Richard Dean SCOTT, Ed.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1971
The investigation of contemporary bassoon solos was undertaken in the hope that information of literature would aid in expanding the bassoonist's solo repertoire. The study was restricted to compositions of major proportions(concertos, sonatas, suites, etc.) published since 1945 and appropriate for bassoonists of college-level proficiency. The search for music involved a survey of music publishers in the United States, including the music of foreign publishers whom they represented. Libraries, retail distributors, and personal contacts with other bassoonists provided additional sources.
An annotated repertoire list of 162 solos was compiled, and 141 of these solos were examined. The description of each solo is in two parts. A standardized annotation includes 12 points of information: Composer's name, birth and death dates and nationality; the solo's title and instrumentation when not evident from the title, date of composition and publication, publisher(s), number of movements, performance time range of the bassoon part and proficiency ratings of the bassoon and accompanying parts. The second part of the annotation of the solos reviewed is a paragraph describing the compositional style and performance problems of the work.
Four solos representative of the various musical styles and performance problems present in the literature were analyzed in detail. These include an unaccompanied solo (Sonatine für Fagott Solo by Hans Erich Apostel), a solo with piano accompaniment (Sonata for Bassoon and Piano by Halsey Stevens), a solo with chamber ensemble (Serenade for Bassoon, Violin, Viola, and Cello by Bernhard Heiden), and a solo with orchestral accompaniment (Concerto pour Basson et Orchestre by Michal Spisak.
Examination of the contemporary bassoon solo literature revealed a large number of musically arresting works. The repertoire list included many unaccompanied solos, 75 with piano accompaniment, 13 with small ensemble accompaniment, and 62 with orchestral accompaniment. A recurring ensemble problem was that of balance between the bassoon and piano. Solos with small ensemble were found to be a particularly successful medium for featuring the bassoon.
As a group, the bassoon solos published since 1945 were found to be stylistically conservative. While most of the solos, approximately 85 of the 141 reviewed, were distinctly products of the twentieth century, they make only limited use of the new compositional devices developed since 1900. A group of 15 works was based exclusively on mid-nineteenth-century techniques. Approximately 40 solos were either serial or, if not actually based on tone rows, employed figurations associated with twelve tone music in only three solos with the production of unconventional sounds and use of aleatoric devices and special notations an integral part of the compositional style.
The United States (33), France (29), and Germany (22) made up the largest contributions to the repertoire. The compositions of most countries exhibited considerable stylistic diversity. With the exception of two works by Hungarian composers, however, all of the 23 solos reviewed of the communist-block countries were markedly conservative. All but one of the 10 Austrian contributions were serial or post-serial works. French compositions characteristically included a considerable amount of technical play for the soloist and tended to place extreme demands on both the bassoonist and pianist.
Robert Peter KOPER, Ed.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1972
The dissertation presented a critical analysis of the musical and technical problems in four selected compositions of Hindemith that feature or include the bassoon. The study attempted to answer the following questions:
1. What historical considerations are relevant to the selected compositions?
2. What characteristics of Hindemith's style are evident in the bassoon compositions?
3. What conclusions can be drawn regarding Hindemith's scoring for the bassoon?
4. What technical problems would the college bassoonist encounter in performing this music?
5. What are the implications for teaching this music?
The following compositions were chosen for analysis because they feature the bassoon in various solo and ensemble roles: (1) Kleine Kammermusik for woodwind quintet (1922), (2) Sonata for Bassoon and Piano (1938), (3) Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp, and Orchestra (1949); and (4) Concerto for Trumpet, Bassoon and Strings (1949). Data relating to each composition chosen for analysis were organized in separate chapters. In the sixth and final chapter the summary and conclusions were presented.
The study attempted to provide historical perspective to the compositions analyzed. In the stylistic analysis the elements of design, rhythm, texture, harmony and form were given separate consideration and discussion. Because traditional systems of functional harmony are adequate to explain Hindemith's tonal structure, the composer's analytical system, as presented in The Craft of Musical Composition, was utilized in this study.
Hindemith's emphasis in design is upon the horizontal aspect. His use of a recurrent interval(s) and/or rhythm pattern, his chromatic style and his penchant for the interval of a fourth impart a unique quality to his principal melodic lines. The rhythmic structure in the composer's contrapuntal style is carefully organized to allow the principal line to project. Although simple meters and common rhythms are frequently used rhythm patterns are developed by shifting the beat through meter changes or shifted measure. Characteristic devices include obbligatos, ostinatos and more complex contrapuntal means of development. Notable in this last respect is the second movement of the Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp and Orchestra which begins with a two-part canon that returns as a three-part canon. In the coda the same subject is utilized for a six-part canon for the entire ensemble. The harmonic analysis yielded a summary of chord types, cadence points, cadence designs, and an overview of the principal tonal areas of each composition.
Interesting variants of traditional formal and tonal relationships emerged. The composer's unique formal structures were considered by the writer to be among Hindemith's most significant contributions to musical composition.
Familiarity with the component parts of each composition yielded three resultant features that were elaborated separately after the analysis: scoring for the bassoon, technical problems, and implications for teaching. The composer's position regarding scoring was clearly against creating coloristic effects per se. Consequently, he rarely exploited the extreme registers of an individual instrument for the mere purpose of extending the technical resources of that instrument. In a similar vein, technical problems were minimized because virtuosity for its own sake was also shunned by Hindemith.
In considering the implications for teaching, the conclusion was reached that the compositions analyzed are appropriate for the university level. The chamber works are excellent choices for the undergraduate level, and the concertos are appropriate for graduate bassoon majors. It was suggested that recorded versions of the works be used in instruction to insure that a student's listening extends beyond technical matters to musical values.
FLETCHER, Richard Wesley, D.M.A.
The University of Iowa, 1974
Supervisor: Professor Himie Voxman
This thesis consists of two parts: (1) a comprehensive performance project in clarinet literature, fulfilled by three doctoral recitals, and (2) an essay on music for bassoon and small string ensemble, cat 1 700-1825.
The primary objective of the essay is to assemble a catalog of bassoon and string ensemble compositions written in the period cat 1700-1825. The study is limited to music for one bassoon with two or more strings, excluding works with a keyboard instrument or basso continuo. The secondary objective is to obtain as many compositions as possible for examination and study.
The basic references used to determine composition titles and locations were Robert Eitner's Quellen-Lexikon, Francois Fetis' Biographie Universelle, and G. Melville- Mason's bibliography of bassoon and string chamber music found in the appendix of Lyndesay Langwill's The Bassoon and Contrabassoon. Numerous foreign and domestic library catalogs, publishers' catalogs and chamber music catalogs were also examined, the richest source being Otto Kade's Die Musikalien-Sammiung des grossherzoglich Mecklenburg-Schweriner Furstenhauses aus den letzten zwei Jahrhunderten.
Microfilm copies of all compositions with known locations were ordered, and a list of unlocated compositions was sent to the major European libraries, a few United States libraries, and several professional bassoonists. Many works were acquired by this method, including some previously unknown compositions.
Chapter II of the essay discusses the historical and mechanical development of the bassoon to 1800. All works obtained for this study (98 compositions) are listed in Chapter III with source information and a biographical sketch of each composer. Five representative compositions are structurally analyzed in Chapter IV. Chapter V consists of performance editions prepared by the writer of Jean Baptiste Breval's Quartetto for bassoon and strings and a Quatuor in F Major for bassoon and strings by Georg Abraham Schneider.
A thematic index of all works examined is printed in Appendix A. Appendix B contains a list of unlocated works with their references and a list of works that were not received. Recital programs given in fulfillment of the author's performance project are printed in Appendix C.
Research involved in preparing this essay has revealed a substantial eighteenth century bassoon-string repertory. The quality of the compositions obtained for this study indicates that the works are far more important than generally recognized. By calling attention to these compositions it is hoped that bassoonists will be stimulated to revive a once-thriving repertory.
SEIDLER, Richard David, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America, 1974
The source of most of Vivaldi's music and all of his thirty-nine bassoon concertos is the manuscript collection housed in the National Library of Turin, Italy. This collection is a combination of bequests underwritten by two Italian families, Roberto Foa and Renzo Giordano. The bequests had a common origin, since they had originally belonged to Count Giacomo Durazzo, Austrian ambassador to Venice 1765-1784. During the few years prior to 1930 the manuscripts were re-united as the result of their respective bequeathments.
From this time to the present six principal attempts have been made to identify and/or classify the manuscripts. The main body of Part I of the dissertation will deal with these sources/systems in detail. Individual chapters are devoted to each, presenting them in the chronological order in which they first were made public: Gentili, Rudge, Rinaldi, Fanna, Ricordi, and Pincherle. In the course of these individual presentations there will of necessity be cross- references and possible comparisons between and among them, but Chapter VIII is reserved for a full treatment of the total problem of reconcilement.
In a sense, then, Chapter VIII will serve as a prelude to as well as rationale for this writer's own classification system (Chapter IX) which will be used as the prime referential heading for each composition in order to both insure uniformity and to avoid the plethora of sigla. The writer's Concordance appears as part of this chapter, providing a readily available set of cross- references from one system to another. The final chapter of Part I will explore the problems of errors and discrepancies in the totals of bassoon concertos ascribed to Vivaldi by various secondary sources.
Part II of the dissertation looks at the music in detail, with individual chapters devoted to each bassoon concerto. Within each of these chapters, the three movements are treated separately.
Since the two fast movements are generally constructed along similar formal lines (primarily an alternation of Tutti and Solo), it was felt that presentation of a brief chart for each of the outer movements would afford the reader a concise view of the sequence, proportions, and relationship of musical ideas. Following each chart is a written commentary designed to amplify. The commentary covers five main areas, in the following sequence:
For the most part, the slow movements are so widely varied as to defy succinct generalizations, and thus the main thrust of the analysis is determined by the movement itself. However, where the second movement does lend itself to analytical treatment similar to the outer movements, the latter's format is used.
The text is illustrated with 691 musical examples.
BORST, David Thomas, D.M.A.
The University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, 1975
The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a comprehensive study of the significant advantages that could be realized in a bassoon master class on the college level.
Part One. The Master Class Approach, is divided into five chapters and explores the principles of assembling all the bassoon majors of a college music department into a weekly master class under the direction of an artist teacher. The first chapter summarizes some past and present practices of applied group instruction both in Europe and in the United States, and demonstrates that class instruction on the college level today is more common than many would have thought. Chapter Two explores some of the recently developed concepts of Mastery Learning and how it offers a versatile learning strategy for the utilization of the master class approach and implementation of the present writer's work. Chapter Three examines a part of the nomenclature currently being used by educators. The main thrust of this chapter is that of probing into the meanings of such terms as accountability, behavioral objectives, and competency-based teacher education and the application of these trends to the master class approach. Chapter Four focuses on grouping and the roles required of a group teacher. Some of the problems of implementing a master class on the college level are dealt with in the last chapter.
Part Two. A Systematic Study of the Bassoon, presents major areas of bassoon playing in twenty-four structured units that should be taught in a lecture/performance situation. These units have three levels of mastery beyond the Methods Class level and would be presented each year in a cyclical sequence, creating a "spiral curriculum" effect. Flexibility is carefully built into the design of this method to allow a wide range of application. Among the considerations are: 1) divergent grouping, 2) individualized instruction, 3) the opportunity for each student to progress at his or her own rate 4) pre-student teaching experiences, 5) use of instructional technological aids, 6) exposure to much of the standard solo bassoon literature, 7) assignments on many aspects of the bassoon covered in the classified bibliography, and 8) evaluation and testing. The classified bibliography exceeds the limits of the usual selective bibliography in that it includes numerous reference under each of the ten topical categories.
BURTON, James Lee, D.M.A.
The University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, 1975
This study explores the dimensional status of the bassoon bore and seeks to identify the essential design elements of its conical form. In doing so, it attempts to establish the groundwork for improvements of bassoon bore design and construction, both for new and existent bassoons.
With a selected group of sixty-five German-system bassoons, including most of the brand names in common use in the United States, bores were measured by diameter and length. Diameter readings were taken at the ends of all the segments of the bassoon body (excluding the bocal) and at one-inch intervals within the segments. A visual representation comparing each instrument's diameter dimensions to hypothetical reference cone dimensions is presented, along with corresponding tables of measurements and data. For six brands, average graphs representing four to fifteen bassoons each are given, to illustrate the degree to which consistent contour patterns exist.
A select group of five Heckel bassoons, played by outstanding professional performers, was chosen for comparison with other groups of instruments. A series of well- defined patterns of variation from the reference cone was found to exist within the select group bassoons and similarly within two other groups of Heckel bassoons. Other brands were found to contain some or all such patterns, in varying degrees.
Six experiments in bore alteration were undertaken, in an attempt to relate playing characteristics to the specific contour patterns found among Heckel bassoons. Alterations were restricted to bore diameter changes based on the select group contours. In each case, it was found that the altered bassoons were improved in tonal resonance, ease of response, and intonation. Important variables such as tone hole placement and size were not altered.
In addition to conclusions drawn from the study of the select group patterns and their beneficial transference into the bores of other instruments, it was recommended that manufacturers develop and utilize more consistent procedures to produce accurately- sized bores. It was found that bore walls are not uniformly smooth, that U-tube fittings too often are mismatched to the bore holes of the boot joint, and that players often permit potentially harmful residues to collect within the bore and U-tube. Out-of- roundness of the bore, not found to be harmful in itself, was present in most bassoons.
ROSS, George Joseph, D.M.A.
The University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, 1975
The two chapters of this dissertation have concerned themselves with thirty-five selected duets which have been transcribed for two bassoons from scholarly anthologies or have been drawn from the author's original works. The duets reflect a wide range of styles from the twelfth through the twentieth centuries. The aim of this phase of the paper has been to acquaint the teacher and student with a variety of graded, edited works covering such musical style periods as the St. Martial School, the trecento period, the Renaissance era, the Baroque era, the Classical era, the Romantic era, and the twentieth century. It is hoped that by presenting these duets to the students a correlation between music and history will be facilitated.
It has been the intention of this writer to emphasize the pedagogical usefulness of these duets in the education of bassoonists. Also, these duets may be performed by other instrumental groups if desired.
The diversity of the sample represented in the dissertation compels the student to confront a broad range of problems, both technical and expressive, that will prepare him in turn to be a versatile, responsible and well-informed musician.