Out of the Bass Register: Expanding the Realms of Small Bassoons from the 18c and 19c | AMIS 2021
Out of the Bass Register: Expanding the Realms of Small-Sized Bassoons from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Donna Agrell, Áurea Domínguez, Giovanni Battista Graziadio, Zoë Matthews, and Letizia Viola, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Since 2017, systematic and in-depth studies of small-sized bassoons have been carried out at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Musik Akademie Basel, Switzerland. These investigations aim to fill gaps in the history of the bassoon family by exploring the historical contexts and repertoire of smaller transposing bassoons. One of the main objectives of the current research project is to assemble a catalogue of instruments located in museums and private collections: currently, it contains more than 100 entries. Our work will conclude with the reconstruction of selected models, using new technologies such as 3D-CT scans and 3D printers as well as traditional building methods. This presentation is an overview of the work undertaken by the SCB research team over the last four years, including organological descriptions and characteristics of small-sized bassoons, as well as morphological changes seen in different regions and time periods spanning the early eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. Analysis of repertoire together with historical contexts introduces a complex methodology; few musical scores explicitly specify “fagottino” or “tenoroon,” although their widespread use is becoming increasingly evident, as seen in a compilation of alternate terminology. The use of small-sized instruments was not limited to Europe, but had expanded to America by the turn of the nineteenth century. A March (ca.1807) composed for Governor James Sullivan of Massachusetts, for example, asks for a “tenoroon.” To complement the presentation of data collected on small-sized instruments, our contribution will include musical examples and demonstrations performed by the research team on original and 3D-printed copies of small-sized bassoons from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The three-year Swiss National Science Foundation project “Out of the bass register,” explores the organological and musicological aspects of smaller bassoons from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is being carried out by a team of researchers/ performers/teachers at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland) as a follow-up to the two-year SNF pilot project “Fagottini and Tenoroons—Small Forgotten Giants,” completed in 2019. This presentation was delivered at the 2021 Meeting of the American Musical Instrument Society. www.amis.org
Out of the Bass Register: Expanding the Realms of Small-Sized Bassoons from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Donna Agrell, Áurea Domínguez, Giovanni Battista Graziadio, Zoë Matthews, and Letizia Viola, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Since 2017, systematic and in-depth studies of small-sized bassoons have been carried out at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Musik Akademie Basel, Switzerland. These investigations aim to fill gaps in the history of the bassoon family by exploring the historical contexts and repertoire of smaller transposing bassoons. One of the main objectives of the current research project is to assemble a catalogue of instruments located in museums and private collections: currently, it contains more than 100 entries. Our work will conclude with the reconstruction of selected models, using new technologies such as 3D-CT scans and 3D printers as well as traditional building methods. This presentation is an overview of the work undertaken by the SCB research team over the last four years, including organological descriptions and characteristics of small-sized bassoons, as well as morphological changes seen in different regions and time periods spanning the early eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. Analysis of repertoire together with historical contexts introduces a complex methodology; few musical scores explicitly specify “fagottino” or “tenoroon,” although their widespread use is becoming increasingly evident, as seen in a compilation of alternate terminology. The use of small-sized instruments was not limited to Europe, but had expanded to America by the turn of the nineteenth century. A March (ca.1807) composed for Governor James Sullivan of Massachusetts, for example, asks for a “tenoroon.” To complement the presentation of data collected on small-sized instruments, our contribution will include musical examples and demonstrations performed by the research team on original and 3D-printed copies of small-sized bassoons from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The three-year Swiss National Science Foundation project “Out of the bass register,” explores the organological and musicological aspects of smaller bassoons from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is being carried out by a team of researchers/ performers/teachers at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland) as a follow-up to the two-year SNF pilot project “Fagottini and Tenoroons—Small Forgotten Giants,” completed in 2019. This presentation was delivered at the 2021 Meeting of the American Musical Instrument Society. www.amis.org