The Oboe

Its origin and development

WHAT IS THE OBOE?

• The Woodwinds

• Reeds

• Double reed and its

influence on the sound

WHAT IS THE OBOE?

• The Woodwind

• Reeds

• Double reed and its

influence on the sound

WHAT DOES IT SOUND

LIKE?

Benjamin Britten:

Pan from Six Metamorphoses after Ovid

“Pan who played upon the reed pipe which was

Syrinx, his beloved.”

ANCIENT EAST

❖ Mesopotamia

❖ Egypt

❖ Greece (aulos)

❖ Rome (tibia)

❖ Moorish zurna (shawm)

ANCIENT EAST

❖ Mesopotamia

❖ Egypt

❖ Greece (aulos)

❖ Rome (tibia)

❖ Moorish zurna (shawm)

MOORISH ZURNA

❖ Perso-Arabic origin

❖ spread along with Islam

❖ each culture introduced slight adaptations

❖ Crusades and European colonies in the Middle East

❖ Shawm bands in Europe and Arabia

THE SHAWM

• Pirouette, conical bore, flaring bell, thick

walls, one piece-body

• Loud, outdoor instrument

• Perfect for consort music or as a signal

instrument

• Cannot balance the sound with other

instruments

FLORENTINE CAMERATA – THE DAWN OF NEW

AESTHETICS

• A society of humanists, poets, musicians, intellectuals

• Centred around the house of Giovanni de’ Bardi

• Aimed to revive the drama of Ancient Greece

• Stille recitativo (monody replacing renaissance polyphony)

• First operas: Peri’s Dafne and Euridice

THE FRENCH COURT

• Dominance of the Italian style in music

• Court ensembles and performances

• Louis XIV: le Roi Soleil

• Ballet

• Jean-Baptiste Lully

THE SHAWM VS. THE NEW AESTHETICS

The shawm• Pirouette, conical bore, flaring bell,

thick walls, one piece-body

• Loud, outdoor instrument

• Perfect for consort music or as a signal instrument

• Cannot balance the sound with other instruments

The new aesthetics• Consorts blend together to form a

new type of ensemble: the orchestra

• Monody replaces the old, polyphonic style

• Text, rhetoric and drama influence the new musical style

• Opera becomes the representative genre

THE NEW INVENTION: THE BAROQUE OBOE

• No pirouette, altered reed and tone holes, joints dividing the instrument, thinner walls and shorter bell

• Perfectly blends with the strings and low winds

• Can be used as an obligato instrument to support sung text or evoke the rhetoric of speech

• After pitch adjustment: can be used with singers in opera

THE OBOE & THE OPERA

• Adding colour to the string section

(doubling the violins)

• Obligato instrument

• A soloist of the ensemble

• Associations (pastoral motives,

shepherds, wind, nature, etc.)

THE OBOE & THE OPERA

BAROQUE, CLASSICAL & MODERN OBOES

REED MAKING