bassoon
Speech parts
1. bassoon - Noun
2. bassoon - Verb
Meaning
A wind instrument of the double reed kind, furnished with holes, which are stopped by the fingers, and by keys, as in flutes. It forms the natural bass to the oboe, clarinet, etc.
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Examples
An ensemble known as the "reed quintet" also makes use of the bassoon.
A player may blow across a mouth hole, as in a flute; into a mouthpiece with a single reed, as in a modern-day clarinet or saxophone; or a double reed, as in an oboe or bassoon.
Among the latter, the SATB format woodwind quartet of flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon is relatively common.
Antonio Cesti included a bassoon in his 1668 opera Il pomo d'oro (The Golden Apple).
Bassoons with Wagner bells suffer similar intonational deficiencies as a bassoon with an A extension.
Because its mechanism is primitive compared to most modern woodwinds, makers have occasionally attempted to "reinvent" the bassoon.