Jancourt was born September 15th, 1815, in Chateau-Thierry. After preliminary bassoon study he went to the Paris Conservatoire in 1835, where, within one year he received the first prize for bassoon. He became principal of the Italian Opera in Paris and succeeded his own teacher at the Conservatoire. In 1848 he was appointed bassoon teacher at the Brussels Conservatoire, but after eight months he returned to Paris to serve as principal bassoon in several of the then many opera orchestras. He became a member of the Societe des Concerts, and he was appointed a Captain of music in the fifth subdivision of the Garde Nationale. He was an adviser to several of the leading Paris bassoon makers, and Jancourt's ideas and proposals contributed considerably to the successful development of the Buffet-type bassoon.
Jancourt was himself a pupil of the renowned bassoon teacher and composer, F. R. Gebauer. When in his youth he started studying with Gebauer, Jancourt's instrument was so bad that Gebauer presented him with one of his own. Jancourt did not make so many concert tours. His musical life in Paris kept him busy enough and generally did not allow him time to go on a tour. But during a 3 month vacation, he managed to go to London where he played in the orchestra of the Drury Lane Theatre; and there was one other period in his life when he left his beloved Paris for a longer period - from 1866-1869 he lived in Italy where he served as principal in several opera orchestras.
The number of works he wrote is tremendous, and they are all good, most of the concert pieces being very beautiful and still a joy to perform. His larger tutor, perhaps the most extensive bassoon tutor ever compiled, is a volume of over an inch thickness (I praise myself lucky to own a copy, for even in France the work is very rare. Those who have it will not dispose of it, so it is rarely offered for sale). It was written by Jancourt at the instigation of the composer Daniel Auber who then was the director of the Conservatoire. Together they had come to the conclusion that Ozi's tutor was obsolete. Jancourt's "Grande Methode theoretique et pratique du Basson," Op. 15, dates from 1845. He also compiled fingering charts for the various types of French bassoon then in use. As a teacher, few bassoonists have acquired the fame of Jancourt - a fame richly deserved.
Another rather important teacher of the bassoon, Jean Francois Barthelemy Cokken, was born in Paris on January 23rd, 1801. Starting his musical career in a then customary manner as a volunteer, he joined a regimental band at the age of 12. To complete his studies he went to the Paris Conservatoire in 1819 and received the first prize for solo bassoon one year later. Subsequently he was principal both in the Italian Opera and the Grande Opera until 1 862, when the popular conductor Pasdeloup, founded his "Societe des Concerts Pasdeloup" and asked Cokken to be principal bassoon in that orchestra. Cokken's valuable bassoon tutor, published first by Gerard in 1842 and later by Leduc in 1851, was not entirely an original but an improved and much enlarged edition of an earlier tutor by Friedrich (Frederic) Berr, a German bassoonist who lived in Paris. Berr died quite young in 1838 and his original tutor was considered good enough to be revised and re-edited. Cokken, like all other aces of the bassoon in Paris, led a busy life but in later years took it easier. He died in Paris on February 13th, 1875.
Someday you may come across a somewhat impressive looking tutor for the bassoon composed by one Otto Langey. And for once you'll be wrong if you think that Otto Langey was some famous bassoon player/teacher of the past. In fact, he was an English violoncellist who never touched a bassoon nor any other woodwind, but who nevertheless wrote tutors for these. This man possessed an astounding ability to write quite good tutors for a host of instruments not his own. Of course, they were not up to the mark of the really famous ones, but his bassoon tutor is remarkably good, and it is useful in combination with some of the more extensive ones. Born in 1851, Langey lived until 1922. The tutor was published first in London in 1877, and in 1889 an American edition was printed by Carl Fischer of New York City. An advantage of the Langey tutor is that the book contains quite a number of performing pieces, large and small; among them the Mozart and Weber Concertos (in some editions).
The useful life of a tutor may depend upon a number of factors. Certainly during the 19th century when people took their time and were never in a hurry, a bassoon tutor could serve a lifetime. In addition musicians and particularly teachers, are and were conservative. Had not Willent and Jancourt written their tutors, Ozi's of 1788 would probably have lasted for another half century. Both Willent's and Jancourt's methods were themselves superseded by later works by French bassoonist/teachers, such as Edouard Flament, Gustave Dherin, Eugene Bordeau and in our time Fernand Oubradous and Marius Piard.
In Germany, the best and largest tutor written was Carl Almenraeder's "Die Kunst des Fagottblasens," a volume about as large as Jancourt's. In addition, many smaller works - but all of a certain value - were written by Josef Fahrbach, Joseph Frohlick and others. We may still regret that one of the world's greatest bassoon virtuosi, Carl Jacobi, never wrote a tutor. He did write some exercises, and these are among the best ever composed for the bassoon.
The toughest bassoon tutor on the European continent, still much in universal use after its first edition of 1885, is Weissenborn's. Christian Julius Weissenborn was born on April 13th, 1837, in Friedrichs Tanneck near Eisenberg, Germany. A fine solo and orchestral player already at an early age, Weissenborn went to Leipzig where he soon became principal bassoonist of the world-famous Gewandhaus Orchestra. He then became the "lehrer" at the local music school and was a member of several woodwind ensembles. Besides his tutor in 3 volumes (the third volume is less known and not generally used; it was later revised by another famous Leipzig player, Carl Schafer) Weissenborn composed various concert pieces which are still performed today. The first two volumes of his tutor were published (in 1885) shortly before his death. Weissenborn died in Leipzig on April 21st, 1888.
Veiled in mystery is the life of the Russian bassoon virtuoso, Jakob Satzenhofer, who wrote a bassoon tutor in 3 volumes. Very little is actually known about his life, and the endless controversy between the two halves of Europe nowadays is not very helpful in getting details about his life. I did manage to learn this about him: He started his career playing in an Imperial military band and later ended up as principal bassoonist in the orchestra of the Imperial Opera House in St. Petersburg (now Leningrad). In 1910 he was still living, but the story ends there as far as I have been able to discover. On the cover of the early editions of Satzenhofer's tutor is his portrait - an impressive-looking gentleman with a large black moustache and an enormous silver star (the Imperial one, don't worry!) on his left chest. The tutor was first published in 1900 by Zimmerman in Leipzig. For many years, in several European countries, Satzenhofer's tutor was used in combination with Weissenborn's because the first contains quite a number of fine duets, enabling the teacher to perform duets with his students.
Lastly, for the present, I'll mention Ludwig Milde, who has certainly become famous for his excellent "Orchestral (Concert) Studies for Bassoon." Milde was born in Prague on April 30th, 1849, and studied bassoon at the local conservatory with Vincenz Gross as his teacher. He completed his bassoon study in 1867, then for three more years studied harmony and composition with Professor Skuhersky. He played for two years in the Linz (Austria) opera house, after which he returned to Prague to become principal bassoon in several symphony orchestras. He was the teacher for bassoon at the Prague conservatory from 1885 to 1894 and after this date still performed in woodwind quintets for several more years. Ludwig Milde died in 1913 in Bad Nauschein, Germany. It is not exactly known when his "Orchestral Studies" were first edited. The first German edition appeared in 1935.