Double reed instruments have existed ever since somebody long ago discovered the joys of pinching one end of a tube of grass and blowing into it to make a buzzing sound. They have evolved throughout history to meet musical needs and aesthetic desires; one significant evolution took place in the mid-17th century when musicians at the court of Louis XIV created a new model of shawm, the loud and rather brash-sounding double reed of the medieval and Renaissance periods, with the objective of a more refined instrument suitable for large ensembles accompanying the grand and dignified ceremonies and entertainments of the court. This new design included a three-piece body allowing greater flexibility in boring and tuning, decorative turnings, two metal keys and doubled holes with a system of cross-fingering to play chromatic passages, and a slight contraction at the end of the bell that modulated and enriched the sound. The instruments were usually made from boxwood, a slow-growing ornamental shrub often used in the landscaping of palace gardens that yields a relatively lightweight fine-grained hardwood which turns and stains beautifully and produces a warm and resonant tone quality.

The French term for shawm was hautbois, meaning a loud (haut) instrument made of wood (bois), and this new mellower version took the same name. The invention caught on, and by the end of the 1600s it had spread throughout Europe and acquired names that mimicked the French pronunciation: hautboy in England, hobo in Flanders, and oboe in Germany, Spain, and Italy. Musicians grew to appreciate its versatility; although originally intended as ceremonial band instruments, oboes had found their way into theaters, opera houses, churches, and chambers by the end of the century. An English instruction-book published in 1695 described the hautboy as “Majestical and Stately, and not much Inferior to the Trumpet” but reported that with a good reed it could sound “as Soft and Easie as the Flute.” The combination of directly-fingered and cross-fingered notes meant that each tonality had its own distinctive character, and many Baroque composers, perhaps Bach most of all, appreciated its expressivity and remarkable ability to imitate, blend, and interact with the human voice, writing an extensive repertoire of solo music and obligato arias. The Baroque period can be considered the “Golden Age” of the oboe.

The standard design features of 17th-century French oboe making—three-piece boxwood construction, two keys with doubled holes, and lipped bell—persisted until almost 1800, by which time musical tastes had changed and a new kind of oboe was required that could play in more remote keys and loudly enough to be heard in large orchestras. The 19th century saw a kind of “arms race” of heavier woods, increasing mechanization, and simplified boring, producing oboes designed for ever-greater uniformity, power, and athleticism, until the present-day oboe of about 26 cast-metal keys mounted on bodies made from a dense wood of the dalbergia family became standard around 1900. It could be argued that something was lost in the process.

Note by Stephen Hammer, 2023
Photo: Stephen Hammer playing Baroque oboe in the Festival orchestra (Gary Payne Photography)