oboe family

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oboe family. The ob. is a woodwind instr. blown through a double reed and with a compass from the B♭ below middle C upwards for over 2½ octaves. Standard orch. instr., also in chamber mus. and military bands. It is the note A sounded on the oboe to which the rest of the orchestra tune their instr. Many concs. have been written for its solo use, e.g. by Vivaldi, Albinoni, R. Strauss, Vaughan Williams, Martinů, etc. Derives from the shawm and the curtal. Known in Fr. and Eng. in the 17th cent. as hautbois and hautboy. There also exist: (1) oboe d'amore (ob. of love): pitched a minor 3rd below normal oboe. Has pear-shaped bell, which gives it its mellow and individual tone-colour, and is midway in size between ob. and cor anglais. Was favoured by Bach, but subsequently neglected. In 20th cent, has been used by R. Strauss in Symphonia Domestica, Holst in Somerset Rhapsody, Ravel in Boléro, Janác̆ek in several works, incl. operas, and John McCabe has written a conc. for it (1972). (2) oboe da caccia (hunting ob.): obsolete predecessor of cor anglais. See also cor anglais, bassoon, Heckelphone, shawm.