WBocals

27/04/2026

Mala tempora currunt, bonum dulcinum advenit.

10/04/2026

On April 3, the “Consort Milanese Fagotti Rinascimentali” held its first concert.

Valerio Bongiorno gave voice to the music through letters that a certain Vincenzo Onida had sent him in recent months, recounting the origins of the program.
Ninon, Giulia, Anna Maria, Priscila, and Vincenzo performed songs, recercades, madrigals, and diminutions by various composers from the 1500s and 1600s (De Morales, Cabezon, Parius, Du Carroy, Magdeburg, J.S. Bach, Zanetti, Canale, Banchieri, Palestrina, Ortiz)

Thanks to Mamu, “Magazzino della musica” in Milan, for the warm welcome and for believing in the project. Thanks to the wonderful and enthusiastic audience who, despite the Easter holidays, turned out in large numbers and with such warmth.
(photo courtesy of “Loi” Corti)

28/03/2026

Bass Dulcian 466 hz after Berlin.
Maple wood by Rivolta Woods, treated with linseed oil, finished with dewaxed shellac.
A burnt colour, for burning passions; I myself burn with the desire for my client to experience it.
Andrew's friends had perhaps already guessed 😉

27/03/2026

I’m absolutely delighted about this first event for the “Consort Milanese Fagotti Rinascimentali”.
The date is very close to the Easter holidays. That’s one more reason why every participant will be very welcome.

https://associazione.magazzinomusica.it/index.php/component/zoo/item/standard-dantan-consort-di-fagotti-rinascimentali-voce-e-arpa?Itemid=101

09/03/2026

Dulciana basse d'après Berlin. Bois d'érable teinté brun foncé, éléments décoratifs d'après Linz MU32.
Traitement à l'huile de lin cuite, finition à la gomme laque ambrée (pour donner un fond doré) et gomme laque décirée appliquée au tampon.
Diapason 440, extension Do2-La4.
Ninon Dusollier a collaboré à la réalisation des décorations et à l'assemblage des clés. clés.

02/03/2026

In response to dear Teresa's request, I undertook a second project to transform the Bass Dulcian into two bodies (a 440 hz instrument after Berlin).
After my first experience, I perfected the work by leaving the tenons free to be removed completely, which reduces the length by 46.5 cm.

The tenons are reamed with the instrument assembled in order to preserve the exact internal measurements of the original single-body instrument.

The brass bands ensure the solidity of the mortises, which, in terms of diameter and wall thickness, are now very similar to those of a Baroque bassoon.

09/02/2026

Renaissance bass dulcian after the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum. Pitch 466 Hz.
Stained maple wood, deeply impregnated with linseed oil, finished with dewaxed shellac. Ready for Belgium.
Range of two octaves and a sixth.

15/01/2026

Today, Emma and I finally finished a long and complex restoration involving challenging reconstructions of some parts of a semi-contrabassoon, undoubtedly of Austrian origin from the 19th century.

The instrument arrived at the workshop without its end piece, but after careful observation and thanks to the availability of a similar instrument from the Palazzo Correr Museum in Venice, we were able to measure and reconstruct the two crooks (special thanks to Claudio Canevari).

In Leipzig (UL MIM 1401, Universität Leipzig, Musikinstrumentenmuseum) I found an instrument stamped "HAMMIG / WIEN" with similar characteristics (photo in the documentation below).

The work also required the reconstruction of the A flat key and its saddle, and the E flat key on the long body.

Very interesting, and worthy of study for the various similar anonymous contrabassoons, the absolute similarity of the boot of this semi-contrabassoon with the boot of the contrabassoon by Tauber preserved in the museum of the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory of Music in Naples, which I restored in 2010 (see photo of our anonymous boot superimposed on the 1:1 print of the photo of the Tauber boot in Naples).

From the initial tests carried out, the reconstructed instrument appears to play at 440 Hz with the lowest note being D1.

10/12/2025

Bajon a punt per marxar cap a Espanya. Breu prova de dues octaves i una quinta.
Bon Nadal i feliç any nou per a la Gemma!

21/10/2025

Vi invitiamo a sentirci il 2 novembre 2025 alle ore 17:30 presso la chiesa di S. Alessandro di Milano. Ci saranno i cornetti di Jodi e Ariadna, la bombarda contralto di Simone. Ninon ed io suoneremo i fagotti antichi (basso e tenore) costruiti nel nostro atelier, Nadal suonerà il grande organo di S. Alessandro.
Ingresso libero ad offerta.

Da "Canzoni per sonare con ogni sorta di stromenti" stampato da Alessandro Raverij in Venezia, 1608.Ensemble Alta Amici: Ariadna Quappe e Jody Livo, cornetti...

01/10/2025

Nouveaux tenors à 440 Hz désormais prêts pour Canto Mundi : Paris Geneviller, du 4 au 5 octobre 2025.
Un grand merci à Ninon Dusollier pour sa collaboration à la construction et à la mise au point.