The orchestra and its instruments . reason for thinking this the caseis because in Rossinis Overture to William Tell theRanz des vaches (calling the cows) was originallygiven to the oboe di caccia, which was still in use inRossinis time; and when the oboe di caccia becameobsolete, the part was taken by the newer cor anglais. The cor anglais and the oboe assumed their modernappearance about the same time. Both instrumentswere much changed in construction and mechanismduring the last hundred years; but both instrumentskept the old family voice, which has a curious harshquality combined with plai
The orchestra and its instruments . reason for thinking this the caseis because in Rossinis Overture to William Tell theRanz des vaches (calling the cows) was originallygiven to the oboe di caccia, which was still in use inRossinis time; and when the oboe di caccia becameobsolete, the part was taken by the newer cor anglais. The cor anglais and the oboe assumed their modernappearance about the same time. Both instrumentswere much changed in construction and mechanismduring the last hundred years; but both instrumentskept the old family voice, which has a curious harshquality combined with plaintiveness. Beethoven wrote a Trio for two oboes and cor an-glais, op. 29. The French composers made it has it play an obbligato to the aria Robert,toi que faime, in Robert le Diable; Berlioz made itimportant in his Symphonie Fantastique; and it appearsin Dvoraks New World Symphony, having a melodyin the Largo with accompaniment of strings con sor-dini. Strauss gives it prominence in Heldenleben. 1 See pages COR ANGLAIS, SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK Attilio Bianco THE WOODWIND FAMILY 91 Of its famous solos none is so haunting as theplaintive part in Act III of Tristan and Isolde. Herethe long, sad melody heard on the Shepherds pipeis entrusted to the saddest voice in the orchestra,— thecor anglais. THE BASSOON The bassoon is the bass of the oboe group, holdingthe same place in this family that the violoncellodoes in the String Family. It is a descendant of theold bass pommer, the bass of the Schalmey Family;but in the various transformations that took place be-tween 1550 and 1600 the characteristic Schalmeyfamily voice disappeared in the bassoon. The tone-color of the bassoon is quite unlike that of the oboeand that of the cor anglais, although it is played witha double reed. The bassoon is a pipe, or tube, eight feet longconically bored and turned back upon itself so as toreduce its length to about four feet. The instrumentconsists of five pieces: (1
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmusicalinstruments
