Johann Joachim Quantz’s 1752 Versuch einer “Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen” (On how to play the flute), is essential reading for those wind players who want to know more about the performance practice of late baroque/early classical music. In the 13th chapter, Quantz attempts to teach the novice improviser ways to ‘vary’ a given melody by writing down numerous variations to common melodic progressions. The implication being that if one were to work through all of these examples, internalize them, and transpose them for use in other keys, that the reader would develop the taste and understanding to be able to construct their own variations. The examples of Quantz’s chapter 13 have been transcribed for bassoon and transpositions into the closely-related keys of C major have been added in the hopes that this may be of regular use to bassoonists exploring the music of the classical era. Attention has been paid to make sure that these examples are executable both on early and modern bassoons.
