the bassoon developed from a renaissance instrument called the "curtal" or "dulcian". these were double reed instruments which often played with shawms. in the baroque period the bassoon became popular as an instrument to play the bass line, perhaps playing the same as the cello. a man named hotteterre made many parts of the modern bassoon. in the late baroque period composers like antonio vivaldi wrote concertos for bassoon and orchestra. some more famous bassoon concertos include one by mozart, and in more recent times by peter maxwell davies. the bassoon was a very important instrument in the orchestra. mozart and beethoven gave the bassoon important parts in the music.