Oboe da caccia

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The oboe da caccia (literally "hunting oboe" in Italian) is a double reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family, pitched a fifth below the oboe and used primarily in the Baroque period of European classical music.

1 Development
2 Construction
3 The oboe da caccia after Bach and modern reconstruction
4 External links

[edit] Development

The instrument was likely invented by J. H. Eichentopf of Leipzig, Germany. (see the May 1973 Galpin Society Journal for more details). The first dated reference to the oboe da caccia is 1722, when the composer Johann Friedrich Fasch ordered "Waldhautbois" from Leipzig for the court at Zerbst (Bruce Haynes, The Speaking Hautboy, draft 21 April 1998, p. 72-74). The first recorded use of the instrument is on 24 June 1723, when the Bach aria BWV 167/3 "Gottes Wort, das trüget nicht" (from the cantata "Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe") was performed. As Bach had arrived in Leipzig just a month before, it seems hardly possible that he had been involved in developing the new instrument, even if one were to question the identity of the Waldhautbois a year earlier. But Bach was certainly the most prolific and most important composer for oboe da caccia, often using them in pairs. In 1723 alone Bach wrote four cantatas using this instrument, the others being BWV 46 ("Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei," 1 August), BWV 179 ("Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei," 8 August), and BWV 48 ("Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen," 3 October). (Christoph Wolff et al., "Bach Family," 1983) Bach wrote extensively for the oboe da caccia in the years 1723-27 (Haynes, op. cit.). There are also significant parts for the da caccia in his Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248, 1734), the Passions (Johannespassion, 1724, and Matthäuspassion, c. 1727), and the cantatas.

The other known compositions for the oboe da caccia are by Fasch[1], Christoph Graupner [2], and Giovanni Battista Ferrandini [3] (Haynes, op.cit.) The oboe da caccia was used only in the late Baroque period, after which it fell out of use until interest in authentic performance in the 20th century caused it to be revived. During the period from c. 1780 to c. 1820, roughly the period of the Classical period, centering on Vienna, the soprano oboe underwent major changes first in bore and then in keywork. It is therefore understandable that the oboe da caccia, with its bizarre brass bell and difficult means of construction, was not selected for the same evolutionary "treatment." The prototypical English horn (corno inglese, cor anglais, cor anglé) was no doubt more suitable. Innovation was the watchword of the day, and antiquated instruments such as the oboe da caccia stood little chance of surviving. (cf. the way in which the piano supplanted the harpsichord). A curious note--according to Cecil Forsyth, in his famous book on orchestration, Beethoven was the last composer to write a part for the "oboe da caccia" until modern times. However, Forsyth wrote during a period when organology (the study of musical instruments) was in its infancy. Many of his statements, including the one about Beethoven, are questionable and in need of revision in light of modern research - in this case Beethoven in his Trios for two oboes and a deeper instrument in F clearly labelled this deeper part "corno inglese" (English horn).

[edit] Construction

The oboe da caccia has a leather-covered wooden body terminating in a brass bell similar to a horn bell. There are typically two brass keys, E-flat and C. The E-flat key is typically repeated for the left hand. There are usually two "doubled" fingerholes--G/A=flat and F/F#--similar to the soprano baroque oboe. The construction differs from that of all other woodwinds. The bore and outward profiles are first created on the lathe, then a series of saw kerfs are made through the bore from the side which is to become the inner curve. Then the instrument is bent over steam and a slat glued onto the inside curve to fix it. Any remaining lacunae in the kerfs are filled and the curved section covered with leather. The da caccia is played with a double reed. The sound is very mellow and supple. Like the modern oboe, the instrument is a double reed woodwind instrument, but, unusually, its tube is curved. It is pitched a perfect fifth below the conventional (baroque) oboe with a range close to that of the English horn--that is, from the F below middle C (notated c1 but sounding f) to the G above the treble staff (notated d3 but soundng g2). The oboe da caccia is thus a transposing instrument in F. The notated range is identical to that of the soprano baroque oboe, and with a good reed all registers speak very easily. Bach tended to favor the middle and lowest registers, however, perhaps because they are the most characteristic ones for this instrument.

The oboe da caccia stands in a rather unique relationship to the rest of the oboe family. It cannot rightly be called the precursor of the English horn (the predominant name in North America and German-speaking countries) or cor anglais (the name used in England and France), because it has nothing to do with this instrument except its register; the English horn has an egg shaped bell whereas the da caccia has a flared brass one. The evolution of the English horn is complex and more likely traceable through the taille (see above) and the oboe d'amore, both of which had bulbous bells. The da caccia sounds like none of the foregoing per se and no other instrument may legitimately substitute for it, although the English horn is routinely substituted for both the oboe d'amore and oboe da caccia in performances with modern instruments. Given the ubiquity of period instrument performance and the availability of excellent copies, such substitutions are no longer necessary, nor should they be tolerated.

[edit] The oboe da caccia after Bach and modern reconstruction

After Bach the oboe da caccia quickly fell out of use. The knowledge of its exact sound and construction was lost, and instruments once believed to be da caccias have proven not to be this instrument at all, or to consist only of parts of one. The consensus amongst scholars during the first half of the 20th century was that no known instruments from Bach's time had survived to the present day. Curt Sachs, in his Real-Lexicon der Musikinstrumente (1913), for example, included a crude and rather speculative drawing of an oboe da caccia. Interest in the da caccia was revived in the early 1970s, in part due to the ongoing Telefunken Records project to record the complete cantatas of J. S. Bach, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt. The taille, a straight two-key oboe pitched in F, had previously been used for the da caccia parts in period-instrument recordings, with mixed results.

It fell to Cary Karp, a curator at the Music Museum in Stockholm, Sweden to make the discovery that in fact two well-preserved (but unplayable) Eichentopf da caccias existed in museums in Scandinavia: one of them in his own museum, and another in a museum in Copenhagen. The results of his research were published in the aforementioned Galpin Society Journal article. Using measurements taken from the two instruments, oboist and instrument maker Paul Hailperin of Zell im Wiesental, Germany made the first modern-day copies, and these were used in the Harnoncourt recording of the Weihnachtsoratorium that appeared in late 1973.

Oboes da caccia are made today by Jonathan Bosworth of Boston, Massachusetts, a city noted for its luthiers and other makers of historical instruments. Other makers of the oboe da caccia include Sand Dalton of Lopez Island, Washington, United States[4], Richard Earle, and Marcel Ponseele.