Investigating smaller bassoons from the XVIII and XIX centuries, with practical performance on a Baroque fagottino
(2017)
author(s): Hugo Rodriguez Arteaga
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Hugo Rodríguez Arteaga
Main Subject: Baroque Bassoon
Research Supervisor: Johannes Boer
Title of Research: Investigating smaller bassoons from the XVIII and XIX centuries, with practical performance on a Baroque fagottino
Research Question:
Is there a (lost) tradition using these instruments in the XVIII and XIX centuries? What are the musical and technical advantages and disadvantages of performing a piece with fagottino?
Summary of Results:
The idea of this study was to collect information about smaller-sized bassoons found in the XVIII and XIX centuries. Berlioz talks about the "quint bassoon", and other "fagottino" in his treatise about orchestration, and smaller bassoons called "tenor", "octave", and "quart" are described in James Kopp's book, The Bassoon. Today the modern "fagottino" is used to teach children, as the modern bassoon is too big and too heavy, but historical models have been strangely ignored in early music performance practice. Is there a (lost) tradition using these instruments in the XVIII and XIX centuries? What are the musical and technical advantages and disadvantages of performing a piece with fagottino? This research project is a mixed work: the written part has background information about instruments, titles and performers. A description of practical experimentation approaching one work with fagottino, as well as the observation of a young player’s first confrontation with the instrument is included.
Biography:
Hugo Rodríguez Arteaga began studying bassoon in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, in 1999 with Prof. Maximiano Vera. In 2007 he started studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Canarias with Ana Sánchez Clemente and finished with honors. He has played in ensembles as Orchestra of the 18th Century, Die Kölner Akademie, MusicAEterna, Capella Cracoviensis, Lutherse Bach Orchester, Les Vents Atlantiques, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Vox Luminis and more several groups. He has worked together with such conductors as Frans Brüggen, Teodor Currentzis, James Coonlon, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alfredo Bernardini, Marcus Creed, Kenneth Montgomery, Alessandro de Marchi, Michael Alexander Willems and Pietro Rizzo. Currently he is studying historical bassoons at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Donna Agrell, as well as orchestral conducting with Kenneth Montgomery, Alex Schillings and Jac van Steen. He is active as a historical and modern bassoonist with different period and symphony orchestras all over Europe.
Searching for the Top Range in Early Nineteenth Century Bassoon Repertoire from Sweden: Issues of Material and/or Technique?'
(2014)
author(s): Donna Agrell
published in: KC Research Portal
It is not uncommon to find a range of three full octaves in late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century bassoon repertoire, but passages ascending above b-flat' or c' were relatively rare. Composers active in Stockholm at the beginning of the nineteenth century such as Bernhard Crusell, Eduoard Dupuy, Franz Berwald and Eduard Brendler wrote pieces encompassing a range of Bb – to e-flat'', inspired by the Preumayr brothers, in particular the youngest, Frans Preumayr, who was an internationally known soloist and principal bassoonist in the Swedish Royal Orchestra from 1811–1835.
In conjunction with my current PhD research in the docARTES program at Leiden University and the Royal Conservatoire in the Hague, dealing with early nineteenth century bassoon repertoire in Sweden, one of my goals was to discover the means of reaching these top notes and integrating them into a fluid technique which would enable historical bassoonists to perform this extraordinary repertoire composed for the virtuoso Preumayr. I wondered if the keys to the high register might be found in a special reed type, or a physical technique involving, for example, jaw position? Was Frans Preumayr's ability dependent on a particular model of bassoon? Or could other factors be involved that I hadn't yet considered?
Repertoire for a Swedish bassoon virtuoso: Approaching early nineteenth-century works composed for Frans Preumayr with an original Grenser & Wiesner bassoon
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Donna Agrell
connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
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Frans Preumayr's nineteenth century virtuosic bassoon repertoire. An approach with a fine Grenser & Wiesner bassoon from Dresden: Issues of material and technique.
What techniques and tools must be developed by period bassoonists in order to successfully approach the performance of Frans Preumayr's virtuosic repertoire?
"A Very Fine Eleven-Keyed Stained Maple Bassoon by H. Grenser & Wiesner, Dresden, circa 1825" - as titled in an entry in a London auction catalogue - is one of the few surviving examples of a complete period bassoon with all its parts, offering valuable information for both period instrument builders and players today.
This research project of Donna Agrell is based specifically on the unique opportunity that the Grenser & Wiesner instrument presents us with: an investigation of early nineteenth century bassoon works written for the Swedish virtuoso Frans Preumayr by composers such as Franz Berwald and Bernhard Henrik Crusell. Solutions for technical problems found in this repertoire are sought and described, and include a discussion of reed styles and fingering systems for the period bassoonist.