An alternate view maintains Hotteterre was one of several craftsmen responsible for the development of the early bassoon. He also extended the compass down to B♭ by adding two keys. Some historians believe that sometime in the 1650s, Hotteterre conceived the bassoon in four sections (bell, bass joint, boot and wing joint), an arrangement that allowed greater accuracy in machining the bore compared to the one-piece dulcian. The man most likely responsible for developing the true bassoon was Martin Hotteterre (d.1712), who may also have invented the three-piece flûte traversière and the hautbois (baroque oboe). The dulcian was not immediately supplanted, but continued to be used well into the 18th century by Bach and others. A further discrepancy lies in the fact that the dulcian was carved out of a single block of wood-in other words, a single 'stick' and not a bundle.Ĭircumstantial evidence indicates that the baroque bassoon was a newly invented instrument, rather than a simple modification of the old dulcian.

Some think it may resemble the Roman Fasces, a standard of bound sticks with an ax. However, the usual etymology that equates fagotto with 'bundle of sticks' is somewhat misleading, as the latter term did not come into general use until later. The dulcian came to be known as fagotto in Italy.

Otherwise, dulcian technique was rather primitive, with eight finger holes and two keys, indicating that it could play in only a limited number of key signatures. A full consort of dulcians was a rarity its primary function seems to have been to provide the bass in the typical wind band of the time, either loud (shawms) or soft (recorders), indicating a remarkable ability to vary dynamics to suit the need. The origins of the dulcian are obscure, but by the mid-16th century it was available in as many as eight different sizes, fromsoprano to great bass.

Music historians generally consider the dulcian to be the forerunner of the modern bassoon, as the two instruments share many characteristics: a double reed fitted to a metal crook, obliquely drilled tone holes and a conical bore that doubles back on itself.

Heckel bassoon serial numbers