Carl Almenräder

Carl Almenräder (3 October 1786 in Ronsdorf (Wuppertal) – 14 September 1846 in Biebrich) was a German performer, teacher and composer.

The design of the modern bassoon owes a great deal to Almenräder, who, assisted by the German acoustics researcher Gottfried Weber developed the 17-key bassoon whose range spanned four octaves.

Carl Almenräder was the son of a teacher: he taught himself to play the bassoon after he was given one when aged just 13. He started out in 1810 playing in a theatre orchestra in Cologne, but he switched to an orchestral position in Frankfurt in 1812 where by 1814 he was also obtaining solo work. He studied composition with Aloys Schmitt, and in 1814 he gave a public performance in Frankfurt of a rondo which he had himself written.

In 1817 Almenräder joined the Mainz theatre orchestra as a bassoonist. He was now working seriously on a year-long project to develop a technically improved bassoon featuring moving keys and an improved level of balance across the tonal range. By 1819 he had temporarily down river to Cologne where he joined his brothers in their workshop which focused on producing flutes and clarinets. In 1822 Almenräder joined the Court Orchestra of the Dukes of Nassau which was based at Biebrich am Rhein (today a suburb of Wiesbaden), and he was also engaged by the Mainz based music publisher Schott Music to advise on wind instrument production.

...
Wikipedia