Updated 19 March 2008
Notes by Vernon Read
Burleske "Carnival Variations" by Wenzel Neukirchnerfor Bassoon and Piano
Wenzel Neukirchner was born in 1805 and died in 1889. He grew up inthe
shadow of Beethoven but must have known and played works of all theGerman
masters from the mid-nineteenth century. He was a Bohemian virtuosowho
became first bassoon of the Royal Orchestra at Stuttgart in 1831. It was
there that he met Schaufler and employed him to make certainalterations to
the physical set-up of the bassoon. He had the low B natural hole coveredby
a closed key instead of an open one. His compositions includeAcht Etuden
and Burleske (Hofman-Diabelli) for Bassoon and piano and he composeda
Burlesque and Fantasia for bassoon and orchestra.