The Paris Conservatoire has, through its annual concours (contest), added a great number of works to the bassoon’s solo repertoire. Recently, I found myself wondering how many of these works have been uploaded to IMSLP. I started my search by pulling one of the great bassoon reference works off my shelf: Kristine Fletcher’s book The Paris Conservatoire and the Contest Solos for Bassoon (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1988). I was lucky enough to buy one of Dr. Fletcher’s last extra copies when I was in grad school, but it’s difficult to get your hands on today, outside of university libraries. I made myself a spreadsheet of all the contest pieces, and set about searching IMSLP and copying links for pieces that have been posted there. Partway through this task, I realized that what I was creating had the potential to be of great use to others. So, I’m posting it on my site today.
When I initially checked IMSLP, only a dozen of these works (not counting Mozart, Vivaldi, and Weber) were available. I’ve uploaded an additional 4 pieces by Eugène Jancourt over the last week or so, and have one by Henri Büsser in process. Some of the 19th-century works may never have been published, and many of them have titles that are probably too generic for positive identification (e.g. “Concerto”). But, there are still another 20+ published works out there that are potentially in the public domain (at least in the US), and could be added. I’ll keep working to track these down and make them available. If you have original printings of any of them, please get in touch!
The table of contest pieces needs a little extra space, so I’ve put it on its own page. You can get there either via the “Resources” tab above, or simply by clicking the image of the table below:
Paris Conservatoire Contest Pieces—click to view the entire table
