Is the cor anglais higher than the oboe?

Answer 1

The 'cor anglais' (aka English Horn) is the alto or tenor of the Oboe family. It is longer and larger, with a bocal (like the one a bassoon uses, but much shorter and with one angle instead of the bassoon's angle and semicircular loop) instead of a staple. (A bocal is a pipe which fits into the end of the instrument and has a removable reed which is placed on it. A staple, such as the oboe uses, is a metal tube to which the reeds are directly attached.)

The cor anglais sounds one fifth lower than the oboe, "pitched in F". This means that the same fingering on the oboe that produces the pitch "C", will produce "F" on the english horn.

The name of the oboe, which was developed in the 17th century French court, derives from haut bois, but the name of the english horn is stranger. The horn is neither english nor related in any way to the French Horn. There have been many theories over the years, but the currently accepted one is that the instrument looks like the instruments played by Angels in depictions of Heaven, and that the Germans therefore named it "Angelic horn", engellisches horn. (This trumps earlier theories that it was named for the characteristic angle in the bocal or the body, and that it was from England.)

Generally, the Oboe has a larger range than the English Horn.

Answer 2

No, the English horn, or cor anglais, is mellower, or lower than the oboe and is pitched in F, as opposed to C (concert pitch).