THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUAL

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Introduction Orchestration Orchestration Resources Historical Andrew Hugill
  Philharmonia

OBOES

Section: Woodwind
Transposing?
Oboe: No
Cor Anglais (and others): Yes

Construction
Range
Articulations
Effects
Extended
Player's Tips and Tricks

Links

The Oboe and the Cor Anglais (English Horn) are conical bore, double reed instruments, that are a standard feature of most orchestras. They generally occupy the alto register in the woodwind section. Use the links on the left to navigate through the oboe pages, which contain movies and audio clips of:

Christopher Cowie (Oboe, Philharmonia Orchestra)

and

Huw Clement-Evans (Cor Anglais, Philharmonia Orchestra)

As well as oboe and cor anglais, there are some rarer double reeds in the same family:
the Oboe d'amore
the Bass Oboe
the Heckelphone

a cor anglais solo from Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) by Igor Stravinsky

Click the icon to launch a movie of Chris or Huw discussing an aspect of the oboe or cor anglais.
The icon will give an audio clip, which will either play automatically or open a new window.
The icon will play an illustrative music example from the Philharmonia's recorded archive.

Be sure to visit the 'player's tips and tricks' section for some very useful advice about oboe writing.