Carl Almenräder

Carl Almenräder was a German bassoonist, composer and musical-instrument maker. He was born on 3 October 1786 in Ronsdorf, now part of Wuppertal, and died on 14 September 1846 in Biebrich, now part of Wiesbaden.

He taught himself to play the bassoon. From 1810 he played in a theatre orchestra in Cologne, and from 1812 in Frankfurt am Main, where he studied composition with Aloys Schmitt. In 1817 he worked in Mainz, then returned to Cologne, and from 1822 was based mainly in Biebrich, initially in the court orchestra of the Duke of Nassau.

In 1831 Almenräder and Johann Adam Heckel established a woodwind-instrument manufacturing business in Biebrich. In 1843, Almenräder introduced an improved bassoon of his own design with seventeen keys; this model later became the basis of the traditional German instrument. After Almenräder's death, Heckel continued the business.

Almenräder wrote several works for bassoon as well as vocal and other compositions.