However, depending on the type of reed used, it can also give off a very subtle, and yet, deep, mellow sound when played at a relaxed, steady pace.

A modern tárogató may occasionally be heard in Act 3 of Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner where it has become traditional in some opera houses (e.g. the Royal Opera House, London) to use it instead of the off-stage cor anglais for the last passage (bars 999-1149) of the Shepherd's air, but Wagner did not specify this, merely suggesting in the score "a specially built simple natural instrument".

In the 1920s, Luță Ioviță, who played the instrument in the army during World War I, brought it to Banat (Romania), where it became very popular under the name taragot.

[5] In 1928, the British music journal Melody Maker reported that the Oxford-based clarinettist Frank Dyer was using "a taragossa, a novelty Hungarian instrument which is a cross between a saxophone and a Cor Anglais" with his Symphonic Dance Orchestra.

American reed players Charles Lloyd, Scott Robinson & Michael Marcus have occasionally used the tárogató.

Joe Lovano has also displayed interest in the instrument featuring it extensively in his episode of SOLOS: The Jazz Sessions, on Steve Kuhn's Mostly Coltrane, and on his own albums Trio Tapestry and Roma (with Enrico Rava) (both ECM Records).