Oboe
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An oboe is a woodwind instrument with a double reed. It looks very similar to the clarinet but it sounds very different. The sound is produced by blowing air through the double reed at the upper end of the instrument which forces the two reeds to vibrate together which produces the sound. A person that plays the oboe is called an oboist. A typical orchestra may have 2 oboes but sometimes 3. Sometimes there is also a cor anglais which sounds a fifth lower than the oboe. Very occasionally there is also a bass oboe, which sounds an octave below the oboe. Gustav Holst used one in his Suite "The Planets".
The oboe came from the shawm which was a medieval and Renaissance instrument. It became popular in the Baroque period. Bach and Handel both used it in most of their orchestral music. Many Italian composers such as Antonio Vivaldi wrote concertos for the instrument, and it is used in a lot of chamber music. At this time it hardly had any keys, but gradually more keys were added which made it easier to play the sharps and flats.
Later composers to write for the oboe as a solo instrument include Mozart, Weber, Richard Strauss, Vaughan Williams and François Poulenc.
In Europe it is usual for the principal oboist in an orchestra to play the note A for the rest of the orchestra to tune their instruments to.