Bassoon in the Baroque era: organological and performance aspects.
The article deals with the interaction of the constructive evolution of the instrument and the development of bassoon performance in the Baroque era. The aesthetics of the musical baroque is associated with the search for new expressive means, realization of which could be ensured by new instruments with eloquent, rich, expressive sound. One of such instruments is bassoon; it was during the Baroque era when the bassoon took its shape and the sound image we know today. Thanks to technical evolution the instrument acquired new artistic capabilities and new sound quality. A new repertoire was formed; bassoon became the “hero” of such instrumental genres as sonata and concerto, it was firmly fixed in the score of the symphony orchestra. The purposeof the article is to reveal the interconnection between the con-structive evolution of the instrument and the development of bassoon performance in the Baroque era. The objectof research is bassoon performance in the Baroque era. The subject of researchis the Baroque bassoon in the organological and per-formance aspects. In music science, there are a number of studies devoted to wind instruments, the most significant of which are works of G. Abadzhyan, V. Apatsky L. Belenov, V. Berezin, V. Bogdanov, N. Volkov, V. Gromchenko, Yu. Dolzhikov, V. Lebedev, V. Popov, I. Pusheknikov, Yu Usov, and A. Kiziliayev. There are works which focus on the bassoon, its history, expressive and technical capabilities (G. Abadzhyan, V. Apatsky, V. Bubnovich, N. Karaulovsky, S. Levin, V. Leonov, V. Popov, V. Star-ko, Anthony Baines). There are numerous scientific publications of international brass performers associations, such as the International Double Reed Society, the Australian double reed community, the British double reed community, the Japan bassoon society, the Finnish double reed community. Around the middle of the 17th century, fundamental changes occurred in the construction of the bassoon. They were caused by the need to regulate the overall tuning system of the instrument in such a way that it could participate in joint mu-sic-making with other instruments, as well as by the desire to make the instrument more portable. If we follow the general way of wind instruments improvement, we will see that at the turn of the 17 th and 18 th centuries the most characteristic of its tendencies is the aspiration to chromatize. At the turn of the 16 th –17 th centuries, in the process of bassoon chromatization as the result of complication of composer’s creativity, fundamental changes were made in the design of the instrument: new “chromatic” holes and valves, as well as fork fingering appeared. It was all connected with the formation of certain musical and aesthetic needs and developed along with them. So, the evolution of the bassoon in the Baroque era led to such qualitative changes in the sound of the instrument as: – softness of the tone; – pitch control; – expansion of the working range; – great power of sound; – ease of playing the instrument. The above-mentioned factors entailed fundamental changes in the compos-ers’ attitude towards the instrument. The bassoon enters a more complex func-tional level in the works of various music genres (interlude to the comedy “La Pellegrina” by Girolamo Bargalia, “Sacrae symphoniae” by Giovanni Gabrieli, “Messa a 4 voci et Salmi” by C. Monteverdi, “Fantasy for basso continuo” by Bar-tolome de Selma-i-Salaverde, sonata “La monica” by Philip Friedrich Bodekher, nine sonatas for solo bassoon and basso continuo by Giovanni Antonio Bertoli, sonata for two bassoons by Philipp Friedrich Buchner, opera “Il pomo d’oro” by Antonio Cesti, singspiel “Seelewig” by Sigmund Theophil Staden). The role of Antonio Vivaldi in the formation of the concerto, including con-certo for bassoon, is difficult to overestimate, and thirty-nine Vivaldi concertos for bassoon are evidence of that. The creative work of Antonio Vivaldi affected Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote bassoon parts in his works of different genres. George Philippe Telemann, Bach’s contemporary, is known for a large number of pieces with bassoon parts. MethodsInterconnection of organological and performance methods due to their multi-vector nature acquires a systemic character, requiring a complex study. ConclusionsConstructive changes resulted in the arrival of the bassoon to a new timbre, figurative-intonational, genre, and performance level. Meanwhile, there is a linear rather than reciprocal relationship between the above mentioned levels. On the one hand, there is a direct dependence in the evolution of bassoon performance: new constructive features – technical capabilities of the instrument – more individual timbre character – new expressive possibilities – solo parts – solo pieces. On the other hand, all this creates new requirements both for the performer and for the instrument, which brings the situation back to the need for further search. The results of this research can be used in further studies devoted to the history and theory of bassoon performance in the historical, organological and genre-stylistic directions.