The orchestra and its instruments . -day. The instrument went through manychanges before it reached its present condition; butnone of these affected the family voice — the pene-trating, roughish twang. The Bombardino-Schalmeyvoice still persists: it is like some other famous familytraits — the Bourbon nose and the Hapsburg lip forinstance — it is hard to suppress. However, it isthis peculiar voice that makes the oboe such a desir-able member of the orchestra. The timbre is thin and nasal, very piercing in itsjorte passages, of exquisite refinement in its pianopassages; harsh and of bad quality
The orchestra and its instruments . -day. The instrument went through manychanges before it reached its present condition; butnone of these affected the family voice — the pene-trating, roughish twang. The Bombardino-Schalmeyvoice still persists: it is like some other famous familytraits — the Bourbon nose and the Hapsburg lip forinstance — it is hard to suppress. However, it isthis peculiar voice that makes the oboe such a desir-able member of the orchestra. The timbre is thin and nasal, very piercing in itsjorte passages, of exquisite refinement in its pianopassages; harsh and of bad quality in its very highand very low notes. The oboe is artless and rusticin its expression; it is pastoral and melancholy; ifit is gay, its gayety is frank and almost excessive andexaggerated; but its natural tone is of a gentle sadnessand a resigned endurance. It is unrivalled in depict-ing simple, rural sentiments of any kind, and onoccasion can ev^n become 1 Strauss calls for this in his Domestic Symphony. 2 FIRST OBOE, SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK Henri De Busscber THE WOODWIND FAMILY 85 The oboe is the most elaborate and complicatedof all the reed instruments. The mechanical changesare due to ApoIIon Marie Rose Barret (1804-1879),a remarkable French oboe-player, aided by a Frenchinstrument-maker named Triebert. Historically andmusically the oboe is the most important member ofthe reed band. It is first of all a melodic instrument;or, in other words, its tone quality is what it is espe-cially valued for and not for brilliant passages. It cancall up pastoral scenes and it can express innocence,grief, pathos and gentle gayety. The oboe is a woodsn pipe, or tube, with conicalbore widening out gradually until it forms a smallbell, shaped something like the flower of a morning-glory, or convolvulus. At the opposite end it has asmall metal tube, or mouthpiece, called staple,to which the reed (consisting of two blades of thincane) is attached by means of silk
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmusicalinstruments
