Weber wrote the first version of this work in 1809 for his brother Fritz, a violist, not a bassoonist. Violists still play the Andante and Hungarian Rondo from time to time, but the piece is more commonly heard in its bassoon incarnation from 1813, arranged on request from bassoonist Georg Friedrich Brandt (for whom Weber had already written a full-length concerto). The bassoon version recasts the solo part a bit and expands two of the tuttis, but there are no substantial differences between the two editions. The Andante introduces a cautious, simple tune, entering as if on tiptoe (complete with pizzicato strings), then spins out three variations. In the first, the orchestra plays the theme unchanged, while the bassoon weaves around it. The soloist develops the second variation into more of a romance, but the third returns to the pattern of the first variation, with the bassoon now given an even more intricate part. The rondo takes off from a whimsical, skipping tune; this is interwoven with a series of episodes that play with rhythmic accents and, in the second, trills. At the end, the bassoon indulges in a long flurry of triplets leaving hardly a pause for breath, one of the few obviously virtuosic effects in a particularly amiable piece.

© All Music Guide