From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The oboe d'amore (oboe of love in Italian), less commonly oboe d'amour, is a woodwind instrument. It is a member of the double reed family, very similar to the oboe. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the mezzo-soprano or alto of the oboe family. It is a transposing instrument, sounding a minor third lower than it is notated, i.e. in A. The bell is pear-shaped and the instrument uses a bocal, similar to the larger English Horn, whose bocal is larger.
The oboe d'amore was invented in the 18th century and was first used by Christoph Graupner in Wie wunderbar ist Gottes Güt. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote many pieces — a concerto, many of his cantatas, and the "In Spiritum Sanctum" movement of his Mass in B minor — for the instrument. Georg Philipp Telemann also occasionally employed the oboe d'amore.
After waning popularity in the late 18th century, the oboe d'amore fell into disuse for about 100 years until composers such as Richard Strauss (for example in the Symphonia Domestica where the instrument represents the child), Claude Debussy (for example in Gigues, where the oboe d'amore has a long solo passage), Maurice Ravel, Frederick Delius, and others began using it once again at the end of the 19th century. It can be heard in Toru Takemitsu's "Vers, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Palma," but its most famous modern usage is, perhaps, in "Boléro" by Maurice Ravel where the oboe d'amore follows the E-flat Clarinet to recommence the main theme for the second time around.
There are few well known exponents of the oboe d'amore, that is, those oboists who concentrate solely on this instrument. Perhaps the best known is Jennifer Paull, born in the UK, who studied oboe in London but was drawn to the oboe d'amore, and has made a number of recordings with the instrument on CD.
Modern makers of oboes d'amore include the London maker T W Howarth (instruments in African Blackwood or Cocobolo wood), F Loree in Paris (instruments in African Blackwood or Violet wood) and others such as French makers Rigoutat, Fossati and Marigaux. New instruments cost around £6500 GBP at 2008 prices, comparable to the cost of a new Cor Anglais (English Horn). This fact, coupled to the limited call for the instrument, means that many oboists do not possess their own oboe d'amore, but rent one when their work dictates the need to play it.
[edit] See also
|
Members of the oboe family |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Double reed instruments (also includes those with quadruple and sextuple reeds; does not include bagpipes) |
|
| European classical (modern) |
|
|
| European classical (historical) |
|
|
| African traditional |
|
|
| Asian traditional |
|
|
| European traditional |
|
|
| North American traditional |
|
|
