" It is made of wood, and has not, owing to
many difficulties as yet unsurmounted, undergone those changes of
construction that have partly transformed other wood wind instruments.
From this reason--and perhaps the necessity of a bassoon player
becoming intimately familiar with his instrument--bassoons by some of
the older makers--notably, Savory--are still sought after, in
preference to more modern ones. The instrument, although with
extraordinary advantages in tone, character, and adaptability, that
render it valuable to the composer, is yet complicated and capricious
for the performer; but its very imperfections remove it from the
mechanical tendencies of the age, often damaging to art; and, as the
player has to rely very much upon his ear for correct intonation, he
gets, in reality, near to the manipulation of the stringed
instruments. The bassoons play readily with the violoncellos, their
united tone being often advantageous for effect. When not so used, it
falls back into its natural relationship with the wood wind division
of the orchestra. The compass of the bassoon is from B flat, an octave
below that in the bass clef, to B flat in the treble clef, a range of
three octaves, produced by normal pressure, as far as the bass clef F.
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