Arthur Weisberg was born on April 4, 1931, in New York City. He attended the High School of Music and Art and the Juilliard School of Music, majoring in bassoon with Simon Kovar. He played first bassoon with the Houston and Baltimore Symphonies and second bassoon with the Cleveland Orchestra, before coming back to New York City to study conducting with Jean Morel. At this time, Professor Weisberg was first bassoon with the Symphony of the Air (formerly the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini). He was bassoonist with the New York Woodwind Quintet for 14 years and taught at Juilliard, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Yale University. Professor Weisberg and the New York Philharmonic have recorded George Crumb's "A Haunted Landscape" (shown below). He has conducted the Milwaukee Symphony and the Sjaellands and Aalborg Symphonies of Denmark. He created the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble in 1961. While he was the conductor and music director, the CCE toured throughout the United States and the rest of the world, giving over 100 world premieres. They completed many recordings which have won several prizes. Weisberg also authored two books, "The Art of Wind Playing", published by G. Schirmer, and "Performing 20th Century Music-a Handbook for Conductors and Instrumentalists," published by Yale University Press. Weisberg introduced a new bassoon which he claimed was "absolutely unable to crack. Perfect slurs on the most problematic notes. Never having to flick again. Ease of fingering. Better quality and pitch on six of the worst notes. This is what the Weisberg System promises and delivers, and it does all of this automatically, with no new fingerings to learn." He composed numerous works, and has made several editions for bassoon, including a transcription of the Bach Cello Suites and a set of 15 Etudes for Bassoon in the style of 20th Century music. He passed away January 17, 2009, in Florida. Selected compositions     Duo for Bassoon and Piano (1984)     Piece for Viola Solo (1984)     Piece for Piano (1984)     String Quartet No. 1 (1984)     Duo for Cello and Piano (1985)     Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano (1985)     Opening Statement for Orchestra (1985)     Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet (1986)     Quintet for Horn and String Quartet (1986)     Sonatina for Flute (1986)     Music for Double Woodwind Quintet (1987)     Two Pieces for String Quartet (String Quartet No.2) (1987)     Duo for Violin and Piano (1988)     Symphonic Statement for Band (1988)     Cantabile and Vivace for Bassoon and String Orchestra (1988)     String Quartet No. 3 (1989)     Birthday Piece for Viola and Bassoon (1991)     A Song and a Dance for Solo Bassoon (1992)     From the Deep for Two Contrabassoons and Piano     Concerto for Bassoon and Strings (1998)     15 Etudes for Bassoon Written in the Style of 20th Century Music (2004) --  Throughout this page, names which are links refer to my Interviews elsewhere on my website.  BD

So what are they supposed to do?  They can’t do it, and the conductor must realize that type of thing.

BD:    Do you then alter your tempos so they can get around it?

AW:    No, you let them do two and two.  Altering the tempo would change the piece a lot more than the single passage being a little wrong articulation-wise.

BD:    So you look at the big picture and hope that all the details work themselves out?

AW:    If you’re conducting a young orchestra that’s not very good, then you may have to alter your tempos altogether, not just for the tonguing.

BD:    So if you have too many of these little problems, then everything falls apart.

AW:    Right.  If they can’t play fast enough yet, there’s no point in forcing them.

BD:    If Beethoven wrote this passage that really can’t be played, was he writing because he thought eventually they’d be able to get it?

AW:    I really wish I knew.  Look at Haydn and Mozart, and their bassoon writing.  It almost always just doubles the cellos, and the cellos have very fast parts.  Did they expect them to tongue?  I honestly don’t know.  I’d love to know the answer to that.  No, I don’t think they were looking ahead to the future. 

BD:    They don’t have any memoirs of Haydn’s bassoonist?

AW:    No, and I wish we did.  Maybe there were a few of them that double-tongued.  Who knows?  Right now I’m doing the ‘Haffner’ Symphony [No 35 in D] of Mozart, and the last movement I’m taking pretty fast because it’s marked presto.  So I want it fast, and the bassoons are hanging on for dear life!  [Both laugh]

BD:    Is that the difference between an amateur musician and a professional musician

Ex-cso Bassoonist Willard Elliot, 73 June 10, 2000 By Karen Mellen, Chicago Tribune Staff Writer.   Unlike flashy instruments such as the flute or clarinet, the bassoon is a reliable instrument, its elegant, strong sounds heard during 90 percent of most symphonies, often rising to a solo. In many ways, the instrument characterized Willard Elliot, 73, a retired principal bassoonist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Colleagues said his quiet strength made him a Rock of Gibraltar of the symphony for three decades. "You never worried whether something was going to come out wrong or not," said Dale Clevenger, principal horn for the CSO who sat near Mr. Elliot for three decades. "You never did. Because he was just so dependable, so reliable, so solid a player." Mr. Elliot died of heart failure Wednesday, June 7, in Ft. Worth. Mr. Elliot's love of music started early, cultivated in his native Texas by listening to his parents' old opera records, said his brother, Doug. He soon began piano lessons, then progressed to the clarinet. Eventually, he specialized in the bassoon, a complicated double-reed woodwind. The range of the bassoon is immense, able to reach deep baritones, but also producing clear notes similar to those of a tenor. He started with the bassoon about age 14, even though he wanted to play much sooner, said his wife of 23 years, Pat. "He was waiting until he was big enough to play the bassoon," she said. "You have to have long enough fingers." At age 19, Mr. Elliot earned his master's degree in composition from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. He then went on to play with the Houston Symphony Orchestra for three years and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for 11 years. In 1964, he joined the CSO, continuing with the organization until he retired on Jan. 1, 1997, for health reasons, his wife said. Known for his unwavering respect toward colleagues and high degree of professionalism, Mr. Elliot led by example, and was appreciated for his musical ability. "He inspired those around him to play up to his level," said Burl Lane, a longtime bassoonist with the CSO. "In this business, tempers can flare very easily. But he was the easiest man in the world to work with." Mr. Elliot also was an accomplished composer whose pieces were performed by the CSO. After retiring from the CSO, Mr. Elliot moved to Ft. Worth to teach music at Texas Christian University and give master classes around the country. Williard Elliot (also the transcriber of the Grieg) is shown at right. Immediately left of him is Wilbur Simpson. Behind Wilbur is oboist Ray Still. Others shown (l-r) are Grover Schiltz, oboe, John Bruce Yeh, clarinet, Norman Schweikert, horn, Larry Combs, clarinet, and Daniel Gingrich, horn. Selected compositions     Symphony No. 2     Elegy for Bassoon and Orchestra, premiered December 7, 1959, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Paul Kletzki conductor     Quetzalcoatl, a tone poem     Night Piece for Small Orchestra     Concerto for Two Bassoons and Orchestra     Concerto for bassoon and orchestra (1965)     3 Duets for flute and bassoon     Six 15th-Century French Songs for oboe, bassoon, and piano (1978)     Poem for bassoon and string quartet     Quintet for bassoon and strings     Two Metamorphoses for solo bassoon, string quartet, and wind quartet     Six Portuguese Songs for bassoon and piano     Six Portuguese Folk Songs for bassoon solo and orchestra (1990)     Elegy for Orchestra (1960) (Kousevitzky award (1961)     Snake Charmer, for alto flute and orchestra (1975)     Five Impressions for Wind Octet (1981)     Fantasy, for piccolo and piano (1978)     Five short pieces for oboe and piano (1986)     Septet, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, and tuba (1987)     Silhouettes (from impressions), for soprano, bassoon, and piano (1991)     Six Portuguese folk songs, for bassoon and piano (1988)     Tears, Idle Tears, for soprano, bassoon, and piano (1990)     Two sketches, for woodwind quintet (1986)     Evolutions, for two contra bassoons (premiered Aug 10, 1999, International Double Reed Society Annual Conference) Selected arrangements and adaptations by Willard Elliot     Four lyric pieces for wind octet, Edvard Grieg (1986) [recording shown above]     Ma mere l'Oye cinq pieces enfantines, Maurice Ravel, arranged for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, violoncello, and bass (1988)     March from Turandot, Carl Maria von Weber, arranged for wind octet (2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons) (1986)     Peter Schmoll ouverture, Carl Maria von Weber, arranged for wind octet (1986)     Quartet in B-flat, for bassoon, violin, viola, and violoncello, Mozart, (adaptation) (1986)     Quejas o la maja y el ruisenor (Lament of the maja and the nightingale), from Goyescas, for wind octet: 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons Granados, (1986)     Scriabiniana, suite of selected piano works, Alexander Scriabin, arranged for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, violoncello, and bass (1991)     Septet,for oboe, bassoon, horn, two violins, violoncello, and bass, Glinka, (new revision) (1988)     Seven preludes for clarinet and piano, Alexander Scriabin, (arrangement) (1986)     Valse, Opus 38, for flute, clarinet, bassoon, and piano Alexander Scriabin, (arrangement) (1986)     Most of the above compositions were published by Bruyere Music Publishers, a firm that Willard and his wife, Pat (née Patricia J. Bills), founded in 1986 to publish and popularize his compositions and arrangements.

BD:    Probably a lot of bassoonists have written their etudes, or an unperformed concerto.

AW:    Possibly, but I wouldn’t know about that.  Writing etudes is an interesting thing.  I’ve been toying and making some sketches of a book of etudes now for a few years.  I hope to get around to it one of these days. 

BD:    Specifically for the bassoon?

AW:    Specifically for bassoon, although they might work for other instruments.  But specifically it would be a twentieth-century etude book.

BD:    With leaps and cross-fingerings?

AW:    Whatever the twentieth century implies, and where the developments have gone.  Largely it would focus on rhythmic problems.

BD:    I asked you a moment ago about the technical advancement of young musicians.  Has there been a similar kind of advancement in terms of musicianship and musical ability?

AW:    No, I don’t think so.  There has always been a certain number of fine musicians, and probably that percentage in relation to the whole of musicians is about the same.  It’s a small percentage, and I don’t think general musicianship is going up.

BD:    It’s not going down, is it?

AW:    No, I wouldn’t say so, and I don’t think the human ear is getting any better either.  Some people talk about microtones and quarter tones, and the fact is most musicians have great trouble playing in tune with half steps.  To think of playing in tune with microtones is a tremendous stretch for most musicians.  I don’t think the ear, over the course of human history, has gotten any better.  It’s what it is, with always a few outstanding individuals.

BD:    Then why is it that composers are always challenging just a little more as we progress through music history?  [Vis-à-vis the recording shown at left, see my Interviews with Elliott Carter, and Gilbert Kalish.]

AW:    That’s the role of a composer

BD:    [Surprised]  Really???  Most people who try to get out of music want their kids to stay away from music.

AW:    No, no, he always loved music.  He just couldn’t make a go of it.  It was during the Depression, when they were firing musicians and dissolving orchestras.

BD:    Oh, so it wasn’t his choice to get out of it?

AW:    No, it wasn’t really.  It just was circumstances.  Anyway, he gave me the violin when I was three or four.  It didn’t take for some reason, and then I studied the piano for quite a while.  That also didn’t take.  I wasn’t really that interested in it.  [Laughs]  I wished I’d stuck with it.  Then when I was thirteen, we decided that I was to play some woodwind instrument.  Actually the first choice was clarinet.  I didn’t know what a bassoon was, frankly.  Most people didn’t and don’t.  We went out to buy a clarinet, but we didn’t.  Then it turned out that a very good friend of my father’s was a good friend of Simon Kovar, the famous bassoon teacher of those days.  They cooked it up between them that I would study the bassoon.  So I went for my first lesson still not knowing what a bassoon was.  It was a shock because it was, at that time, almost as tall as I was.  [More laughter]  So that’s how I started the bassoon.

BD:    Any regrets about it?

AW:    No, I can’t say I regret it.  I wished I played some other instruments, but no, I don’t regret it.

BD:    [With a gentle, knowing nudge]  Any regrets of the endless hours whittling on reeds?

AW:    Yes, always!  I tell people that I went into conducting to get away from reeds.

BD:    You would think with these synthetics now they could make a permanent, or semi-permanent reed.

AW:    It’s got to happen.  I’m just waiting for it.

BD:    Or perhaps an adjustable reed, or something...

AW:    Yes, something where you could spend your time making music instead of making reeds.

BD:    This comes back to what I was asking about earlier.  At what point are you able to forget about the technical problems, and really start making music?

AW:    This happens at a point where you can’t specify it.  It’s the goal, or should be the goal of every musician, although it may only be an unconscious goal.  When you’re learning, you realize that you’re not going to be able to achieve this.  In fact, you’re pretty sure you can’t.  You can never achieve it, and most people don’t ever achieve it.  It happens without your realizing it, but not to everybody.

BD:    Is that what separates the real musicians from the amateurs?

AW:    Perhaps it is.  I wouldn’t even say the word

BD:    Let’s go the other direction.  Should every bassoon player play a little contra?

AW:    It’s fun to play those low notes, and you may get asked to play a contra.  You may have to do a single job, and you may get a lifetime job.  I went to Juilliard with two other bassoonists.  One of them wound up playing contrabassoon with the New York Philharmonic for thirty or forty years, and the other was in the Boston Symphony for thirty or forty years.  So it’s not a bad idea to learn a little contra.

BD:    Are there times when you have to extend the single bassoon?  I know the Nielsen Quintet needs a low A [a half tone lower than the bottom note on the bassoon].

AW:    There is an A-bell that was manufactured for the bassoon.  Strauss also wrote for a low A, and there is such a bell in existence built by Heckel [woodwind manufacturer founded in 1831 in Wiesbaden, Germany].  But it’s pretty rare, and it doesn’t destroy the piece not to play those notes, except in the Nielsen Quintet where you can hear it.  There are these makeshift things that you can do, such as putting a tube in the bell.

BD:    I’ve seen the bassoon player borrow the bell of the English horn.

AW:    That’s fairly good thing.

BD:    It almost makes it down to the pitch!

AW:    Yes, it almost makes it.  You can make a tube that does pretty well.  When we used to play it in the New York Woodwind Quintet, about half of the time John Barrows, the horn player, would play the low A.  He had a wonderful low A.  Not all horn players do.

BD:    A pedal tone?

AW:    Yes, and so he would play it.  Otherwise I’d put a tube in.  It’s a funny thing that luckily comes up only once in a while.

BD:    If it came up all the time, they’d be a standardization?

AW:    Then you’d have to have that bell.

BD:    Tell me the joys and sorrows of playing in a woodwind quintet.

AW:    Once you’ve solved the problems of getting along with the different people

the real problem is matching the qualities, the attacks, the articulations of five totally different instruments.  It’s not like a string quartet.  They’re all the same, they really are.  Everything is the same, just the range is different.  They are really a family.  The woodwinds are called a family, but they’re totally different.  Their attacks are totally different, their releases are different, their volume capabilities, their vibrato, everything is all totally different.  So it is a problem just to try to match each other.

BD:    Is it a family of adopted instruments rather than a family of natural children?

AW:    There used to be these families of various instruments.  The clarinet has an entire family.  Flutes have a lot of members.  Even the oboe has a few, but not as many, and then there is the bassoon.  But those other family members have kind of disappeared except for specialized uses.  Take the clarinets in Symphonic Bands.  You’ll find a whole range of clarinets, and occasionally they will appear in the orchestra in big pieces where they’ll use Eb clarinet, the regular Bb clarinet, and the bass clarinet.

BD:    And sometimes contrabass clarinet?

AW:    That one is rare, yes, but it will be heard sometimes.  It’s come down to the Woodwind Family, and we all ask how the French horn got into the woodwind quintet.  That’s a joke all the time.  In Europe, it’s not called a Woodwind Quintet, it’s called a Wind Quintet, which makes more sense.

BD:    How did the group get standardized as flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and French horn?

AW:    You have to look back at the first composers who wrote for that group, which I suppose were Danzi and Reicha.  I don’t know how they settled in on it.

BD:    Is that what they simply had?

AW:    Sure, that’s what they had.  Of course, they had trombones and trumpets, but at that time they were just auxiliary instruments in the orchestra.  The trombone hadn’t really come into its own.  They were thinking about calling it an instrument, although it had a great old history, but not in terms of the orchestra.  But the French horn was used a lot, so they were the wind instruments.  The clarinet was also relatively new.

BD:    Is it fun playing in a woodwind quintet?

AW:    Yes, it is fun, and it’s very challenging.

BD:    Aside from a couple of groups, why don’t we have a pile of woodwind quintets like we have a pile of string quartets?

AW:    We have a lot of woodwind quintets, but it’s nothing like string quartets.

BD:    I mean performing groups.

AW:    There are a lot of performing groups around the world, but nothing like string quartets, and we don’t have the literature.  If Beethoven had written a bunch of quintets, and Haydn, and Mozart, and Brahms, there’d be that many more woodwind quintets.  So it’s the composers’ faults.  [Has a big laugh]

BD:    Are you rectifying that now?

AW:    No, I’m not a woodwind quintet composer as such.  I’ve just written one.

BD:    Are you a bassoon composer?

AW:    I’ve written a lot of works for bassoon and various combinations, yes.  How could I not?

BD:    So they’re things you’ve been agitating to get out of your system over the years?

AW:    No, it just seemed like a nice thing to do.  I did the bassoon literature over the years by giving recitals, and while there are incredible number of pieces written for the bassoon, there are very few really good pieces, and it’s hard to make recital programs if you’re trying to play only good, or really great pieces.  There aren’t that many great pieces, though there are plenty of pieces, and lots of nice pieces.

BD:    What makes a piece great?

AW:    A history, ultimately.  It’s a matter of opinion, of course, as to what’s great music at any time, and that’s why I say

how fast you can play, and your technique with the tongue and things like that.  They’re much easier to see results than musicianship.  So you get more of those and less of the great musicians.

BD:    So it’s still very rare to have the combination of both?

AW:    Those are the great musicians.

BD:    What advice do you have for young conductors?  [Vis-à-vis the recording shown at right, see my Interviews with George Perle, Harold Blumenfeld, and Kim Kashkashian.]

AW:    Ah, well, conducting is a funny field to break into.  It has a lot to do with musicianship, but it can have a lot to do with other things too, which might have less to do with musicianship and technique, and more to do with charisma and lucky breaks.  There are a lot of conductors around the world who had these very good positions who, in my opinion, don’t deserve them.

BD:    They just sort of fell into them?

AW:    They have them for one reason or another, and each one would be its own story.  But I don’t think I want to talk too much about that.

BD:    No, no, that’s perfectly all right, but I assume there are still some great conductors around?

AW:    Of course, absolutely, definitely, yes, and coming up are the young ones, too.  It’s a field that’s a little different than the other areas of music.  In the sport’s world, for example, in baseball, there are your statistics.  We know how many home runs you’ve hit, and how many base hits, how many you’ve stolen, etc., etc.  It’s there in black and white. There’s nothing like that for conductors.  They are a breed apart.

BD:    [With a wink]  How many Beethoven Fifths you have conducted is irrelevant?

AW:    [Smiles]  Yes, it’s irrelevant.  It’s how you conducted.  That’s what’s important, not how many.  Don’t forget, a conductor is part of a team.  There’s this orchestra that’s playing, too.  There are very few great orchestras that want to play badly, even if they dislike the conductor.  They don’t want to, so they’re going to play at a certain standard, their standard, so it’s not always exactly what the conductor does that determines the outcome.  But the great ones can determine the outcome, absolutely.  They can impose their musical will on any orchestra.  The bad ones cannot do that.

BD:    I’ve been to a few performances of the Chicago Symphony where it’s a great performance, and the guest conductor bears no responsibility for it.

AW:    That’s what I mean.  It’s really a different thing.  It’s hard to find a parallel in another field.

BD:    In the music that you play or conduct, where’s the balance between an artistic achievement and an entertainment value?

AW:    It can be both, absolutely both.  It can also be skewed one way or the other, definitely.

BD:    Depending on the piece?

AW:    Yes, depending on the piece.  There’s nothing wrong with entertainment, but there needs to be a balance of both areas in music.  Many pieces are entertaining without being deep in any way, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

BD:    But there are some that entertaining and they are deep?

AW:    That depends on what you mean by

BD:    Tell me about the new work that’s going to be premiered at the Double Reed Convention.

AW:    The International Double Reed Society Convention, to give it its full name.  I’m playing a new concerto that I just finished about six weeks ago for bassoon and string orchestra.  It is a three-movement work, fast-slow-fast.

BD:    Very traditional for an untraditional instrument?

AW:    Well, the bassoon is a very traditional instrument, it really is.  However, it’s kind of a hard piece.

BD:    Do you look to have this then taken up by a lot of bassoonists who are at the convention?  [Vis-à-vis the recording shown at right, see my Interviews with Milton Babbitt, T.J. Anderson, and Richard Wernick.]

AW:    It’s certainly a way of exposing a bassoon piece to many bassoonists at once.  There wouldn’t be any other way of doing that.  I would hope so but it’s not for the faint hearted.

BD:    It’s not going to wind up being Weisberg’s piece, is it?

AW:    I hope not.  I’ve written a few pieces for the bassoon that are very difficult, and they have not been played.  It’s partly because no one knows about them, and maybe because they’re very hard, but my bassoon music is only just now starting to come out.  It hasn’t been available, and people didn’t know it.  Most people don’t know that I am a composer.  Many people know me as a bassoonist, and many other people who know me as a conductor don’t know me as a bassoonist, but not many know me as a composer. 

BD:    You should issue a challenge.  If someone is able to play your piece, you’ll take them to dinner after the performance.

AW:    [Laughs]  I don’t try to write hard music but everybody tells me it is.  I’ve written a lot of music in all genres.

BD:    You just write what has to come out?

AW:    Yes.  People do ask me to write pieces, and I just recently was asked to write a tuba sonata.  I don’t think I would have sat down to write a tuba sonata without being asked.  I was also asked for a trumpet sonata, a trumpet concerto, and trombone and brass quintet.

BD:    When you get these requests, how do you decide if you’re going to say yes, you’ll write it, or no, you won’t?

AW:    It’s usually somebody I know that I would like to write a piece for.  That’s how it happens, and if I’m not doing anything at the moment, I might more easily do it.

BD:    It sounds like some of these commissions have put new ideas into your head.

AW:    Yes, it’s fun writing for unusual combinations, to try and make sense out of that combination.

BD:    Is there always sense to be made out of it?

AW:    Yes.  I wrote a concerto that’s going to be performed next season at the New World Symphony for two pianos and two percussion.

BD:    Sounds like the Bartók work.

AW:    Yes, it is the same.  Just the four players, and that’s a very interesting combination with lots of possibilities that you can explore.

BD:    I hope it comes off.

AW:    It’s going to happen, so we’ll see how it comes off.

Also, see some comments about Stefan Wolpe from an interview with his student M. William Karlins

© 2000 Bruce Duffie

This conversation was recorded in Delray Beach, Florida, on April 30, 1997.  Portions were broadcast on WNIB later that year, and on WNUR in 2009 and 2014, and on Contemporary Classical Internet Radio in 2009.  This transcription was made in 2017, and posted on this website at that time.  My thanks to British soprano Una Barry for her help in preparing this website presentation.

To see a full list (with links) of interviews which have been transcribed and posted on this website, click here.  To read my thoughts on editing these interviews for print, as well as a few other interesting observations, click here.

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Award - winning broadcaster Bruce Duffie was with WNIB, Classical 97 in Chicago from 1975 until its final moment as a classical station in February of 2001.  His interviews have also appeared in various magazines and journals since 1980, and he now continues his broadcast series on WNUR-FM, as well as on Contemporary Classical Internet Radio.