On Jun 7, 2007, at 3:09 PM, John Howell wrote:
I recall reading that R. Strauss and some others (Mahler?) wrote for flutes with a low Bb. Ergo, someone in Vienna must have been making such flutes
They are certainly made today. At the time when flutes started to acquire foot joints, there was no consensus that C should be the bottom note, and some flutes were made descending as far down as G--and there were composers who wrote for them! I think Schumann asks for this note somewhere or other.
What Stravinsky did to bassoonists has caused several generations to have extra keys added to their instruments, but the bassoonist who played the premier must have been able to do so with his existing instrument.
Stravinsky did nothing to bassoonists but exploit the already established full range of the instrument. He got this, BTW, from Tchaikovsky, who did not hesitate to write the high D when he wanted it. My first bassoon had no D speaker key, and I had no trouble reaching the high C#, D, or Eb. The top E, I admit gave me fits--but I was just a beginner.
For my money Stravinsky was the greatest writer of bassoon parts who ever lived--except maybe Vivaldi. S. is certainly the only composer to treat it, fearlessly, as entirely equal to the other WW, and I love playing his stuff.
Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press http://www.kallistimusic.com/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
