The OboeThe oboe, including its earlier forms the shawm and the hautboy, is an instrument with a long and rich history. In this book two distinguished oboist-musicologists trace that history from its beginnings to the present time, discussing how and why the oboe evolved, what music was written for it, and which players were prominent. Geoffrey Burgess and Bruce Haynes begin by describing the oboe’s prehistory and subsequent development out of the shawm in the mid-seventeenth century. They then examine later stages of the instrument, from the classical hautboy to the transition to a keyed oboe and eventually the Conservatoire-system oboe. The authors consider the instrument’s place in Romantic and Modernist music and analyze traditional and avant-garde developments after World War II. Noting the oboe’s appearance in paintings and other iconography, as well as in distinctive musical contexts, they examine what this reveals about the instrument’s social function in different eras. Throughout the book they discuss the great performers, from the pioneers of the seventeenth century to the traveling virtuosi of the eighteenth, the masters of the romantic period and the legends of the twentieth century such as Gillet, Goossens, Tabuteau, and Holliger. With its extensive illustrations, useful technical appendices, and discography, this is a comprehensive and authoritative volume that will be the essential companion for every woodwind student and performer. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The prehistory of the oboe | 6 |
From consort oboe to eloquent oboe 16101680 | 27 |
The sprightly hautboy 16801760 | 40 |
From Classical hautboy to keyed oboe 17601825 | 85 |
From keyed oboe to the Conservatoire oboe 18251880 | 125 |
From Romanticism to Modernism the adoption and dissemination of the Conservatoire oboe 1880 to 1950 | 170 |
The oboe in Romantic and Modernist music cultural themes and implications | 214 |
Diversifying streams since World War II the traditional stream | 249 |
Diversifying streams since World War II from the avantgarde to Postmodernism | 267 |