Dulcian Instrument

Soprano, alto, alto, tenor and bass Dulcian from the Brussels collection.Dulcian came in a range of sizes from the deepest instrument measuring 4’9” to the shortest at 15”. The smaller sizes were used in wind choirs while the longest or the bass Dulcian was used to support the basso continuo lines in wind ensembles along with the viola and other bass instruments as can be seen in in Concerto a5 (c-minor) by Christoph Förster (1693 - 1745). (Kendrick, 2008) The Hautboies (the oboe solo at the top) has rests, the first violin and second violin have intricate moving lines while the viola and basso (Dulcian) have accompanying lines the Dulcian even more so than the viola as seen in bar 6 as the viola has semiquavers to add interest and the basso

The possible reasons for this new creation was that it would allow better accuracy in crafting the bore as compared to the one piece Dulcian and was difficult to move around due to its size in the lower registers. Hotteterre also extended the pitch down to the low Bb by adding two extra keys and lengthening the bell. (Lange and Thomson, 1979)

In 1678 the French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully included bassoons in his opera Psyche which introduced them into the orchestral scene, however baroque bassoon and Dulcian were not seen in great numbers in orchestras until the 1700. (Kendrick,

Meaning that the bassoon was in desperate need of a major refurbishment. As Adam Carse states,“…amongst the wood-wind group the bassoon seemed likely to become the lame duck unless its key mechanism could be made to keep pace with that of the flute, oboe and clarinet.”

In 1811 Gottfried Weber, a major Romantic composer, arranged a viola piece from 1809 for bassoon called Andante and Hungarian Rondo. (Tusa M. 2001) A few years later while working in Mainz in 1916 Weber met a man named Carl Almenräder who was inspired by Weber’s publications on the acoustics of wind instruments and some half developed theories on the physics of reeds and air columns. Almenräder was frustrated by the illogicality of the bassoon and had started modifying his own instrument and asked for Weber’s input on these modifications.

Almenräder continued his work on enlarging open tone holes, widening the bore from the sixth finger -hole down, and replacing the resonance hole in the bell joint with an open key for low B. He also added a low C# and improved intonation and response by repositioning other