Etudes Used by Herzberg

Norman Herzberg (a premier bassoon pedagogue of the 20th century) assigned standard bassoon etude books in a specific sequence. He had every student work through every etude—in order. He required his students to use standard fingerings on every note because, “There is no point in trying to avoid a technical difficulty by changing a fingering. After all, what do we practice scales for?”¹

IMSLP links below are public domain editions of the etudes from the International Music Score Library Project. SMP links take you to Sheet Music Plus.

Herzberg’s Etude Book List

• 25 Studies in Scales and Chords, op. 24 by Ludwig Milde (Amazon-new edition, IMSLP, SMP)
• Quatre Vingt Dix Etudes, volumes 1 & 2 by Marius Piard (SMP Vol 1, Vol 2)
• Twenty Melodious Studies by Alberto Orefici (SMP)
• Six Bassoon Etudes, op. 15 by Carl Jacobi (IMSLP)
• 26 Melodious Studies, op. 15 by Eugène Jancourt (SMP)
• 18 Studies for Bassoon by Giovanni Battista Gambaro (Forrests)
• Bravura Studies by Alberto Orefici (SMP)
• Twenty Etudes by Paul Pierné, (volume II of Nouvelle Technique du Basson by Gustave Dhérin and Pierné. Out of print.)
• 12 Studies for Bassoon by Umberto Bertoni (Amazon, fagotizm)
• Vingt Etudes Pour Le Basson by Marcel Bitsch (Amazon)
• 12 Studies for Bassoon by Pierre Max Dubois (SMP)
• Concert Studies, Op. 26 by Ludwig Milde (SMP)

This post was originally published on teachbassoon.com. Used here with permission.

¹For detailed information on how Herzberg used these exercises with his students, see Cope-Lowe, C. (2008). Norman Herzberg: An icon of bassoon pedagogy (Order No. 3316308). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304534367).