[f. TENOR + -oon in bassoon, or short for tenor bassoon.] a. An obsolete wooden reed-instrument intermediate in pitch between the oboe and the bassoon; also called tenor oboe or tenor bassoon. Also attrib., as tenoroon oboe.
b. A reed-stop in an organ, resembling the oboe stop, but not extending below tenor C. Also applied to any stop not extending below tenor C; also attrib., as tenoroon diapason.
1849. Chambers’ Inform. People, II. 766/2. The tenoroon, a wood instrument played with a reed, is seldom employed.
1879. Stainer, Music of Bible, 79. The tenor oboe or tenoroon.
1881. C. A. Edwards, Organs, xxii. 155. When it ceases at tenor C this stop [double open diapason] is named the Tenoroon.
1884. W. H. Stone, in Grove, Dict. Mus., IV. 88. Tenoroon, a name … given to the Tenor Bassoon or Alto Fagotto in F…. It has entirely gone out of use.
1898. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, Tenoroon … (2) A word affixed to an organ stop to denote that it does not proceed below tenor C, as tenoroon hautboy. A tenoroon diapason is a double diapason which does not extend below tenor C.
