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The range of the bassoon

The bassoon plays an important part in the orchestra and much has been made of its huge range. Listen to some musical examples where the bassoon has a vital role...

Close-up of a bassoon

Peter and the Wolf

The bassoon makes a beautiful sound. Too often it is caricatured as joker in the woodwind pack, whose comical staccatos conjure up images of prancing circus horses, or quacking ducks. Prokofiev used it to represent the stern grandfather in Peter and the Wolf, not really a caricature of the instrument.

In most of its register the bassoon is capable of the most sensitive lyricism and for this it has been exploited by many composers.

Beethoven's 4th Symphony

So it would be true to say that the bassoon is a very versatile instrument, capable of the rapid finger-work Beethoven requires in his fourth symphonyand and of the virtuosity a composer such as Mozart requires in, say, his Bassoon Concerto.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Or Dukas in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, or Ravel’s Rapsodie Espagnol. It makes an unforgettable appearance in Ravel’s Bolero....

Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra

...and in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

Some composers have not only written music for the haunting upper reaches of the bassoon, but have also exploited the lower registers, such as the low A required by Nielsen in his Wind Quintet. Most bassoon music is written in the bass clef, but for the upper registers bassoon-players frequently have to read the tenor clef.

Gareth Twigg talks about the range of the bassoon and what you have to learn when starting to play the instrument.

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The bassoon body

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