Bassoon Studies, Op. 8

Julius Weissenborn (1837–1888) was a Leipzig bassoonist and teacher, and his Fagott-Studien, Op. 8 are the études most bassoonists have learned from. They were published by C. F. Peters in two books: the first, für Anfänger, “for beginners”, and the second, für Vorgeschrittene, for advanced pupils. This is both, in the order of the print: the first book in the chapters below, and the second as the last chapter, Book 2.

How the book is built. Weissenborn does not give a graded run of studies. He teaches one thing at a time, in seven parts, and the chapters here follow them.

I. The most essential kinds of expression — six chapters, one for each way of shaping a note, each a set of short studies that use only that. Tenuto: every note is started softly but decisively and held for its full value. Legato: the notes joined in one breath. Staccato: the round dot is soft, the wedge (and the signs ⌐ and ∧) hard; the syllables “tu du tu du” printed under some of the studies show how it is tongued. Portamento: notes under a slur and each lightly touched with the tongue, between staccato and legato. Forte, Piano, Crescendo & Diminuendo: the whole range of loud and soft, in long lines. Marcato, Forzato & Rinforzando: emphasis — the accented note, the sudden loud one, the note that grows after it starts. Studies are numbered as in the print.

II. The Tenor Clef — four studies that move between bass and tenor clef, which is how the bassoon’s upper register is written.

III. The scales in the 24 most-used keys — one chapter for each pair of relative keys, the way the print pairs them (C major with A minor, F major with D minor, and so on round the flats and then the sharps). Each key has the same four things: the scale in long notes, each note swelling and fading, for tone and for the sound of the key; the same scale as a small figure in eighths and in sixteenths, to be repeated until it is even (the repeat signs are printed); and a study in the key. In the minor keys the scale gives the forms the print gives. From B♭ major on the print also sets the figure a second time in tenor clef, an octave higher; those are marked “tenor clef”. G♭ major and F♯ major, E♭ minor and D♯ minor are the same notes spelled two ways: the print sets both on two staves, and both are here.

IV. Chords — six studies built on chords: a chord played in broken form, up and down, and its pattern carried through the harmonies of a key. The sixth is on the chord of the diminished seventh, four equal minor thirds that divide the octave. Studies 1, 2 and 4 are printed as da capo pieces (Fine and Da capo sin’ al Fine, back to the beginning and play to Fine); the repeats play as printed.

V. The Chromatic Scale — three studies on the scale in semitones: one slurred in eighths (1); then the scale up and down in sixteenths, with a short figure between the runs (2a), and the same music again in triplets at the same pulse, L’istesso tempo (2b).

VI. Thirds, Fourths, Sixths, Octaves & Tenths — five short drills, one for each interval, eight bars apiece in B♭ major, rising by step and coming back. The print sets the thirds a second time at the foot of the page; it is the first again, note for note, and is not repeated here.

VII. Ornaments — seven studies, one for each of the commonest ornaments: the long appoggiatura, the short appoggiatura, the appoggiatura of more notes, the turn, the reversed turn (here in the modern notation, with its notes written out), the Pralltriller or mordent, and the trill. The print sets a small “Ausführung / Execution” stave over the first bars of most of them to show how the sign is played; those small staves are not included, so the usual readings: a long appoggiatura takes half the value of the note it leans on (two thirds if that note is dotted), a short one is quick; a turn plays the note above, the note, the note below and the note again, and the reversed turn begins below; the Pralltriller is a quick shake with the note above at the start of the note; a trill alternates with the note above for the length of the note, and closes with the small notes printed after it. The app plays every one of them as those small staves show it: the turn over a note from the note above, the turn after a note in the middle of the note’s time, the Pralltriller as a quick triplet, the trills and the small notes.

Book 2 — fifty études, each a single piece for the unaccompanied bassoon, numbered as in the print (plate 7123). Where the first book teaches one thing at a time, this one is for advanced pupils.

Reading the page. Weissenborn prints his words in German and English; here they are English (the Italian tempo words as printed). A comma above the staff is a breath mark — in the print, “Zeichen zum Athemholen”, the sign for breathing. Mit vollem Ton is “with full tone”, Zart, aber ausdrucksvoll “delicately, but with expression”.

Tempo. Weissenborn gives words and no metronome marks. The starting tempos here are suggestions worked from the words (Sostenuto slow, Andante walking, Allegro moderato brisk); play the scale figures slowly at first. Where the print set a small “Ausführung / Execution” stave above a study to show how its marks are played, it is not a study of its own and is not included.

The engraving is a Practice Farm engraving from the Edition Peters print (plate 7122), which is in the public domain.