Oboe d'amore

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Oboe d'amore

Oboe d'Amore
Woodwind instrument
Classification	Woodwind Wind Double reed
Hornbostel-Sachs classification	422.112-71 (Double-reeded aerophone with keys)
Developed	18th century
Related instruments
Oboe Piccolo oboe Cor anglais (English horn) Oboe da caccia Bass oboe Heckelphone Contrabass oboe

Baroque oboe d'amore, Denner copy

The oboe d'amore (oboe of love in Italian), less commonly oboe d'amour, is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the mezzo-soprano or alto of the oboe family. It is a transposing instrument, sounding a minor third lower than it is notated, i.e. in A. The bell is pear-shaped and the instrument uses a bocal, similar to the larger cor anglais, whose bocal is larger.

The oboe d'amore was invented in the 18th century and was first used by Christoph Graupner in Wie wunderbar ist Gottes Güt. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote many pieces — a concerto, many of his cantatas, and the "In Spiritum Sanctum" movement of his Mass in B minor — for the instrument. Georg Philipp Telemann also occasionally employed the oboe d'amore.

After waning popularity in the late 18th century, the oboe d'amore fell into disuse for about 100 years until composers such as Richard Strauss (for example in the Symphonia Domestica where the instrument represents the child), Claude Debussy (for example in Gigues, where the oboe d'amore has a long solo passage), Maurice Ravel, Frederick Delius, and others began using it once again at the end of the 19th century. It can be heard in Toru Takemitsu's "Vers, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Palma," but its most famous modern usage is, perhaps, in "Boléro" by Maurice Ravel where the oboe d'amore follows the E-flat Clarinet to recommence the main theme for the second time around. American composer William Perry uses the oboe d'amore in his film scores and most recently in the third movement of his Jamestown Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (2007).

Modern makers of oboes d'amore include Howarth of London (instruments in African Blackwood or Cocobolo wood), F Loree in Paris (instruments in African Blackwood or Violet wood) and others such as French makers Rigoutat, Fossati and Marigaux. New instruments cost around £6,500 at 2008 prices, comparable to the cost of a new cor anglais. This fact, coupled with the limited call for the instrument, means that many oboists do not possess their own oboe d'amore, but rent one when their work dictates the need.

See also

• Oboe
• Cor anglais
• Bassoon

v • d • e Members of the oboe family Piccolo oboe • Piccolo heckelphone • Oboe • Baroque oboe • Oboe d'amore • Cor anglais (English horn)• Oboe da caccia • Bass oboe • Heckelphone • Contrabass oboe

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