Carl Bryan Ibaos

BM-ME Cello
Orchestration
Reporting

The Oboe/English Horn

Oboe is a woodwind instrument with a double reed mouthpiece a tubular body, and
holes stopped by keys.

Wind players and instrument makers at the French court of Louis XIV (1638-1715) are
in large part responsible for building an oboe from a shawm. The oboe first appeared
in England in the 17th century, under the French name of hautbois it means high or
load wood, and surely came from France, as the French were especially fond of the
instrument. This name hautbois was also used for the oboes ancestor, the shawm.
The two major differences between the shawm and the oboe include the oboe having
three sections (or joints), which allow more precision during manufacturing and
precision in both tuning and comfort, and the elimination of the pirouette, the wooden
ledge or ball below the reed that was a resting point for the players lips on the
shawm.
The 17th century flutist Michel de la Barre wrote that the Philidor and Hotteterre
families might have been the inventors (separately or together, its unclear).
Regardless of who or how it came to be, it grew in popularity all over Europe and in
England, where the name morphed through hautboy, hoboy, hautboit, and howboye
before settling on oboe (in Englishthe French still call it an hautbois). It was the
main instrument in military bands until the clarinet came along and dislodged it.
The reason for the oboes popularity was that it was an expressive instrument, equal
to that of the traverse flute (another rising star in the 17th century). The shawm had
demanded attention by being almost obnoxiously loud, but the oboe tempered the
sound with dynamic range (loudness AND softness) and eloquent nuance. It soon
became a favorite instrument of the Baroque era, especially played in conjunction with
the violin, which was another new invention (evolved from the vielle).
In the early 18th century, the oboes sister, the oboe damour developed, which was
even more evocative, as the name rather romantically implies. The oboe damore is
pitched a third lower than the regular oboe and was unknown until the early Romantic
period. In the 1870s, Victor Charles Mahillon (1841-1924), of the Mahillon instrument
makers in Brussels, revived the instrument for historical performances. Its evolved

further since then to include the same improvements as the modern oboe (more about
that in the Structure section).
The alto bombard (one of the names for the shawm) became the alto oboe (the same
way as the shawm became the oboe), and it had a pear-shaped bell, like the oboe
damore. It had a warm and full tone and was also called the oboe da caccia (the
horsemans oboe) and was used during fox hunts. The oboe da caccia was 30 inches
long and had a peaceful and quiet sound.
Oboe da caccia

Oboe dAmore

Shawm

The English horn

The English horn is another version of the oboe, but its curved, carved of two pieces
of wood at an angle, like a sickle, and is encased in leather to make it airtight. Its a
little bit longer and although the finger holes are wide apart, its fingered the same way
as a regular oboe and oboe damore. It rose in popularity around the middle of the
18th century and had an elegant pear-shaped or spherical bell. By the 19th century, it
had gained the oboes helpful key mechanisms. The English horn is often found in
large orchestras today and plays a fifth lower than the oboe.
The baritone oboe plays a fourth lower than the English horn (or an octave below the
oboe, if its easier to think of it that way). Its more than three feet long, has the
pear-shaped bell of the English horn, and is blown, like the bassoon, through an
S-shaped tube. It sounds a lot like an English horn, only lower.

The heckelphone is an even lower oboe, made in the early 20th century, with a wide
conical bore. It was made of maple-wood and has a barrel-shaped bell. The
heckelphone was more than four-feet long, producing a rich sound, so much so that it
was used by Richard Strauss (1864-1049) in Salome and Alpine Symphony and by
Max von Schillings (1868-1933) in Der Moloch and Mona Lisa.
The pioccolo-heckelphone is a smaller version of the heckelphone and sounds a
fourth lower than an oboe. Its still pretty big.
In the time of Louis XIV (1638-1715), French ensembles consisted of an oboe, a tenor
oboe, and a bassoon, but by the middle of the 18th century, they had expanded to two
oboes (or two clarinets) with two horns and two bassoons.
Franz Joseph Haydns (1732-1809) orchestra had a flute, two oboes, two bassoons,
two horns, and between 12 and 16 strings (violins, violas, and cellos, doubled by bass
viol), and a harpsichord. Trumpets and timpani were occasionally added.
Viennese orchestras of the 1790s often had as many as 35 players, often also
including clarinets. In the 19th century, orchestras grew from about 40 players to
nearly 90. Oboes (along with flutes, clarinets, and bassoons) developed elaborate key
systems by mid-century, and their ranges were considerably expanded (piccolos,
English horn, bass clarinet, and contra-bassoon).
English horn

Heckelphone

Range of the Oboe family

Foreign Name of The Oboe

Oboe
Italian
*Oboe

German
*Oboe

French

*Hautbois

Russian
*Goboi

Spanish
*Oboe

English horn
*corno inglese
*Englishhorn
*cor anglais
*angliiski rozhok
*corno/cuero ingles

PARTS OF THE OBOE

DOUBLE REED

ENGLISH HORN