I am writing a similar letter to Dan, because of the following:

I have found three titles of dissertations which might be of interest to I.D.R.S. members:

Danziger, Robert. Performance Editions for Bassoon of Selected Recorder Works of Georg Phillip Telemann. 177 pp. (Ph.D. New York University 1978) DAI 39/12A. p. 7045 UMI PSE79-11231

Hefner, Donald L. The Tradition of the Paris Conservatory School of Oboe Playing with Special Attention to the Influence of Marcel Tabuteau. (Ph.D. Catholic University of America 1984)

Krause, Robert James. A Biographical Dictionary European Oboists Before 1900. 119 pp. (D.M.A. University of Miami 1981) DAI 42/08A. p. 3341 UMI PSE82-01427

I have now seen Constant PIERRE's (his surname is PIERRE!!!) book which filled in the gap in my study of Paris Conservatory Oboe Laureates. Hope to get it ready for your reading sometime before Christmas.

Sincerely,
Dr. George A. Conrey
Fort Worth, Texas

August 14, 1985
The Double Reed
University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho 83843

Dear Dr. Klimko:

I enjoyed reading Helene Couturier's article on Degas' remarkable portrait of Desire Dihau (Spring 1985 issue).

I have some comments to add to hers. The bassoon, let's face it, is an ungainly instrument, overlong for an artist interested in composition. Degas solves this problem by cutting off the bell behind the shoulder of the bassist to his right. What note is Dihau playing? His left pinkie is held in teacup position far from the keys. He is not holding down E-flat and this rules out many high register notes. Actually he has the first and second fingers of the left hand down and four fingers of the right hand. The right thumb is invisible but the left appears at the level of the first finger. The high C-sharp key? The finger positions are illustrated on page 197 of the Cooper Toplansky magnum opus, an alternate fingering for E-flat3 ! Admittedly, this is a trill fingering but Degas' photographic eye must have caught the third finger in full flutter from the previous note, D-flat3.

Sincerely,
Reuben Berman, M.D.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55417

P.S. And my daughter, oboist, adds that Degas has further truncated the instrument masking the boot joint behind the velvet railing separating the pit from the first row.

(I am not sure it is possible to determine fully what note - if any! - that Dihau is playing in the Degas portrait. He could be playing the following:

for E-flat', but a "serious " Conservatoire artist would also add the 1. h. thumb E-flat key for resonance. It could also be the slur fingering into an F-sharp I from any interval:

and that would allow the 1. h. thumb to be free. At any rate the way the fingers "hover" over a French bassoon it's impossible to tell for sure. If the l.h. thumb is holding down a key, it can't be the high C-sharp key as you suggest, because this key is positioned for the 1. h. little finger on the French bassoon and the A key is the first key above the alternate whisper key. Using the fingering you suggest only yields an inferior B-flat' on the instrument. I'd opt for either of the two previously suggested, especially the latter. Interesting speculation, though. Ed.)

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