The Emergence of the Late-Baroque Bassoon

THE DOUBLE REED 73 The Emergence of the Late-Baroque Bassoon By James B. Kopp Hoboken, New Jersey By a point in the later seventeenth century, the definitive baroque bassoon had emerged from mostly obscure ancestors. This fourpiece, three-key (later four-key) instrument, with a range down to low B-flat, remained little changed until the mideighteenth century. The design is exemplified by dozens of surviving instruments and numerous illustrations of the period. The first unambiguous and undoubted evidence of such an instrument comes from France: the title page engraving of Marin Marais s Pièces en trio (Paris, 1692) shows portions of what is undoubtedly a four-joint bassoon. 1 Along with more than a dozen other woodwind and stringed instruments, Detail from title page of Marin Marais, Pièces en trio (Paris, [1692]), showing portions of a late-baroque bassoon. The engraving is signed by Charles Simoneau. Original in the Waterhouse collection, London. the bell, bocal, reed, and upper long joint of a bassoon protrude from behind the title cartouche. These details are enough to suggest that the illustrated instrument may be similar to surviving baroque bassoons by Dondeine, who was possibly a French maker, and Thomas Stanesby of London. 2 But the precursor instruments that led up to this emergence are obscure, as are the makers who created them. Only one bassoon thought to date from the seventeenth century is known to survive, and both pictures and verbal descriptions from the time are rare. 3 Discussions of the bassoon s evolution during the second half of the seventeenth century have generally centered on French makers, often characterized as the Hotteterre circle. Roughly a dozen members of this family, originally from the village of La Couture, near Ivry, were employed as wind players at the French royal court during the seventeenth century, and at least eight Drawing of a four-key, late-baroque bassoon by Thomas Stanesby Senior. The wing has the stamp of Thomas Stanesby Junior. Original in the Waterhouse collection, London. are also known to have made woodwind instruments. In 1672, 1692, and c1740, knowledgeable writers made comments (always ambiguous in some essential way, unfortunately) that arguably credited one or more of the Hotteterres with having contributed to the development of the baroque bassoon. Many later writers, wishing to associate the sweeping reform of the century s woodwind instruments with names of known makers, have grown increasingly definite in their pronouncements about the Hotteterres role. 4 Yet Jane M. Bowers, a leading authority on the family, thought it necessary in 1984 to caution that their leadership in this area cannot be proved and certainly should not be unequivocally asserted. 5 This article will review evidence of possible contributions by the Hotteterres and other French makers to the development of the three-key, four-piece bassoon during the later seventeenth century. Because credit for such an accomplishment is highly significant, and because the possibility of contributions by non-french makers has been little explored, we will also include a consideration of comparable evidence of contributions by non-french makers. We will begin by outlining the known stages of development of the instrument itself, reserving discussion of possible makers names until later. Our starting point is the descriptions and illustrations provided in 1635 by Marin Mersenne, whose 1635 Latin treatise, Harmonicorum libri, depicted four instruments, variously labeled as fagot and basson, and gave approximately 1,500 words of commentary. 6 The same illustrations, accompanied by a roughly parallel commentary, were reprinted in Mersenne s 1636 French treatise, Harmonie universelle, to which many later writers have referred. 7 Among the four instruments illustrated by Mersenne, the last shown points most clearly to the four-piece baroque bassoon. The range extends down to the low B-flat, and the one-

74 THE EMERGENCE OF THE LATE-BAROQUE BASSOON Fagot or basson as pictured in Marin Mersene, Harmonicorum libri (Paris, 1635) and Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636). Of four bassoon-like instruments shown by Mersenne, this one most closely resembles the late-baroque bassoon. piece instrument features a cleft on the front side that extends down from the bocal receiver, hinting at the two parallel bores inside the wooden body. The cleft ends safely short of the upper-hand finger holes, which are bored at an oblique angle. Mersenne did not include a view of the rear (thumb) side of the instrument, so we did not know whether a rear cleft is present, nor how long it might be. There is a key for the little finger of the lower hand to control the F key (G vent). Mersenne showed a lower-thumb key for the F vent, as well as an open hole (E vent) for the same thumb. The upper thumb controls two keys: one for the D vent and one for the C vent. (When the C vent is closed, the bell tone of B-flat sounds.) Except for the key touches, the key mechanisms are concealed by perforated brass covers similar to those seen on dulcians and some shawms. The instrument shows a short crook and reed. The crook is shorter (and the wooden receiver longer) than will be found on later baroque bassoons. Mersenne referred to this one-piece instrument as fagot ou basson and grouped it with the shawms and the courtaut, all of which are pictured together and described as les hautbois. This is a useful warning that mentions of basson or basse de hautbois that appear at any time during the developmental period are ambiguous as to the instrument s construction unless accompanied by clarifying evidence. For purposes of discussion, we will refer to all these instruments of Mersenne s time and later as bassoons, except when quoting period references. The only specific evidence of an intermediate stage of development between Mersenne s instrument and the one shown in Simoneau s engraving is an illustration and brief description of a three-piece instrument, apparently of French design, given by Randle Holme III, which has been dated to c.1682-88. His drawing of a double curtaille showed an instrument with the wing joint and boot joint characteristic of the fully developed baroque bassoon. 8 But the third joint combines the length and functions of the baroque bassoon s long and bell joints. It is as it were two pipes fixed in on[e] thick base pipe, one much longer than the other, Holme noted. Holme s third joint lacks the bulbous swelling that would characterize the socket of a separate bell joint, which may be seen, for example, on the adjacent illustration of a French hoboy. Although the turned rings along the circumference of such instruments often have a practical function (as mounts for the key flaps and key touches), Holme s instrument, as illustrated, is not completely utilitarian. Near the bottom of the The French hoboy and double curtaille (a threepiece, transitional baroque bassoon) pictured by Randle Holme, c.1682-88. From London, British Library MS Harl. 2034, f. 207v. Reproduced by permission of the British Library. wing joint is a single ring that must be purely decorative, for no key was to be sited on this part of a bassoon for more than a century to come. We may conclude that the fifth ring near the bell opening of Holme s instrument had a similar, decorative function. 9 The adjacent French hoboy, with its wide, squat bell, resembles surviving, late-transitional oboes. 10 Given the stated French design of the oboe and other evidence of some sort of French bassons in England during the period, we may assume that Holme s double curtaille represented a French design. 11 According to one s interpretation, comments by the Englishman James Talbot may or may not serve to preempt 1692 as the earliest documentation of the four-piece bassoon in France. Writing c.1685-95, he described a four-piece basson in considerable detail. Elsewhere in the same manuscript, which Baines characterized as a pile of uncollated papers, Talbot noted that the chief use of sackbutt here in England is in consort with our waits or English hautbois. It was left off towards the latter end of K. Ch. 2d and gave place to the Fr. basson. The latter information was credited to William Bull, the most celebrated London maker of brass instruments of that time. 12 King Charles II died in 1685. If the French basson used in his lifetime was similar to the four-joint basson

THE DOUBLE REED 75 described elsewhere in Talbot s compilation, it would predate the 1692 illustration as earliest documentation of a four-joint bassoon of French design. But a word of caution is in order; we cannot be sure Talbot (or Bull) did not use the term French basson to denote a transitional bassoon of French design. It is within this context that we may ponder the possible contributions of the Hotteterres and their countrymen to the development of the baroque bassoon. Before introducing the names of the many individual Hotteterres and other French makers, let us examine three early citations of the Hotteterre name that have been used by writers as evidence of the family s prominence in bassoon-making. As early as 1672, Pierre Borjon de Scellery, author of a treatise on the musette, wrote that the father of the family (Jean [i/3]) is a man unique for the construction of all kinds of instruments of wood, of ivory, and of ebony, such as musettes, flutes, flageolets, hautbois, and cromornes, and even for making complete families of all these instruments. His sons (Jean [8] and Martin [9]) are in no way inferior to him in the practice of this art. 13 To modern eyes, there is no mention of bassoonmaking in this passage. Yet two possibilities lurk beneath the surface. First, Barra Boydell pointed out that the French cromorne was not a crumhorn, and concluded that the basse de cromorne was some member of the bassoon family. 14 Bruce Haynes has since demonstrated that the basse de cromorne was a contrabass oboe developed between 1640 and 1644. He offered the working hypothesis that the cromorne, in its various sizes, was played in concert with the treble hautbois until the tenor hautbois and bassoon were developed. 15 A second possibility is that Borjon understood the Hotteterres to be makers of bassoons, but thought of the bassoon as a basse du hautbois and hence thought it unnecessary to be more specific. With the next bit of seventeenth-century evidence, we encounter many of the Frenchmen who have been named as possible contributors to the development of the baroque bassoon. Abraham Du Pradel s Livre commode les addresses de la ville de Paris (1692) lists the following, master players and makers of wind instruments, flutes, flageolets, oboes, bassoons, musettes, etc. : Colin Hotteterre, Jean Hotteterre, Fillebert, Des Cousteaux, Filidot, Du Mont, Rousselet, Dupuis, Le Breton et Fremont, Héron, Du Buc, Roset. 16 Absent from this list but cited in the supplement (1692) to the Livre commode for all the wind instruments was Louis Hotteterre. 17 The list has sometimes been interpreted very broadly, to the point of assuming that each person named was a player and maker of each instrument named. This led, in turn, to the questionable notion that up to fourteen seventeenthcentury bassoon makers can be named. Du Pradel s category headings are ambiguous, however, and it seems possible that the accomplishments characterize the group, not each of the respective members. Circa 1740, the flutist Michel de la Barre wrote that Lully s rise (1653-73) caused the demise of all these old instruments except the shawm, thanks to the Filidors and the Hauteterres, who spoiled so much wood and played so much music that they finally succeeded in rendering it usable in orchestras. 18 It may be that La Barre, like Borjon, meant to embrace the basse de hautbois in his comments. La Barre, who served in the royal Hautbois et musettes de Poitou from 1704 and in the royal chamber music by 1705, would have known some of the younger Philidors and Hotteterres, if not the older generations. 19 By the nineteenth century, important authorities had begun to make erroneous statements regarding the Hotteterre family, sometimes assigning them a definite role in the development of the baroque bassoon. Given that the many Hotteterres shared only a handful of given names, a confusion of identities was perhaps to be expected. But the notion that any Hotteterre made bassoons prior to 1692 appears to be a plausible assumption, rather than an attested fact. In 1839, for example, François Joseph Fétis, editor of the Biographie universelle des musiciens, recognized one Henri Hotteterre as a wind instrument maker [who] became well known in Paris around the middle of the seventeenth century for his flutes, oboes, bassoons, etc. 20 For authority, he cited only Borjon s ambiguous comment. Later research has failed to identify any Henri Hotteterre, but context makes clear that Fétis was referring to the Hotteterre father of Borjon s comment, whom we understand to be Jean (i/3). It may be that Fétis, in translating Borjon s cromorne, relied on such misleading sources as Brossard s 1703 dictionary, which seemed to equate the bassoon and the basse de cromorne. 21 Edouard Fournier, in his 1878 edition of Du Pradel s Livre commode, contributed to the confusion surrounding the Hotteterres by his erroneous annotations. He described Colin Hotteterre (Nicolas [iii/12]) as basson à la Chapelle-Musique. 22 According to Bowers, it was Colin s older brother Nicolas (ii/10) who played basson in the royal chapel. 23 Fournier also believed that Colin was the Hotteterre whom Borjon had termed the father in 1672, and that the Jean Hotteterre named by Du Pradel was Colin s son. In fact, Colin was born only in 1653, too late to be the father of adult sons in 1672. The Jean named by Du Pradel was Jean (iii/6), a cousin of Colin. Later writers, guided by archival

76 THE EMERGENCE OF THE LATE-BAROQUE BASSOON research, agree that Borjon s father Hotteterre was Jean (i/3), whose sons were Jean (8) and Martin (9). Another questionable claim that the Hotteterres made bassoons in the seventeenth century was originated by Constant Pierre, who asserted in 1893 that the Dictionnaire françois of Pierre Richelet (1680) referred to one Hauteterre as a maker of bassoons. 24 Pierre, however, mistook the date and conflated several of Richelet s sentences into one misleading sentence of his own. In fact, both the 1680 and 1690 editions of Richelet s dictionary contain perfunctory and archaic entries of basson based on Mersenne. 25 Following below is the true basis of Pierre s assertion, an entry from the 1706 edition of Richelet s dictionary. As a corrective to Pierre s misquotation, the entry is quoted in its entirety. Bassoon, masculine substantive. Musical wind instrument sounded by a reed and made of wood, four feet long and dismountable, which sounds the bass part in consorts of flutes, oboes and musettes. The basson has two keys, two ferrules and a bocal, at the end of which one fixes the reed when one plays the basson. A good basson costs four or five pistoles. Hauteterre makes bassons, and demonstrates the playing of all wind instruments. 11 26 The four-foot, dismountable instrument of the first sentence is identifiably the baroque bassoon, which would have been commonplace by 1706. The remaining sentences are to be understood as examples of prescribed usage, rather than as part of the definition per se. It is worthy of note that the twokey, two-ferrule basson, apparently a conventional dulcian, was known in Paris in 1706, well after the appearance of the definitive baroque bassoon. But the only light that Richelet sheds on the Hotteterres as bassoon makers is that one of the family, at least, was widely known as a maker by 1706, some fourteen years after the three-key, four-joint instrument had appeared. No harm will result from collating the Table 1: French Woodwind Makers and Players Woodwind Makers Documented by 1692 *Dupuis (Oboe c1680) *Etienne Fremont Died c1692 Jean (i/3) Hotteterre By 1646 or 1648 Jean (8) Hotteterre Died 1668 Louis (v/11) Hotteterre After 1660 Martin (9) Hotteterre By 1668 Nicolas (i/4) Hotteterre From 1660 Nicolas (ii/10) Hotteterre Before 1660 *Colin (Nicolas iii/12) Hotteterre After 1660 Pierre Noë By 1681 Jean Jacques Rippert Long-established in 1696 *Roset 1678-89 Bassoon Players Documented by 1692 Jacques (5) Hotterre From 1692 Jean (ii) Hotteterre From 1666; died 1669 *Jean (iii/6) Hotteterre From 1683 Jean (iv) Hotteterre Died 1683 Nicolas (ii/10) Hotteterre From 1668 Jacques Martin Hotteterre (15) From 1689 *André Danican Philidor From 1672 *Jacques Danican Philidor From 1683 *Michel Rousselet 1661-82 Woodwind Players Documented by 1692 *François Des Cousteaux 1661-88 *René Des Cousteaux From 1688 *Héron (Gilles Héroux?) (1666-79) *Louis (iv/7) Hotteterre By 1691; died 1692 *Philbert From 1667 *Michel (i) Danican [Philidor] Died before 1651 *Michel (ii) Danican [Philidor] From 1651; died c1659 *Jean Danican [Philidor] By 1645; died 1679 *Jean Rousselet 1661-1708 Bassoon Makers Documented after 1692 Martin (9) Hotteterre By 1711 Nicolas (ii/10) Hotteterre By 1694 *Colin (Nicolas iii/12) Hotteterre By 1708 *Le Breton By 1745 *Jacques Danican Philidor By 1708 Jean Jacques Rippert By 1712 Woodwind Maker Documented after 1692 *Du Mont

THE DOUBLE REED 77 known independent evidence of activity by the Hotteterres, the Philidors, and the others named by Du Pradel in an effort to clarify and substantiate his important but ambiguous information. In an effort toward completeness, we will include other French makers of the time who seem to have an equal claim on our attention as possible bassoon makers during the transitional period. Biographical details are largely excluded from the table; fuller information will be found in the appendix which follows this article. From 1660 means the years 1660 and afterward; after 1660 denotes a circumstantial limit of 1660, with activity possibly beginning years later. Asterisks mark the full names or surnames listed by Du Pradel. (See Table 1) This list offers only fleeting glimpses of these makers and players. Undoubtedly, most of them had spans of activity outside what we can document. When known, however, the late birth or early death dates of an individual within the transitional period may be a useful clue in establishing possibilities, impossibilities, and likelihoods. In sheer numbers, the Hotteterres dominate the list, both as bassoon players and woodwind makers. In spite of the irony that no Hotteterre can yet be documented as a bassoon maker during the transitional period, we can nevertheless establish some strong likelihoods. Most identifiable of all the Hotteterres as a likely bassoon maker prior to 1692 is Nicolas (ii/10) l aîné, although he was not noted by Du Pradel. An accomplished maker of woodwinds, he established a shop in Paris in the late 1650s, and by 1660 brought his father from La Couture to join him. A few years later, however, Nicolas (ii/10) left his father to establish a separate shop. By 1682 he was living in Versailles. At his death in 1694, he left iron tools serving to make wind instruments, such as flutes, flageolets, bassoons. 27 It is significant that in 1668 Nicolas l aîné joined the royal chapel, playing basson. 28 A bassoonist who was also a woodwind maker would probably have used an instrument of his own manufacture, possibly of his own design. Nicolas l aîné s younger brother Louis (v/11) was thought until recently, to have been cited in Du Pradel s supplement for all the wind instruments. But Giannini in 1993 documented that Du Pradel s address matches a different Louis Hotteterre, apparently the cousin Louis (iv/7). There is no evidence that Louis (v/11) made or played the bassoon. Louis joined his father Nicolas (i/4) in a workshop when his elder brother left, a few years after 1660. 29 Louis s younger brother Colin, or Nicolas (iii/12), who was cited in Du Pradel s main listing, later joined in business with his father when Louis apparently left, an undetermined time later. 30 Why the first and then the second son left the father Nicolas (i/4) to establish separate shops, we can only guess. It may be noteworthy that Nicolas (i/4) is not recorded as having performed at court. If he was not a competent player, he could not have tuned wind instruments, even if he was competent to do lathe and key work. Possibly Louis and Colin, who were much younger than their eldest brother, worked with their father to learn wood-turning. The other Hotteterre mentioned by Du Pradel was Jean (iii/6), a cousin who also may be reckoned as a possible bassoon maker because he was both a player of the basse de hautbois (in the Ecurie from 1683) and a maker. 31 By 1701, he was one of the two ablest makers in Paris, Sauveur reported, but we have no evidence outside Du Pradel s ambiguous listing that he was a maker during the transitional period. Jean s brother Louis (iv/7), as Giannini showed, lived at the address given by Du Pradel for Louis Hotteterre, for all the wind instruments. Given his address, he may possibly have been the Louis Hotteterre, player of hautboys and other instruments, who bought a house from Martin (9) Hotteterre in 1691. We lack direct evidence that Louis (iv/7) was a maker, though we may note that the maker Pierre Noë was godfather to two of his sons. Of these two sons of Louis (iv/7), Philippe (13) became a maker, and Louis (vii) may have been the Louis Hotteterre to whom Jean Rousselet entrusted a musette for repair in 1712. Another brother of Jean (iii/6) and Louis (iv/7) was Jacques (5), who played basse de hautbois at court from 1692. He is not recorded as a woodwind maker, although Giannini surmised that he may have been. 32 Another Hotteterre family shop operating during the developmental period was that of Jean (i/3) and his sons. He was a master wood-turner in La Couture in 1628, in Paris by 1636, and active as a master woodwind maker by 1646 or 1648. 33 He is thus theoretically old enough to have been involved in the creation of Mersenne s instruments (by 1635). No evidence links him to Mersenne s instruments, but we may note in passing that Jean (i/3) is the one maker in this study not precluded by youth. According to Borjon (1672), the elder Jean s sons Jean (8) and Martin (9) were also skilled players and makers. Jean (8) had in fact died in 1668, so Borjon s information may simply have been out of date. 34 (It is not inconceivable, however, that Borjon mistook one of Jean s still-living nephews [Jean (iii/6), for example] for his son.) We know none of the particulars of the family s instrument making in the early years, but we may fairly assume that both sons apprenticed with their father. Martin established a shop in 1667, where he was joined by his father in 1668. 35 Giannini believed that Martin s son Jean (v/14) eventually worked in the shop, but she presented no

78 THE EMERGENCE OF THE LATE-BAROQUE BASSOON direct evidence that Jean (v/14) was a maker. The strongest evidence that he was a maker is circumstantial. Jean (v/14) remained at his father s address from 1712, when Martin died, until his own death in 1720. Meanwhile, Jean s brother Jacques (15), had moved to a new address by 1707. A 1728 inventory of Jacques s possessions gave no evidence of instrument-making, yet a 1715 visitor, Baron von Uffenbach, recorded that Jacques was a flute-maker. Giannini s plausible explanation was that Jean (v/14) maintained Martin s shop between 1712 and 1720, where Jacques would have had facilities for flutemaking. 36 All evidence suggests that Jean (i/3) and Martin were inventive makers, but the record is confoundingly incomplete for our purposes. Jean (i/3) is not known to have been a bassoon maker. Martin was apparently a bassoon maker by 1712, but we cannot say whether he made bassoons during the transitional period. 37 However, his son Jacques (15) played basse de hautbois in the Ecurie in 1689, when he was only fifteen or sixteen years old. 38 Possibly his instrument was made in his father s shop, though we cannot be sure by current evidence. Hovering over all these Hotteterres is the ghost of Jean (ii), who played basse de hautbois at court from 1666 until his death in 1669. 39 Only documented in Paris from 1664, some twenty-eight years later than his brother Jean (i/3), he was nevertheless the first recorded basse de hautbois player of all the Hotteterres. 40 Although he is not known to have been a maker, he was brother, uncle, or great-uncle to all the Hotteteres named above. We can only imagine that he may possibly have interacted with one or more of them, commissioning an instrument or suggesting modifications. Aside from these three branches of the Hotteterre family, other Frenchmen have reasonable credentials as possible bassoon-makers during the transitional period. Examining La Barre s statement, we may ask about the Philidors as woodwind makers. Fournier, the 1878 editor of Du Pradel, identifies Filodot as André Danican Philidor. Indeed, André, best-known of the seventeenth-century Philidors, played basson in the royal chapel from 1672, and was listed among the symphonistes of the chapel from 1682. He was also royal music librarian and played several other wind instruments. 41 But we may note another possible identification: André s younger brother, Jacques Danican Philidor, played basson among the symphonistes of the royal chapel from 1683 and was a woodwind maker by his death in 1708. We cannot be sure he made bassoons during the developmental period. But Nicolas Philidor, a latter-day descendant, cites an unspecified Etat de la France to the effect that Jacques was a contrabassoonist ( gros basson à la quarte et à l octave ) in 1683. 42 This provokes the thought that he may well have created his own contrabassoon. Four relatives (their grandfather Michel [i], uncle Michel [ii], father Jean, and André s son Alexandre) were wind players at court, but none was recorded as a woodwind maker or bassoonist. From Du Pradel s list, we may verify up to four more woodwind makers as active prior to 1692. Du Pradel s joint address for Le Breton and Fremont, both known as makers, suggests a workshop (rather than a residence) by 1692. 43 Little is known of Dupuis, but he left an oboe in transitional style, which Haynes assigned to the period c.1660-c.1680. 44 Roset s activity as a court instrument-maker was documented at intervals from 1678 to 1689. 45 In his 1691 edition, Du Pradel commented that Roset is renowned for the instruments of the royal wardrobe, perhaps suggesting softer-toned instruments such as the flute. 46 A double recorder and two flutes by Du Mont survive; the maker may possibly be identifiable with Aubin Du Mont, who played fife and drum in the Ecurie from 1708. 47 Du Pradel also lists names that we can link to identifiable players active before 1692. Though none are recorded as woodwind makers, we cannot exclude the possibility. Michel Rousselet was an hautbois at court from 1638 and basse de hautbois in the period 1661-1677. His son Jean was dessus de hautbois at court at various times from 1661 to 1708. 48 François Pignon, known as Des Cousteaux, was cited as hautbois and recorder at court from 1654. His son René was hautbois at court from 1667 and was later known as a flutist. 49 Rebillé, known as Philbert, was a member of the Poitous from 1667, but seems only to have played recorder and later flute. 50 Héron may possibly be identifiable with Gilles Héroux, who is recorded as basse de cromorne and marine trumpet in the Ecurie from 1666 through 1679, when he resigned. 51 Du Buc, whom Fournier described as a maker, is known only from Du Pradel s mention. We have added two other French makers to this list. Noë was a master woodwind maker by 1681 and had stood godfather to one Louis Hotteterre in 1674, apparently the infant Louis (vii), son of Louis (iv/7) and nephew of Jean (iii/6) and Jacques (5), both of whom played basse de hautbois. 52 Jean Jacques Rippert is an intriguing candidate: Two documents dated 1696 describe him, respectively, as a longestablished maker of flutes, and as a master maker of wind instruments. Saveur described him and Jean (iii/6) Hotteterre in 1701 as the ablest makers in Paris. By 1712 he was making bassoons, though leaving the finishing (tuning) to others. 53 We have asked the question: what Frenchmen might possibly have been bassoon makers during the transitional period of the baroque bassoon s

THE DOUBLE REED 79 development, between 1635 and 1692? We have attempted an answer based on their known related activities: woodwind-making and bassoon-playing. If we wish to fully examine the received notion that France was the birthplace of the baroque bassoon, we must now ask the same question about possible makers of other nationalities. One bit of evidence that commands attention in this connection is Der Fagottspieler, an oil painting in the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum collection of Aachen showing most portions of a four-joint baroque bassoon. The painting is apparently unsigned and undated. In the museum s 1883 catalog, it was labeled as a self-portrait of Jan Steen (1626-79). 54 But Cornelis Hofstede de Groot questioned the attribution in 1907, writing that it is doubtful that this is a portrait of Jan Steen and whether it was painted by him. Possibly it is his work, but many details suggest the work of Harmen Hals. 55 The painting was attributed to Hals (1611-69) in the museum s 1932 catalog and the attribution had not been challenged as of 1990, according to a museum official. 56 Thus we are presented with evidence of a definitive baroque bassoon in Holland at least twentythree years before the first clear evidence of such an instrument in France (the 1692 publication of Simoneau s illustration), and at least thirteen years earlier than Holme s transitional three-joint instrument. This is the sole evidence currently before us suggesting quite so early a date for a definitive baroque bassoon. When we compare a 1669 date for the instrument s emergence to the history of other woodwinds, we find 1669 to be noticeably earlier: Haynes estimated the emergence of the definitive baroque oboe at about 1680, and Bowers estimated the emergence of the baroque flute in France at about the same time. 57 One unsettling detail about Der Fagottspieler, however, is that the attribution rests on a purely stylistic basis. Nor is it reassuring that Hofstede s opinion, apparently the basis of the attribution, is somewhat equivocal. We must also regret that the attribution has shifted from Steen, a much-studied master of subject painting, to a comparatively obscure painter unlikely to attract the attention of art historians. It would be presumptuous for anyone but a qualified historian of Dutch painting to deny that Harmen Hals may indeed have painted Der Fagottspieler. But it is fair to say that in the history of the bassoon, this pivotal bit of evidence appears to dangle by a thread. In an effort to corroborate the painting s evidence, we may now extend our earlier search for independent evidence of bassoon-making during the transitional period to non-french makers. All the individuals named below worked in Amsterdam with the exception of Denner, who worked in Nuremberg, and Stanesby and Bressan, both of whom worked in London. (See Table 2.) This listing of prospective bassoon makers during the transitional period is shorter than the listing of French prospects, but not lacking in interesting details. There are four clearly identifiable bassoon makers prior to 1692: Richard Haka, Jan Juriaensz van Heerde, Jan Juriansz de Jager and Michiel Parent. 58 Haka s retirement date of 1696 Table 2: Non-French Woodwind Makers and Players Bassoon Makers Documented by 1692 Richard Haka By 1691 Jan Juriaensz van Heerde By 1691 Jan Juriansz de Jager By 1692 Michiel Parent By 1691 Woodwind Makers Documented by 1692 Peter Bressan By 1688 Johann Christoph Denner By 1683 Thomas Stanesby Senior By 1691 Bassoon Player Documented by 1692 Coenraad Rykel c1679-86 Bassoon Makers Documented after 1692 Abraham van Aardenberg By 1698 Thomas Conraet Boekhout By 1713 Peter Bressan By 1731 Johann Christoph Denner By 1707 Coenraad Rykel By 1699 Thomas Stanesby Senior By 1734

80 THE EMERGENCE OF THE LATE-BAROQUE BASSOON suggests that a recently discovered instrument by him is the earliest datable, surviving baroque bassoon. 59 Two other makers are documented before the end of the century. Haka s nephew and apprentice Coenraad Rykel played basson in theater performances at some point during his years of apprenticeship (c.1679-86). 60 It seems likely that he would have used an instrument of his own or Haka s making. But we cannot be sure that he did not use another maker s bassoon. (Possibly even a French import, a skeptic might argue. But it is thoughtprovoking that the Haka bassoon has an elaborately turned profile, quite unlike the French bassoon shown in the 1692 Simoneau illustration.) Rykel s 1699 trade card includes a bassoon. Another Haka apprentice, Abraham van Aardenberg, made bassoons by 1698. 61 Finally, Thomas Conraet Boekhout, Jager s apprentice, would presumably have made bassoons under the master s eye, but we cannot be absolutely sure, relying on current evidence. (At any rate, Boekhout made bassoons by 1713.) 62 Johann Christoph Denner, the sole German in this listing, is an intriguing case in several respects. In an application he signed in 1696 (jointly with Johann Schell), he sought permission to engage in the manufacture of French musical instruments, mostly oboe and recorder, which, the two makers noted, were developed about twelve years ago in France. The omission of reference to the bassoon in the first sentence may be noteworthy, since the two makers describe themselves in the same document as oboe-, recorder-, and Fagothmacher. 63 Or it may have been the case that bassoons were less in demand and thus less worthy of the makers mention. Several three- or four-key baroque bassoons by Denner survive, made before his death in 1707 and thus among the earliest datable, surviving baroque bassoons. 64 Denner s florid turnery is similar to Haka s rather than to the Simoneau illustration. Finally, Denner has been named as the likely subject of Der Fagottenmacher, published by Weigel in 1698. This woodcut, a very early depiction of a woodwind maker, shows the maker surrounded by his instruments, including both a three-key, four-piece bassoon (given pride of place in the illustration), and two-key, one-piece dulcians. 65 Weigel s illustration serves as a useful reminder that the dulcian survived alongside the baroque bassoon in Nuremberg and many other places. Giannini believed that Jacques (5) Hotteterre had taken French instruments to the English court by 1675. We also know from Holme and Talbot that instruments of French design, whether transitional or fully formed, had reached London by the 1680s. When Giannini wrote that the instruments of the Stanesbys and Bressan bear an unmistakable resemblance to those of the Hotteterres, she did not refer to Hotteterre bassoons, since none survive. 66 But the relatively late emergence of the elder Stanesby as a maker leaves him unlikely to have contributed to any but the latest stages of development of the baroque bassoon. He received the freedom of the Turners Company in London only in 1691. 67 Bressan s posture as a possible bassoon maker is more difficult to interpret. He may have completed his training in Paris in the 1680s, and thus have been aware of the latest French instruments. He established a shop in London in 1688 and left three bassoons among his estate in 1731. 68 No matter how optimistically we parse it, the patchy evidence before us leads to more suggestions than certitudes. We have assumed that two likely places to seek the names of developers of the baroque bassoon are among known woodwind makers and known bassoonists of the period, and perhaps especially among those who belong to both categories. (It was common for seventeenth-century wind players to double on several wind instruments, and even on stringed and percussion instruments. The real number of bassoonists on our list may be larger than we know.) We are unable to offer any names as likely makers of the instruments familiar to Mersenne in 1635. Owing mostly to the vicissitudes of record-keeping, only in 1646 or 1648 can we name a single active woodwind maker in Paris. Only in the late 1650s can we name another active woodwind maker. In discussions of the likely developers of the baroque bassoon, it may remain convenient shorthand to speak of the Hotteterre circle, but we can now bring a sharper picture into focus. Even though no individual Frenchman can be conclusively documented as a bassoon maker during the developmental period prior to 1692, we can nevertheless make some reasonable inferences. Among the ever-shifting constellation of Hotteterre family shops, that of Nicolas (ii/10) l aîné, a woodwind maker before 1660, a bassoonist by 1668, and apparently a bassoon maker by 1694, is likely to have produced bassoons during the transitional period. Nicolas l aîné s cousin Jean (iii/6), a bassoonist by 1683 and an esteemed maker by 1701, may or may not have made bassoons during the transitional period. A third Hotteterre workshop, that headed by Jean (i/3) and his son Martin (9), is unfortunately obscure to us. Jean (i/3) was active as a woodwind maker by 1646 or 1648, earlier than any other individual in this study, but we cannot be sure that he, Martin, or Martin s son Jean (v/14) was a bassoonist prior to 1692. It seems likely that one of

THE DOUBLE REED 81 them was, however, since Martin s sixteen-year-old son Jacques (15) played basse de hautbois in 1689. We cannot be sure, however, nor do we have good reason to dismiss the shops of Louis (v/11) or Colin (12) Hotteterre as possible sources of bassoons during the developmental period. It is possible to name other French woodwind makers and other French bassoonists of the period, but no individual can yet be proven to have belonged to both groups during the period. Jacques Danican Philidor is a likely candidate, however. He was a woodwind maker by 1708. If he played contrabassoon as early as 1683, he may well have designed and made his own instrument, as no other contrabassoonist of the time is known. Among other known woodwind makers, Roset and Noë were active by 1679 and 1681, respectively. Active bassoonists during the developmental period included Michel Rousselet (basse de hautbois, 1661) and André Danican Philidor (basson, 1672). Amsterdam was also the site of at least three workshops where bassoons were apparently made before 1692. The earliest discernible Dutch interest in the bassoon is at Haka s shop, where Rykel played bassoon at some time during his apprenticeship, which lasted from 1679 to 1686. Haka himself made bassoons by 1691, Rykel by 1699, and Aardenberg, another maker trained by Haka, by 1698. Meanwhile, both Heerde and Parent also made bassoons in their own shops by 1691. Rykel, Parent, and Jager, the middle figures in this span of makers, came of age during the 1680s. Haka and van Heerde were active as makers from 1661 and 1670, respectively. Owing to his youth, Stanesby was probably an onlooker at best in this phase of transitional work on the baroque bassoon. The French emigré Bressan may have brought Parisian innovations along when he established his shop in London by 1688, or he may have been encountering transitional instruments like Holme s for the first time. Denner, known to be of an inventive turn of mind, was a woodwind maker by 1683; his surviving bassoons resemble Haka s rather than the French style portrayed by Simoneau. At the moment, we cannot exclude the possibility that any woodwind maker of sufficient age during the developmental period may have made some contribution to the design of the baroque bassoon. Haynes suggested a three-stage view of the shawm s evolution into the baroque oboe: (1) the evolving shawm (c1620-c1660), (2) the protomorphic oboe (c1660-c1680), and (3) the definitive oboe (from c1680). The date of c1680 is apparently a liberal estimate, for Haynes noted that neither in iconography, written texts, or solo music does the true, physically differentiated oboe appear until the end of the 1680s. 69 Only one bit of evidence that we have examined would weigh against an analogous scheme for the bassoon. As long as Der Fagottspieler is attributed to Harmen Hals, it cannot be dated later than 1669. This would imply that the baroque bassoon attained its definitive form notably earlier than did the baroque oboe. If we accept the Hals attribution, we thereby recognize Amsterdam makers, not those or Paris (or London or Nuremberg) as the first known to have created separate long and bell joints. But if, for the sake of argument, we reject the Hals attribution, we may accept that Holme s three-piece instrument, apparently made in France (or in England to a French design) was a state-of-the-art instrument in the 1680s. The later four-piece design might then have originated in any of these cities. The shards of evidence we have to work with are disappointingly small, but we can nevertheless hope to look one day upon a mosaic illustrating the baroque bassoon s development. This tableau need not be simple and monothematic, nor need it be limited to a single city or country. Personal ingenuity, workplace synergy, national tastes, and international commerce all conceivable spurs to innovation are not difficult to discern among seventeenth-century musicians and instrument makers. Unforeseen evidence may emerge to document their effects on the evolving design of the baroque bassoon. Endnotes 1 The engraving was signed by Charles Simoneau. 2 The Stanesby bassoon, part of the William Waterhouse collection, is illustrated in Young, Twenty-Five Hundred. The Dondeine bassoon is part of the Bate Collection at Oxford University. 3 The bassoon, which apparently dates from 1696 or earlier, is illustrated and described in Waterhouse, A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-Century Bassoon, 407-10. 4 For example: There is no reason whatever to reject the assumption that the oboe was first tried out in public in this work [Lully s Ballet de l amour malade (Paris, 1657)], played, as we have seen above, by its inventor Jean Hottetere with his two sons Marx, The Tone of the Baroque Oboe, 14. 5 Bowers, The Hotteterre Family, 33. 6. Mersenne, Harmonicorum, 85-87. For background on Mersenne and the publication history of his writings, see Köhler, Blasinstrumente, 4-25. 7 Mersenne, Harmonie universelle, 298-302. 8 London, British Library MS Harl. 2034, f. 207v.

82 THE EMERGENCE OF THE LATE-BAROQUE BASSOON 9 See White, The Early Bassoon Reed, chapter 5, note 65, for an argument that Holme depicts a fourpiece instrument. 10 For comparable illustrations, see Haynes, Lully and the Rise of the Oboe, 330. 11 Several period references to French basson and basse de hautbois are quoted in Lasocki, The French Hautboy, 340-42. 12 Baines, James Talbot s Manuscript, 19, 25. White, The Early Bassoon Reed, chapter 5, notes 27-37. 13 Translated in Bowers, The Hotteterre Family, 33. The numbering systems used to distinguish similarly named members of the family are explained below, in the appendix. 14 Boydell, The Crumhorn, 195. New Grove Dictionary of Music Instruments, s.v. Cromorne. 15 See Haynes, New Light, 260-61. 16 Du Pradel, Livre commode 1: 212-13. 17 Du Pradel, Livre commode 2: 72. 18 Translated in Haynes, Lully and the Rise of the Oboe, 324. 19 New Grove Dictionary of Music, s.v. La Barre, Michel de. 20 Biographie universelle, s.v. Hotteterre, Henri. 21 Brossard, Dictionnaire de la musique, s.v. Fagotto. Quoted in Boydell, The Crumhorn, 183. 22 Du Pradel, Livre commode 1: 212. 23 New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, s.v. Hotteterre. 24 Pierre, Les facteurs, 373. 25 Richelet, Dictionnaire (1680), s.v. Basson. Richelet, Dictionnaire (1690), s.v. Basson. 26 Basson, s.m. Instrument de musique à vent et à anche, qui est fait de bois, et est long de quatre piez[,] qui se démonte, et qui sert de basse aux concerts des flûtes, des hautbois et des musettes. Le basson a deux clez, deux viroles et un cuivre, au bout duquel on met l anche lorsqu on se veut servir du basson. Un bon basson vaut bien quatre ou cinq pistoles. Hauteterre fait des bassons, et montre à jouer du basson et de tous les instruments à vent. (Richelet, Dictionnaire [1706], s.v. Basson ). 27 Bowers, The Hotteterre Family, 35-36. 28 New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, s.v. Hotteterre. For an introduction to the royal musical institutions, see Anthony, French Baroque Music, 9-16, 292-94. For further details, see Sandman, Wind Band Music, 93-119. 29 Giannini, Jacques Hotteterre, 379-80. Bowers, The Hotteterre Family, 35-36. 30 Bowers, The Hotteterre Family, 35-36. My interpretation of this passage differs from Bowers. 31 Bowers, The Hotteterre Family, 38-39. 32 Giannini, Jacques Hotteterre, 379-80. 33 Bowers, The Hotteterre Family, 34. 34 Giannini, Jacques Hotteterre, 377-78. 35 Giannini, Jacques Hotteterre, 378. 36 Giannini, Jacques Hotteterre, 380-81, 384. 37 Giannini, Jacques Hotteterre, 380, 390. 38 Bowers, The Hotteterre Family, 42. 39 Benoit, Musiques de cour, 15, 17, 22, 24. 40 Benoit, Musiques de cour, 11. 41 Dictionnaire, s.v. Philidor. 42 Benoit, Versailles, 360. Philidor, Dynastie, 35. 43 New Langwill Index, s.v. Le Breton and Fremont. 44 Haynes, Lully and the Rise of the Oboe, 326, 328. 45 Benoit, Musiques de cour, 58, 75, 86, 93, 105, 112, 120. 46 Du Pradel, Livre commode, 1: 213. 47 New Langwill Index, s.v. Du Mont. Benoit, Musiques de cour, 213 et passim. 48 Benoit, Musiques de cour, 4 et passim. According to Giannini, Jean lived at the address given by Du Pradel. Great Flute Makers, 4. 49 Dictionnaire, s.v. Descoteaux. Benoit, Musiques de cour, 4, 59, 79, 121, et passim. 50 Dictionnaire, s.v. Philbert. Benoit, Musiques de cour, 18, 19, et passim. 51 Benoit, Musiques de cour, 15, 68, et passim. 52 New Langwill Index, s.v. Noë. Giannini, Jacques Hotteterre, 377. 53 New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, s.v. Rippert, Jean-Jacques. Giannini explained the separate tuning process: We note that Rippert did not finish bassoons until after they had been tried by the customer. This approach also pertained to the finishing of flutes, as a player s embouchure and breath control affects the pitch and tuning of the instrument in a way comparable to that of a reed. Great Flute Makers, 45-46, n. 11. 54 Puvogel, letter to the author, 5 July 1990. 55 Hofstede de Groot, Catologue raisonné 1: 233. 56 Puvogel, letter to the author, 5 July 1990. 57 Haynes, Lully and the Rise of the Baroque Oboe, 331. Bowers, New Light, 9, 12. 58 New Langwill Index, s.v. Haka, Richard, van Heerde, Jan Juriaensz, de Jager, Jan Juriansz, and Parent, Michiel. 59 Waterhouse, A Newly Discovered Seventeenth Century Bassoon, 407-10. 60 Van Acht, Dutch Wind-Instrument Makers, 92. 61 New Langwill Index, s.v. van Aardenberg, Abraham. 62 New Langwill Index, s.v. Boekhout, Thomas Conraet. 63 The document is reproduced in Nickel, Holzblasinstrumentenbau, 204-05. 64 Surviving examples are described in Nickel, Holzblasinstrumentenbau, 231-35, and Young, Forty- Nine Hundred, 61. 65 Weigel s illustration is reproduced in New Grove

THE DOUBLE REED 83 Dictionary of Music, s.v. Bassoon. 66 Giannini, Jacques Hotteterre, 379. 67 New Langwill Index, s.v. Stanesby. 68 New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, s.v. Bressan, Peter. Appendix These biographical notes have been streamlined toward the history of the bassoon. For most of those named, further information, including bibliographical citations, may be found in The New Langwill Index. Citations are given here only if the present information is supplemental to, or at variance with NLI. Most of these individuals played or made various woodwind instruments; unless qualified, maker or player denotes this general sense. Aardenberg, Abraham van. (b Amsterdam 1672; d Amsterdam 1717). Apprenticed with Haka. Established by 1698, advertising bassoons and other woodwind instruments. Boekhout, Thomas Conraet. (b Kampen 1666; d Amsterdam 1715). Apprenticed with Jan de Jager. In 1713 advertised bassoons. Bressan, Peter. (b Bourg-en-Bresse 1663; d Tournai 1731). Born Pierre Jaillard, he was apprenticed in 1678-80 to Jean Boissier, a turner in Bourg. He possibly received further training in Paris. Established as a maker in London, 1688. Played oboe by 1691. Cited by Talbot (c1685-95) as his authority on recorder, flute, oboe, and tenor oboe, but not bassoon. At his death, he left three bassoons. Denner, Johann Christoph. (baptized Leipzig 1655; d Nuremberg 1707). A woodwind maker by 1683, he made a joint application with Johann Schell for masters rights within his guild in order to engage in the manufacture of French musical instruments, mostly oboe and recorder, which, the applicants noted, were developed about twelve years ago in France. In this document, Denner and Schell described themselves as Haudbois, Haudadous und Fagothmacher. Weigel s woodcut, Der Fagotmacher, possibly portraying Denner, is reproduced in New Grove Dictionary of Music, s.v. Bassoon. Both dulcians and baroque bassoons bearing the mark of Denner s shop survive. Des Cousteaux, François Pignon, known as. Father of René. Played hautbois and recorder in the royal chamber music from 1654 and dessus de hautbois in the Hautbois et musettes de Poitou from 1661. Des Cousteaux was referred to by Du Pradel in 1692. (Dictionnaire, s.v. Descoteaux. Benoit, Misiques de cour, 4, 59, 79, 121, et passim.) Des Cousteaux, René. (b c1645; d Paris 1728). Son of François. He joined the Hautbois et musettes de Poitou, possibly by 1667, and certainly by 1688. Des Cousteaux was referred to by Du Pradel in 1692. (Dictionnaire, s.v. Descoteaux. Benoit, Musiques de cour, 4, 59, 79, 121, et passim.) Du Mont. Referred to by Du Pradel, 1692. Three types of flute survive bearing his stamp. Possibly identifiable with Aubin Du Mont, who played fife and drum in the Ecurie from 1708. (Benoit, Musiques de cour, 213 et. passim.) Dupuis. Referred to by Du Pradel, 1692. An oboe of late-transitional design survives, as well as recorders and a pitch pipe. His name was mentioned (with three other makers) on an early eighteenth-century drawing of woodwinds, including a baroque bassoon, intended for publication. Fremont, Etienne. (d c1692). Referred to by Du Pradel, 1692. A master turner from La Couture, he established a Paris workshop at the same address as Le Breton. An oboe bearing his mark survives. He possibly employed Naust, who by 1734 made woodwinds, including bassoons. Related by marriage to Noë. Haka, Richard. (b London before 1646; d Amsterdam 1705). In Amsterdam by 1652, he began to make woodwind instruments c1660. Advertised bassoons by 1691. Retired 1696. Apprentices included Rykel and Aardenberg. A four-key bassoon survives. Heerde, Jan Juriaensz van. (b Groenlo 1638; d Amsterdam 1691). A flutemaker by 1670. His widow in 1691 advertised bassoons from the shop The Crowned Bassoon. A boxwood bassoon was listed in a 1731 inventory of instruments. Héron. Referred to by Du Pradel, 1692. Possibly identifiable with Gilles Héroux, who was basse de cromorne and trumpet marine in the ecurie from 1666 to 1679, when he resigned. (Benoit, Musiques de cour, 15, 68, et passim.) Hotteterre. Family of woodwind makers, players, and composers active at the French court during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They came from the village of La Couture, near Ivry. La Barre c1740 credited les Hotteterre et Philidor with having made improvements to the seventeenth-century shawm. In order to distinguish the Hotteterres, who so often bear identical given names, I draw on the two most nearly complete numbering systems. NLI assigned Arabic numerals to male members of the family, but ignored many non-makers. Bowers, in The Hotteterre Family, assigned roman numerals to Hotteterres who bear the