oboe
-
What is an oboe?
The oboe is a treble woodwind instrument with a conical bore and double reed, typically used in orchestras, but it also has a solo repertoire. The oboe's origins trace back to the mid-17th century when French court musicians Jacques Hotteterre and Michel Philidor invented it. Known originally as the hautbois, meaning "high or loud wood," the oboe was designed for indoor performances with stringed instruments, offering a softer tone than its predecessor, the shawm.
The modern oboe has evolved from its early form of only two keys to up to 10 keys by 1839. The French oboe is known for its expressiveness and flexibility. The most important aspect of playing the oboe is controlling the reed with the lips and mouth. Most serious players make their own reeds using the plant Arundo donax.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What does an oboe look like?
The oboe is a treble woodwind instrument with a conical bore and double reed. It is mainly used as an orchestral instrument, but it also has a considerable solo repertoire.
The modern oboe has many keys. In the early 19th century, metal pillars replaced the wooden ridges on which the keys had been mounted, reducing the threat to the oboe’s airtightness. By 1839, the number of keys had gradually increased to 10 in France. The style of oboe that is widely used in the United States and France has finger holes covered by perforated plates.
The chief factor in playing the oboe is making the reed and controlling it with the lips and mouth. The raw material for the reed is the plant Arundo donax, which resembles bamboo.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How is sound produced on an oboe?
The oboe is a treble woodwind instrument with a conical bore and double reed. Sound is produced in an oboe when the player blows air through the two blades of the double reed, causing them to vibrate. This vibration generates pulsations in the air column inside the oboe's tube. The oboe functions acoustically as an open tube, producing all harmonics. The player uses their breath and embouchure (the way they position their mouth and lips) to control the reed. The opening and closing of the space between the reed and the mouthpiece creates vibration that passes into the tube.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What role does the oboe play in an orchestra?
The oboe is a treble woodwind instrument with a double reed and conical bore, commonly used in orchestras, with a substantial solo repertoire. In the classical orchestra, oboes often double the string parts.
The oboe, first redesigned in Paris, quickly rose in popularity to become the most-favored woodwind in the 18th century. Oboes have a rich and expressive tone, and skilled players can replicate the nuances of trained operatic sopranos. In the 18th century, composers often used oboes to double the second violins, or the first violins in octaves.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How is an oboe different from other woodwind instruments?
The oboe is a treble woodwind instrument with a conical bore and double reed, setting it apart from other woodwinds. Its origins trace back to the shawm, a loud, outdoor instrument, but the oboe was specifically designed for indoor use with stringed instruments, featuring a softer tone.
A key distinction lies in its reed: the oboe uses a double reed, unlike single-reed instruments like the clarinet. This double reed vibrates between its parts, contributing to the oboe's distinct sound. Additionally, the oboe's conical bore, in contrast to the cylindrical bore of the clarinet, allows it to produce all harmonics, resulting in a tone that some compare to a trumpet or saxophone.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What skills are needed to play the oboe well?
To play the oboe well, the chief factor is control of the reed with the lips and mouth. Most serious players make their own reeds using Arundo donax, a plant similar in appearance to bamboo. The player carefully controls the reed and pinches it between the lips to produce vibrations.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
oboe, treble woodwind instrument with a conical bore and double reed. Though used chiefly as an orchestral instrument, it also has a considerable solo repertoire.
Hautbois (French: “high [i.e., loud] wood”), or oboe, was originally one of the names of the shawm, the violently powerful instrument of outdoor ceremonial. The oboe proper (i.e., the orchestral instrument), however, was the mid-17th-century invention of two French court musicians, Jacques Hotteterre and Michel Philidor. It was intended to be played indoors with stringed instruments and was softer and less brilliant in tone than the modern oboe. By the end of the 17th century it was the principal wind instrument of the orchestra and military band and, after the violin, the leading solo instrument of the time.
The early oboe had only two keys. Its compass, at first two octaves upward from middle C, was soon extended as high as the next F. In the early 19th century several improvements occurred in the manufacture of wind-instrument keywork, particularly the introduction of metal pillars in place of the wooden ridges on which the keys had been mounted. This change greatly reduced the threat to the oboe’s airtightness formerly associated with additional keys. In France by 1839 the number of keys had gradually increased to 10.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
French players before 1800 had also adopted the narrow modern type of reed. By the 1860s Guillaume Triébert and his son Frédéric had developed an instrument that was almost identical with the expressive, flexible, and specifically French oboe of the 20th century. The instrument in which the finger holes are covered by perforated plates, now the style of oboe that is widely used in the United States and France, was first produced by François Lorée and Georges Gillet in 1906.
Outside France, the decline of patronage and the public enthusiasm for military bands resulted in radically different traditions of playing and manufacture. In Germany and Austria the many-keyed oboe had appeared earlier than in France, and the bore and reed had developed so as to produce an increased loudness that was clearly of military inspiration. This resulted, after Ludwig van Beethoven, in a long period of neglect for the oboe until it was revived in the late 19th century, largely through the efforts of the composer Richard Strauss. Germany and Austria generally adopted the French oboe by approximately 1925.
The history of the oboe in Italy is comparable. The German instrument (with a tiny reed) survives in Russia; though capable of a certain refinement of tone, it lacks the piquancy and sparkle of the French oboe. In Vienna an oboe resembling the German instrument but more antique in character is played by the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Akademie. Its rather reticent and blending quality is perhaps caused more by the highly specialized reed than by the instrument’s inherent qualities.
The chief factor in playing the oboe is the making of the reed and its control by the lips and the mouth. Most serious players make their own reeds, although ready-made reeds can be purchased. The raw material for the device is the plant Arundo donax, which resembles bamboo in appearance. It grows in warm temperate or subtropical regions, but only the crops of the southern French départements of Var and Vaucluse are satisfactory for reed making.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
There are several large varieties of oboe. The English horn, or cor anglais, is pitched in F, a fifth below the oboe, and is believed to resemble J.S. Bach’s oboe da caccia. The oboe d’amore, in A, pitched a minor third below the oboe, is made with a globular bell like that of the cor anglais. It was much employed by Bach and is also used in several 20th-century works. Instruments pitched an octave below the oboe are rarer. The hautbois baryton, or baritone oboe, resembles a larger, lower voiced cor anglais in both tone and proportions. The heckelphone, with a larger reed and bore than the hautbois baryton, has a distinctive tone that is rather heavy in the low register. Instruments in other sizes and pitches occur occasionally. Any folk or non-European double-reed woodwind may also be generically called an oboe.