BASSOON (Fr. Basson, Ital. Fagotto, Ger. Fagott). A wooden double-reed instrument of eight-foot tone. The English and French names are derived from its pitch, which is the natural bass to the oboe and other reed instruments; the Italian and German names come from its resemblance to a faggot or bundle of sticks.
It is probably, in one form or another, of great antiquity, although there exists circumstantial evidence of its discovery by Afranio, a Canon of Ferrara. This occurs in a...