The Romance of the Phagotum

Abstract

Eighteen months ago, as the first paper of our Sixty-sixth Session, Mr. Lyndesay G. Langwill gave a graphic account of the development of the Bassoon. In his opening remarks he briefly alluded to a singular instrument called the Phagotum, and very rightly deprecated any close association between it and the well-known subject of his paper. My present purpose therefore is to supplement his allusion to this early sixteenth century instrument by giving the fullest details available of its character, together with the romantic story of its invention, as described by a contemporary writer. In this way we may place it in its true perspective; and for ease of reference our subject will be divided into four headings, viz., our sources of information, the details of its invention and completion, its scale and technique, and the position it may properly occupy in the general development of wind instruments.