The 19th century was a time of upheaval in the history of woodwind instrument making, as the oboe, flute, clarinet and bassoon were fundamentally reformed and numerous new instruments were developed. In many orchestras, however, older designs were able to survive for a long time, as the new models were only hesitantly accepted. This report from a conference of the Institute of Musicology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich sheds light on this diversity, which is lost today, and places it in a comprehensive context. Experts from musicology, music instrument museums and music practice approach the extraordinarily rich innovations in woodwind instrument making of the 19th century from various perspectives. Innovative technical solutions and new instruments are examined as examples, but local traditions are also examined. With contributions by Klaus Aringer, Geoffrey Burgess, Beatrix Darmstädter, Josef Focht, Heike Fricke, Klaus Hubmann, Gunther Joppig, James Kopp, Thomas Reil, Albert Rice, Sebastian Werr, Henrik Wiese and Ann-Katrin Zimmermann.
To the editor:
Sebastian Werr studied musicology at the FU Berlin and the University of Milan; he received his doctorate at the University of Bayreuth, where he also habilitated in 2008. In addition to the history of woodwind instruments, his research focuses on music theater from the 17th to the 21st century and the social history of music. In 2011 he published an extensive catalog volume on the "History of the Bassoon" with the Wißner-Verlag.
