| By :
Robert Hinchliffe
Copyright (c) 2010 Robert Hinchliffe The oboe family has fairly ancient origins. It's ancestors can be found as long ago as in the times of the Egyptian Pharoahs. The double reed, a feature of the whole oboe family, can be found in many kinds of instrument ranging from medieval shawms to bagpipes of various kinds. It was in the 16th & 17th centuries when the oboe as we know it really began to develop. The baroque oboe was, at that time, often referred to as the "hautboys" from the French "haut bois" meaning high-wood. This became corrupted to Hoboy and from this the modern name of oboe evolved. The early oboes first developed some simple mechanisms with just three keys added for the little fingers. This was developed further into, first, the seven-keyed and then the ten-keyed instrument of Guillaume Triebert in the early 19th century. The mechanism of the oboe continued to develop through the input of such makers as Boehm, Barret and others. Since that time the instruments have gradually acquired more and more keys with most players today using what is usually referred to as a full Gillet system. In addition to the oboe itself, there are 3 larger instruments in the oboe family, the Oboe D'Amore, Cor Anglais and Bass Oboe. All are transposing instruments and have their origins in instruments of the 16th & 17th centuries. The Oboe D'Amore (alto oboe in A) was widely used in the time of J.S. Bach and it is in the performance of his works that we usually encounter this member of the oboe family today. The Cor Anglais or English Horn (tenor oboe in F) developed from an instrument called the Oboe di Caccia. The origin of the name English Horn is a bit of a puzzle as the instrument is neither English, nor is it a horn. We find this instrument especially in orchestral writing right through from Baroque times to the present day. The Bass Oboe (in C, transposing an octave) is the lowest of the oboe family and is derived from an early double-reed instrument called the Heckelphone. The Bass Oboe is rarely used but does crop up in scores by Richard Strauss and in Holst's famous piece, "The Planets". The oboe family is closely related to that of the bassoon which has a similar, but much larger, double reed. Both instruments also have a conical bore. The sound of oboes and bassoons playing together is a particularly satisfying one with the sounds blending so naturally. The oboe sound is one of the most distinctive of all the orchestral instruments. It is a sound quality which is consistent throughout the whole of the oboe family of instruments although the lower instruments have a slightly more mellow sound than the oboe itself.
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