BASSOON (Ital. fagotto), a well-known wind-instrument of the reed species, made of maple-wood or plane-tree. The B. is an Italian invention; its name fagotto, meaning a brindle, probably from its being made in different pieces laid one against the other. The French call it Lassen?, de hautbois; the Germans retain its Italian RAMC. Its invention is attributed to Canonicus Afranio, in Ferrara, in 1539. In the middle of the 16th c , it had already reached great perfection. Signrand Schnitzer, in Nuremberg, who d. in 1578, was a celebrated maker, The B. consists of a bored-out tube of -wood in several pieces, fixed together alongside each other, so as to bring the holes and keys within the reach of the lingers of each hand. The B. has, in general. not less than 8 holes and 10 keys. In the narrow end of the wooden tube is fixed a small tapering brass tube in the form of an S, on the end of which is placed the reed for producing the tone. The compass of
the B. is from r but the best tones arc those from . The lowest C sharp, and B natural, are wanting. The notes for the B. are written on the bass clef for the lower part, and on the tenor clef for the higher. The best keys for the B. are E flat, B flat, F, C, G, I), and A; all the other keys are more or less difficult. For military bands there are different sizes of bassoons—one a fourth lower; another, the contra B, an octave lower; and a third, the tenor B, a fifth higher—all of the same con struction. The best instruction books for the B. are by Ahnenrfider, Frohlich, Ozi, and by the Paris conservatorium. B. is also the name of an organ-stop, the pipes of which arc made to imitate the tones of the instrument.