Heckel, Johann Adam

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Heckel, Johann Adam

Heckel, Johann Adam, German manufacturer of musical instruments; b. Adorf, July 14, 1812; d. Biebrich, April 13, 1877. From 1824 to 1835 he worked with the bassoonist Carl Almenräder on experiments for improving the clarinet and the bassoon. His son and successor, Wilhelm (b. Biebrich, Jan. 25, 1856; d. there, Jan. 13, 1909), continued his experiments with success and constructed the “Heckelphone” (a baritone oboe; used by Strauss in the score of Salome) in 1904; also made various changes in the construction of other woodwind instruments. He wrote Der Fagott. Kurzgefasste Abhandlung über seine historische Entwicklung, seinen Bau und seine Spielweise (1899; new ed., 1931).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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