In Niew Loosdrecht, Holland, resides a friend of the bassoon - Will Jansen - who could well write this issue of the newsletter singlehandedly with the volume of splendid material he has forwarded to me. In fact Jansen mentions having compiled a similar ne wsletter for players in Holland 10 years back, now discontinued for lack of time. From his description of the bassoon book he is undertaking, I well imagine his time is precious. He welcomes this newsletter and I welcome his interest, excellent wit, and r emarkable agility in writing effective English.
Brief quotes from a much more complete description (and following, Mr. Jansen's address, for anyone wishing to contribute thoughts or to obtain more information):
" (I gladly comply with Mr. Corey's wish to tell something about the large standard work on the bassoon and contrabassoon I am compiling and which book, with its intensive researches going before the actual writing of the manuscript, has taken practically a ll my spare time for 20 years . . . Whilst learning to play the bassoon, I became interested in the instrument's history and thus started to look up all data in textbooks and encyclopedias. l got two booklets that were good and dependable: Heckel's booklet, ." (Der Fagott." ( and Lynd esay Langwill's small booklet, ." (The Bassoon and Contrabassoon." (. I started investigating myself and soon found out that the (other) textbooks and encyclopedias contained just a lot of sheer nonsense. In the meantime I started collecting ancient bassoons. I got my first one in 1950. today I have 33, of which 2 contras. The oldest is from 1735, the latest about 1870. It soon enough became apparent that practising bassoon history involves quite a lot of work, particularly when one wants to get to the bottom o f practically everything pertaining to the instrument. It was Lyndesay G. Langwill who first showed me the way and who encouraged me to take up this work.
The book will probably count some 1700 pages large quartz There will be 37 chapters, appendices and 8 indexes. there are two chapters dealing in general with the instrument's history and development. Then four chapters in which every detail of the bassoon , its wooden tube parts and the key mechanisms and bocals are dealt with in detail .... six chapters on the extensive biographies of about 700 bassoon makers. ... a chapter on the history and development of the contra-bassoon . . . a chapter on bassoon ma nufacture . . . separate chapters on: care, handling, and maintenance of the instrument, materials and tools for reed making, the making of reeds, the bassoon in pictorial art and literature . . . playing the bassoon, bassoon study literature, the bassoon in orchestral score, . . . solo and ensemble music, 6000 works cross-referenced in a special way so that name, composer, type of work, composers' biographies, and bibliographical data are all possible with a single listing of the works, bassoons and cont ras of historical value - their examination, reconditioning, and evaluation, lists of bassoons in all museums and, as far as known, in private collections Readers: here you might help Mr. Jansen out, if interested. - Ed.], several hundred biographies of p layers of the past, famous bassoon players of our time, and a complete discography.
There will be many hundreds of illustrations, both half-tone and line; many- full page plates . . . several in color; numerous music examples, tables,diagrams .... several specimens of the bassoon tonal diagrams invented and by which the relation can imme diately be seen between the bassoons of a certain epoch and music that was written for them.
I cannot tell you when the manuscript will be ready to go to my publisher - probably at the end of 1970 . . . For long the bassoon has been one of the stepchildren of organology: it is only in recent times that some literature has been published on the su bject, mostly specialized (L.G. Langwill, Don Christlieb, William Spencer, Dr. lng. Jurgen Meyer, Cooper and Toplansky). To these books I will add mine within two years."
(Will Jansen, 4 Eilenlaan, Niewloosdrecht, Holland)
Mr. Jansen has also provided me with some bassoon stories, reed lore (some later in this issue), thoughts for future issues and a special ." experience." titled, ." In search of Arundo Donax, or the Pilgrimage to Var - and no laughter, please." Watch for this next issue!