Oboe, double-reed wind instrument with a wood body and narrow conical bore. The oboe was invented in the 17th century by the French musicians Jean Hotteterre and Michel Philidor, who modified the louder shawm (the prevailing double-reed instrument) for indoor use. Their oboe, called hautbois (French for ΓÇ£high, or loud, woodΓÇ¥), had a narrower bore than the shawm's, a body in three sections instead of one, and a smaller reed grasped near its tip by the player's lips (on a shawm the mouth encloses the entire reed, with the lips resting on a wooden disk at the base of the reed). By 1700 most orchestras included a pair of oboes. Early oboes had seven finger-holes and two keys; by the 1700s four-keyed models were also in use. In the 1800s additional keys were added, reaching 15 or more, and the bore and sound holes were redesigned. Oboes of the French school (played in most countries today) have a very narrow bore and a penetrating, focused sound. Those of the German school (also played in Vienna and Vienna-influenced countries) have a wider bore and a more easily blending sound. The range of the modern oboe extends two and one-half octaves upward from the B below middle C. Composers of solo works for the oboe include George Frideric Handel, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Carl Nielsen.
The English horn (French cor anglais) is an alto oboe, a fifth lower in pitch.
