Contrabasson or contrabass in the begining of this Harnoncourt recording of Johannespassion, BWV 245, Part 1: “Herr, unser Herrscher”

Question

== Crossposted from Music.SE as the question was deemed more appropriate for this site by a user with lots of rep ==

Consider this Harnoncourt recording of: Johannespassion, BWV 245, Part 1: "Herr, unser Herrscher". I can't figure out if the very low notes at the very beginning are played by a (contra)basoon or a contrabass (or both). I don't know how to figure this out since there's is no guarantee that Harnoncourt adhered to the instrumentation of any sheet music of this piece that I can find. To me, the first note really sounds like a string being played, while the other ones could also be a woodwind instrument playing.

I'd be grateful for anyone with a more precise ear than me and even more for someone with a source for the correct answer of this question.

Kind regards

Answer 1

There is one bassoonist in the personnel list, who is credited as playing both bassoon and contrabassoon. Obviously, he wasn't playing both at the same time. There are also two players credited as playing violone (contrabass).

I haven't listened to the whole recording yet, but the likeliest movements to include the contrabassoon are those for the full orchestra, including the opening.

there's is no guarantee that Harnoncourt adhered to the instrumentation of any sheet music of this piece that I can find.

Indeed, there wasn't any expectation in Bach's day that a bassoon or contrabassoon would play only if there were an explicit "bassoon" part. The "bassi" or "continuo" could be played by whatever appropriate bass instruments were available.