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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000004.txt from 2005/07

From: Jim Katz <jimkatz@-----.ca>
Subj: [DR-L] Re: Jefferson QOTD
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 12:50:36 -0400

Well, okay, further research does show that Thomas Jefferson did indeed
mention oboes and bassoon, and even expressed interest in getting together a
group:

1778. "If there is a gratification which I envy any people in this world it
is to your country [Italy] its music. This is the favorite passion of my
soul, and fortune has cast my lot in a country where it is in a state of
deplorable barbarism . . . . The bounds of an American fortune will not
admit the indulgence of a domestic band of musicians. Yet I have thought
that a passion for music might be reconciled with that oeconomy which we are
obliged to observe . . . . In a country where, like yours, music is
cultivated and practised by every class of men I suppose there might be
found persons of those trades [gardener, weaver, cabinetmaker, stonecutter]
who could perform on the French horn, clarinet, or hautboy and bassoon, so
that one might have a band of two French horns, two clarinets, and hautboys
and a bassoon, without enlarging their domest[ic] expenses." Asks Fabbroni's
aid in procuring such a band of musical artisans. (TJ to Giovanni Fabbroni,
8 June, B.2.196)

> -Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American 3rd US President, Author of the
> Declaration of Independence

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