By Bruce Haynes
Montreal, Canada
@ Bruce Haynes, 1994
Article
Sources cited in this article
End Notes
I we consider the depth and scope of changes the oboe underwent in the brief period from about the end of Mozart's life to the end of Beethoven's, those years have to be regarded as one of the great pivotal junctures in the history of the instrument. Although the issue was ostensibly adding a few keys to the instrument, it was at this time that the essential qualities of the earlier oboe were consciously rejected in favor of ideals that have come down to us in the modern oboe. This revolution was part of a larger pattern, of course, that was shared by other instruments reflecting developments in the music they were playing.
The two-keyed oboe that underwent the transformations discussed here was no longer a baroque oboe, but it shared many of the same primary characteristics. Nor was the one that resulted from these changes quite a modern oboe, though it was fundamentally very similar. Looking forward from the baroque oboe and backward from the modern Lorée, this period appears as the watershed, the chronological point at which two contrasting conceptions of the oboe met.
The early woodwinds, mirroring the music they played, were best at intense but short gestures, sudden and extreme changes of dynamics, minimal breath pressure that allowed frequent starts and stops, wide tonal contrast between notes and within notes, and specific intonation that varied according to harmonic context. The new oboe, by contrast was more suited to "bel canto," and was meant to match the ideals personified in the piano: music divided into longer "phrases," each with a dynamic shape, an evenness of sound that minimized the particular character of individual notes, an ability to play legato in almost any situation, and a standardized tuning meant to accommodate all the tonalities, even remote ones.
Such a fundamental change in the conception of the instrument could not have occurred without generating a good deal of debate. The principal subjects were the equality of notes vs. their distinctive character, the reliability of key mechanisms, general tone color, and questions of tuning. A more basic issue was whether to redesign the instrument from scratch or simply add to what was there.
For much of the 18th century the traverso, oboe, and bassoon seem to have been purposely built with as few keys as possible. All the semitones could be produced without keys except IIIb (Eb on the traverso and oboe, Ab on the bassoon); for this note there had to be a key.1 The other keys on the oboe and bassoon were extensions to the reach of the fingers.2 The accidentals that were not part of the natural seven-hole scale were obtained either by "forked-fingerings" (also called "cross-fingerings"), or by "half-holing". These fingerings were more complicated to play and produced a covered or veiled timbre.3 The result was the characteristically uneven scales of 18th-century woodwinds, which give the effect of singing a scale using different vowels for each note. The placement of forked-fingerings and half-holes along the scale gave each tonality its own particular character, produced by a combination of sound, technique, and intonation.4 Tonalities with too many such fingerings (i.e., those with more than four accidentals) were avoided.
Extreme tonalities were avoided for other reasons as well. It is not possible, either in theory or practice, to combine pure intervals and still play in all the keys. The extreme example of pure tuning is known as just intonation, which is possible in only one tonality at a time. The opposite extreme is equal temperament, where all the keys are equally playable, but the intervals are stretched and shrunk out of their ideal relationships.5 During the baroque and classical periods (when woodwinds were basically unkeyed), a compromise system called meantone was current, in which certain common keys were reasonably well in tune and others were impossible. On meantone, major thirds are nearly pure and smaller than in equal temperament, which implies that leading tones were low-notes like F# and B often served this function, and these were often the notes that needed "correction" with extra keys when equal temperament became the theoretical model.) The fact that woodwinds functioned well in only a limited number of tonalities was hardly seen as a disadvantage, since it meant they were well in tune in the tonalities they commonly used-in fact better in tune (at least potentially) than if they had been conceived to play in equal temperament.6
Extra keys were rarely put on oboes
until the end of
the 18th century. Evidently they were not considered necessary, since
the technology for adding keys clearly existed. Musettes made in the
early
| Nicht in der Anzahl der Klappen, nein, in der möglichsten Einfachheit der Flöte, ohne deren Eleganz etwas aufzuopfern, muß die wahre Vervollkommnung dieses schonen Instruments gesucht werden.11 | Not in the number of its keys; no, it is in striving for utter simplicity, with no sacrifice to elegance, that the true perfection of this beautiful instrument lies. |
When mechanization began to be accepted, its purpose was to ease the player's task, but not necessarily in ways that are obvious to us today. It is unlikely, for instance, that keys contributed to virtuosity. On the contrary, in some cases: the less hardware, the more freedom there is to use alternate fingerings (which offer technical solutions and greater control of tone, intonation, and dynamics). Keys can also act as a brake on technique in the simpler tonalities like C major.12 To quote Tromlitz
|
Daß [die übrigen angebrachten Klappen] ihren großen Nutzen haben, besonders in der Reinigkeit der Triller,13 ... ist nicht zu läugnen. Im Adagio, auch im mäßig geschwinden Satze thun sie herrliche Dienste; aber im geschwinden und ganz geschwinden Satze sind sie schwer anzuwenden.14 |
That [extra keys] are very useful, particularly for playing trills in tune, ...is undeniable. In the Adagio and in movements of moderate quickness they are of sterling service; but in fast and very fast movements they are difficult to use.15 |
| ... durch die Klappen sind die alten Griffe keinesweges verdrängt, sie dienen vielmehr dem Spieler zur Erleichterung mancher Stellen, welche mit den Klappen nicht so leicht zu spielen sind... 16 | ... the [new] keys in no way supplant the old fingerings, with which many passages are easier to play than they are with the keys... |
The vehemence with which the proponents of mechanization argued27 suggests the force with which it was
resisted. Louis-Auguste Veny wrote c. 1828 (30):
Le Hautbois
ordinaire est un instrument A vent
défectueux puisqu'il presente des doigtés
bizarres, des sons inegaux et
l'impossibilité de jouer dans tous les tons.
The [traditional
two-keyed] oboe is a defective
wind instrument; it uses irrational fingerings, uneven tones, and
cannot be played in all the keys.
Aggressive language like this shows how completely some players
rejected the older conceptions of the woodwinds. Yet within the same
decade, the oboist Wilhelm Braun advocated the use of only four keys
and commented
Keys are of little use for any of the other notes. Too
many keys
clearly detract from tone quality, and lead to another disadvantage:
when they are not accurately made, first one, then another seals
incorrectly. All the other keys are quite dispensable, and their
utility is not great enough to outweigh the problems they bring with
them. A few trills or passages that are not appropriate for the oboe in
the first place, made better in tune, are not adequate reason to
compromise the entire instrument.
While
Sellner could argue that
| Diese drey
Töne, wenn sie, wie es bisher geschah, mit Gabelgriffen
genommen werden, erfordern, wo und in welcher Verbindung sie immer
vorkommen, einen besondern Druck und eine andere Haltung der Lippen,
wenn sie gegen die Übrigen nur erträglich erscheinen
sollen. Daher kommt es, dass manche Stellen, selbst von ausgezeichneten
Oboisten, oft nur unvollkommen gespielt werden können.28 ... man dadurch in den Stand gesetzt wird, vieles zu spielen, was ohne these Klappen unmöglich rein und mit durchaus gleichem Tone vorzutragen ist.29 |
These three notes, when produced with forked fingerings
as formerly, demand a different pressure and position of the
lips, no
matter where or in what context they appear. They give the
impression
of being merely tolerated, compared to the other notes. It is for this
reason that, even in the playing of exceptional oboists, many passages
can often be played but imperfectly.
... one thus has the ability to
play many things
that, without these keys, |
The celebrated flutist and composer Anton Bernhard Furstenau found the scale on Boehm's first flutes (which appeared in the early 1830s) monotonous, depriving the instrument of part of its expressive character.30
This was a major objection to the new keys: by eliminating cross-fingerings and half-holes, they deprived notes like F, G# and Bb of their distinctive tone qualities, and thus obscured the differences in color between the tonalities. As the compositions of the 19th century gradually moved into more extreme tonalities, homogeneity of sound became desirable, but there were many who deplored the loss of personality associated with the old unkeyed woodwinds.31
Auguste-Gustave Vogt (1781-1870), who
held the
important position of oboe professor at the Paris Conservatory during
the entire first half of the 19th century (1802-1853), commented on
keys in his Méthode pour hautbois (dated 1816-25)32
| C'est ici la place de dire un mot des hautbois dont on se sert maintenant en Allemagne et qui ont un plus grand no. de clefs que les notres. 11 en existe qui en ont jusqu'á neuf. Ces clefs ont été imaginées pour par[courir[ avec plus de facilité les gammes ou les accidentels se multiplient, telles que mib, lab, fa mineur, ut mineur, reb, etc. Cet avantage est trop fortement contreba[lance] par l'inconvénient que portent avec elles les clefs en ne bouchant pas quelques [fois] bien hermetiquement les trous audessus des quels elles sont adaptées, inconvénie[nt] qui se présente assés frêquemment sur [les] hautbois qui Wont que quatre clefs, [ ... ] a plus forte raison, doit être plus[ ... ] sur ceux ou il s'en trouve huit à ne[uf.]33 | Here is the place to say a word about the oboes used now in Germany, which have a larger number of keys than ours. There is one which has as many as nine. It is claimed that the keys make runs easier in scales with numerous accidentals, such as Eb, Ab, f minor, c minor, Db, etc. But these advantages are strongly counterbalanced by the inconvenience that results when the keys do not seal hermetically the holes over which they are adapted; an inconvenience that occurs all too often even on oboes that have only four keys; and gives good reason to wonder about those with eight or nine. |
Objections based on the malfunction of keys were harder to sustain as keymaking technique, responding to criticisms like Vogt's and Braun's, took on a sophistication never equalled since.34
Braun's comment on the effect additional keys had on general tone color was echoed by other writers. As more and more metal was attached to the wooden body of the oboe, the continued use of the preferred material, boxwood, became impractical. There were two reasons for this. First, the metal suppressed the wood's natural vibration and resonance, so a brighter (i.e., denser) wood was needed. Second, although boxwood has the perfect combination of density and elasticity for resonance and projection, it is not stable enough to maintain a complex metal key system.35 These were probably the reasons denser hardwoods like rosewood, ebony, and grenadilla became common in the 19th century.36Besides the questions of malfunction, loss of personality, and tone, another basic principle was hotly debated. Some players considered the woodwinds of the time as improved extensions of the designs of the late 18th-century, retaining their essential character and advantages. There are many surviving oboes from this time with later additions of keys, exemplifying this philosophy. But others of more radical bent thought the woodwinds should be fundamentally re-invented as bores capable of receiving an unlimited number of keys.
Vogt wrote of the oboe| On m'objectera peutêtre que, puisque en avons mis deux de plus il êtoit b[ ... ] simple d'en augmenter encore le nombre pour faciliter l'execution de l'instrument; je répondrai à ce[ ... ] que les deux ajoutées en France étoi[ent] indispensables pour jouer juste et ne peuvent nuire aucunement, abstract[ ... ] faite de l'inconvénient dont je parle cidess[us] ... 37 | It may be argued that, since we have added two more [keys], it would be easy to further increase the number in order to facilitate execution on the instrument. I would answer that the two [keys] added in France were indispensable for good intonation and will not cause any harm, for reasons I have mentioned above... |
| Wer den Bau der neuern Klappenfloten kennt, wird leicht bemerken, dass die angebrachte Verbesserung der B- und F- Klappe an der hier beschriebenen Oboe ihren Upsprung der Flote verdankt.38 | Those who are familiar with the new keyed flute will notice that the improvements to the Bband F-Klappe [octave-key; see below] of the oboe described here originated with the flute. |
| Die...
angebrachten Klappen, sind
nicht so wohl der
reinen Stimmung wegen, ob sie gleich in einigen Fällen das ihrige zum
Reinspielen beytragen, als vielmehr die in der Tiefe stumpfen Töne
dadurch heller zu machen, und mehrere Gleichheit in die unterste Octave
zu bringen, angebracht.39 |
The other keys... were not added so much for pure intonation (although they do in some cases make their contribution to playing in tune) as for making the dull low notes brighter, and to make the first octave more even. |
Verso la metà dell'Ottocento due tipi
di oboi e
relativi sistemi di chiavi si erano imposti in Europa: quello viennese,
illustrato da Joseph Sellner nel suo metodo del 1825, e quello
francese, concepito inizialmente da Henry [sic.] Brod, che lo presenta
nel suo metodo del 1830 circa (ancora senza chiave d'ottava), e
perfezionato in seguito dalla dinastia Triebert. Versioni evolute di
questi modelli sono rimaste in uso fino a oggi.
In Europe in the middle of the 19th
century two
types of oboe and two related key-systems were prevalent: the Viennese,
illustrated by Joseph Sellner in his method of 1825, and the French,
originally developed (still without octave key) by Henri Brod and
presented in his method of c. 1830, subsequently perfected by the
Triebert dynasty. The oboes of today are evolved versions of these same
models.
The first fingering charts to describe an oboe with more than two keys were those of Vogt and Sellner. But in the half- century that preceded those works, every known oboe chart published anywhere in Europe (17 in number) still showed an oboe with only two keys.43 There are clear signs, however, of the regular and steady addition of keys in Germany from just before the turn of the century.
The most respected German makers at the end of the eighteenth century were probably Jacob Grundmann (1727-1800), Johann Friedrich Floth (1761-1807), and the two Grensers, Augustin Sr. (1720-1807) and his nephew Heinrich (see above).44 Instruments by these makers were normally dated, and a few were originally made with more than the standard two keys. Of the 54 surviving oboes made by Grundmann, four seem definitely to have been made with an extra key each (three of these were octavekeys, the other a C#1).45 These keys were probably special orders, and indicate something of the attitude of the day towards additional mechanism; that the mood was tentative is shown by the small percentage (less than 10%) of oboes with original added keys; many of Grundmann's last oboes (13 dated after 1790) were originally made without them.46 Floth is survived by ten oboes from the period after 1800, of which four probably have original added keys (3 C#s, 3Abs, one each for F, Bb, F# and an octave).47 One of the seven surviving oboes signed by both Grundmann and Floth, dated 1800, has an Ab-key, apparently original.48 Of the thirteen surviving oboes by Grundmann's equally famous competitor Augustin Grenser only one, made in 1791, has original extra keys (again, for c#1 and the octave).49 Heinrich Grenser probably added keys to at least one of his oboes and possibly others (it is unclear how many).50| An diesem Oberstücke haben viele
Hoboespieler eine
so genannte F-Klappe, die mit dem Daume regiert wird, und besonders
deswegen angebracht ist, dass sie theils die Octaven e1-e2, f1-f2 und
g1-g2 gut an einander schleifen, theils auch die Töne e2 f2 f#2 g2, bey dem
Vortrage des Piano geschmeidig und
ganz schwach
angeben können. Viele haben auch noch an diesem Stücke eine As- Klappe,
die mit dem kleinen Finger regiert wird. ...Das Mittelstück enthalt
ausser den drey Tonlochern fur die Finger der Rechten Hand, 1) die
Fis-Klappe, die mit dem kleinen Finger der linken Hand geoffnet wird,
um den Ton fis, der ohne Beyhulfe dieser Klappe zu tief ist, zu
erhohen; 2) die Es-Klappe, die zu der Intonation des Tones es
nothwendig ist; und 3) die offene C-Klappe, durch deren Gebrauch das
tiefe C hervorgebracht wird. Beyde werden mit dem kleinen Finger der
rechten Hand regiert. Einige haben unter dieser C-Klappe auch noch eine
Cis-Klappe, um das tiefe Cis hervorzubringen, welches man ausserdem auf
der Hoboe nicht haben kann.51 ... Es ist oben schon erinnert worden, dass zu dem tiefen Cis eine besondere Klappe nothwendig ist, die aber nur wenige Hoboespieler an ihrem Instrumente haben ... |
Many oboists have a so-called F-Klappe on this
upper joint, controlled by the thumb, specifically intended to help the
slurring of the octaves e1-e2, f1-f2 and g1-g2, and partly also to
allow the notes e2 f2 f#2 g2 to be attacked smoothly and very softly
when playing piano. On this joint, many ... It was mentioned above that a special key is needed for the low c#l, which however few oboists have on their instruments ... |
What we would now call an "F-key" of course produces the note F, and the development of this key, one of the first to be added, reflected an important esthetic shift. The natural fingerings for F and F# (or Bb/B on the bassoon) on most unkeyed woodwinds are both tuned from the same tuning hole, the fifth (the fingerings are 123 4 6 and 123 4 7 respectively). Without keys, these two notes are too close together in tuning. In meantone, where the interval between F and F# is small (F is at least 7 cents higher than in equal temperament and F# 6 cents lower), this tuning problem was bearable (though sometimes an aggravation).53 The trend toward equal temperament at the end of the 18th century induced makers to separate the holes governing the tuning of these two notes by providing a key for one or the other. In this way, each note could be tuned independently; the F lower and the F# higher, to match equal temperament.
An anonymous "Componist und Virtuose auf der Hoboe,"54 lamenting the deaths of both Grundmann and Floth (who he considered the best makers of oboes), wrote in the pages of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of 29 January, 1812:| Im Allgemeinen sucht man jetzt die
Hoboe, so wie die
Flöte, immer mehr durch viele Klappen zu vervollkommnen. Meines
Erachtens aber verbessert man sie dadurch keinesweges. Abgerechnet,
dass die Klappen, sogar während des Blasens, sehr leicht in Unordnung
kommen konnen, und man dann nicht im Stande ist, etwas auf dem
Instrumente hervorzubringen; so schaden sie auch der Gleichheit des
Tons. Z.B. die B-Klappe zu [bb1] bringt diesen Ton so scharf heraus,
dass derselbe im Verhältnis gegen die ubrigen gar nicht mehr, als auf
Einem Instrumente hervorgebract, klingtwenigstens habe ich dies bey den
meisten Hoboeblasern, die these Klappe benutzten, gefunden. [Anm. Ein
jeder, der sich der B-Klappe bedient, gebe sich nur Muhe, diesen Ton
den andern gleich zu machen, so wird es ihm gelingen, |
The general trend nowadays is to equate
perfection
on the oboe, as on the flute, with many keys. In my opinion, however,
they are hardly thus improved. Considering how easily the keys become maladjusted, even during playing, so that one is unable to make a sound with the instrument; the evenness of the scale is also affected. The Bb key for [bb1], for instance, produces such a sharp tone, that it sounds (compared to the other notes) quite unlike something produced by an instrument. At least, I have found this with most oboe players who use this key. [Note: Anyone who uses the Bb-key and takes the trouble to try to make it similar to the others will eventually succeed, and will certainly notice the manifold advantages that it brings.] Even the so- called F-Klappe [ie., octave key] for the high notes is dispensable, since these notes can be played without it; although it certainly makes the high notes singularly easy, and also has the advantage that with it notes can be slurred together that are otherwise either impossible to slur, or else very difficult, such as [e1-e2, f1-f2, g1-g2]. This passage is quite easy to do with it, by opening the F-Klappe on the upper joint with the left thumb on the notes marked with + [e2, f2, g2]. This same passage can be done less satisfactorily when the notes marked with + [e2, f2, g2] are played with the uppermost hole of the left hand half opened. (Note: The F-Klappe on the upper joint is in no way dispensable, but on the contrary most useful, even necessary. It creates in the first place complete security on all the high notes that could not be produced before its invention, when one was dependent only on the bore. The G#-key, however, can certainly be counted among the most dispensable, considering the small advantage it offers. The low F#-key, on the other hand, can be recommended to every oboe player, especially those who play second, since this note is a quarter step too low on every [unkeyed] oboe.) The low C#- and B-keys represent an improvement to the instrument, since they provide two notes otherwise missing, and the entire chromatic scale from [bO] is now available. These two keys are however so seldom installed [on instruments] that composers can never dare to make use of them in orchestral parts; perhaps they write them in concertos for virtuosos. The C#-key can be of use for the c#2, especially when it is tuned high rather than (as it usually is) a little low; in certain keys it needs to be a little sharper. Low c#1, moreover, is often written by many composers, even in solo passages, since these gentlemen are unaware that it does not exist on normal oboes. It is to be wished that composers would acquaint themselves with the characteristics of the instrument by communicating with good oboe players. Otherwise, notes like bbO and aO appear, which are beyond the oboe's range. |
In 1823, Wilhelm Braun briefly mentioned keys:56
| ... nur die vier nothwendigsten Klappen befinden, nämlich die untere für das tiefe c, cis, es, und oben die hofe f Klappe. Vortheilhaft sind noch die Klappen in der untern Octave fur fis, as und b, und ich wünschte, dass these von ihm57 hinzugefügt würden, wie allenfalls auch noch eine Klappe für das tiefe h, weil die Oboe dadurch einen halben Ton in der Tiefe an Umfang gewinnt ... | ... has only the four most important keys, ie., the left-hand C, C# and Eb and the right-hand f Klappe [octave-key]. Two other keys are advantageous in the lower octave for F#, Ab and Bb, and I would be glad if he58 would add in any event one other key for the low bO, since it increases the lower range of the oboe a half step. |
| Obgleich man der Oboe den Vorzug vor
den meisten
Blas-Instrumenten in Rücksicht des fast überall gleichen Tönes
einräumen muss, hat sie doch einige Töne, welche, obwohl mit aller
Anstrengung, allem Fleisse geübt, dennoch nie den ubrigenvollkommen
gleich gebracht werden konnen. So steht z.B das b [bb 1] in Betracht der Gattung des Tönes sowohl als in Rücksicht der Stärke desselben nicht im Verhältnisse zu den andern Tönen. Nicht viel besser sind die beyden F [f1, f2]. |
Although the oboe is generally credited
with being
superior to the other wind instruments for its equality of tone, it
nevertheless has certain notes that can never be produced with perfect
evenness, despite the most assiduous practice. An example is the bb1, which in respect of its tone quality as well as its volume is unrelated to the other notes. The two F's are not much better. |
These examples, of course, are forked fingerings, and illustrate to what degree the oboists of the 1820s in Vienna had rejected the earlier ideal of a woodwind scale and were striving for equality of tone. As Sellner writes,
Es wurden vielfache Versuche angestellt, die Instrumente durch Klappen für diese Töne zu verbessern, doch nur wenige brachten these Klappen so an, dass man sie in allen vorkornmenden Fallen benuutzen konnte ... Bey der auf der Tabelle abgezeichneten Oboe findet man these Hindernisse beseitigt und die nothigen Klappen alle so gestellt, dass sie mit unbedeutenden Ausnahmen bey jeder Gelegenheit mit dem besten Erfolge benutzt werden konnen ... |
In the way just indicated, the most
important aspect of any instrument, the tone, will be good, since it
will be quite equal
... Many attempts have been made to improve these notes by means of keys, but few of them have managed to use the keys so that they could be used most efficiently in every situation ... It can be seen in the oboe drawn with the [accompanying] table that these problems have been eliminated, and that the necessary keys are arranged so that they can be employed with insignificant exceptions with the best results in every situation. |
| Der
so genannte Gabelgiff wird dadurch gänzlich
beseitigt, der Vortrag der meisten Stellen erleichtert, und die
Gleichheit des Tones bezweckt
... Hochst nöthig ist auch die Gis- (As-) Klappe für den kleinen Finger der linken Hand, wodruch, ausser bey einem einzigen Triller, das so genannte halbe Loch für den dritten Finger der linken Hand zu nehmen vermieden, un manches zuvor Ünmögliche möglich gemacht wird ... Auch für das Fis oder Ges [f#1, gb1] welches in der Natur des Instrumentes zu tief ist, als Leitton daher nie gebraucht werden kann, wurde eine Klappe für den kleinen Finger der rechten Hand angebract ... |
The so-called forked fingering is
thereby
entirely eliminated, the performance of most passages made easier, and
the equality of the notes achieved
... Another key that is absolutely necessary is the G# (Ab) for the little finger of the left hand, with which, besides providing one specific trill, the so-called "half-hole" operated by the third finger of the left hand is avoided, and much that was formerly impossible is made possible ... A key is also provided for the f#1 or gb1, which by the nature of the instrument is too low to serve as a leading tone and can therefore never be used. It is controlled by the little finger of the right hand ... |
| Da die Oboe nach ihrer L[än]ge und
Bohrung auch
den Ton H [bb] in sich enthält, wird er um so mehr mit Recht benützt,
weil diess ohne Hinderniss geschehen kann
... Ausser den beschriebenen befinden sich noch zwey Klappen auf der abgebildeten Oboe, wovon die eine die Schleif- oder ho he F-Klappe genannt und mit dem Daumen der linken Hand gegriffen wird ... Vieljährige Erfahrung lehrte, dass die oberwahnte Stellung der Klappe sich zu jedem Gebrauch eigne. Dass these letztern immer gut schliessen mussen, braucht wohl nicht erst bemerkt zu werden, doch glaube ich hier anfuhren zu mussen, dass der bekannte instrumentenmacher Herr Stephan Koch in Wien,59 dem uberhaupt die Verbesserung der Blas-Instrumente vieles verdankt, und der rastlos strebt, sie zu vervollkommnen, eine Deckung der Klappen macht, bey welcher man nach Jahren Kaum einmal nachzusehen Ursache findet, und die also diessfalls nichts zu wünschen übrig lasst ... 60 |
Since the length and bore of the
oboe enable it
to play low bb, and no disadvantage is created, they are quite properly
used to produce this note
... There are two more keys on the oboe drawn here besides the ones already described. One is called the Schleif-oder ho he F- Klappe [octave key or high F-key] and is touched by the left thumb ... Years of experience have taught me that the system of keys shown above is appropriate for all uses. That the keys must close well hardly needs mention, but I should add here that the well-known Viennese instrument maker Mr. Stephan Koch, who is responsible for many improvements to wind instruments, and who works tirelessly to perfect them, makes a type of key closure that scarcely needs adjustment even after years of use, and leaves nothing to desire in this respect ... |
The development of keys in France followed a noticeably different course. Starting with Garnier's important oboe method (1802), we see scale drawings of an oboe by Christophe Delusse (fl. 1758-91), presumably a "state-of-the-art" instrument in France at the time, still with only two keys.
Illustrations of oboes with more than two keys are unknown anywhere until c.1816-25; their first appearance is in Vogt's Méthode mentioned above. The oboe he described was by Delusse with four keys. The two extra keys were attributed to his teacher, François Alexandre Antoine Sallantin (1755-c.1830),61 and were for F and the tuning of low C.62 As we have seen above, Vogt was skeptical about malfunctioning keys, although (as Burgess 1994:23) pointed out) he later adopted an oboe with seven keys, and by the 1840's his students were using instruments with even more.| L'Ut dièze suivant: [c#l] n'a pas été employé jusqu'à présent parceque la plupart des artistes qui jouent de cet instrument [the oboe] ont neglige de se le procurer au moyen d'une clef qu'il est facile d'adopter. Mais comme plusieurs d'entr'eux I'ont deja fait il faut esperer que l'usage en deviendra general. | [A key for c#1] has not been used until now because most of the artists who play this instrument [the oboe] have neglected to obtain it by means of a key which is easily mounted. As some of them have now done so, however, it is to be hoped that its use will become general. |
| Depuis la publication de la premiere partie de cette méthode, le
Hautbois a subi une légère modification dont je dois dormer cormaisance; Je cherchais depuis long-temps quel serait le moyen le plus simple d'utiliser le Si naturel que donne le Hautbois lorsqu'on en bouche tous les trous. J'ai enfin reconnu que le meilleur était d'ajouter une Clef au petit doigt de la main droite qui doublât l'effet de la grande Clef dont on se sert pour rendre I'Ut d'en bas plus juste ... B Est la nouvelle Clef que l'on ne peut faire mouvoir sans faire fermer la Clef A, ce qui donne le moyen de faire I'Ut d'en bas avec un seul petit doigt, au lieu d'avoir recours comme avant á la grande Clef C, du petit doigt gauche, ce qu'on pourrait cependent encore faire, mais en prenant cet Ut avec un seul petit doigt en fermant la double Clef A B; on se sert de la grande C, pour faire le Si pour lequel j'ai fait ces changemens. |
Since the publication of the first part of this Method, the oboe has
been slightly modified in the manner I will now explain; For some time I have attempted to find the simplest possible manner of using the b natural played by the oboe when all the holes are covered. I have finally decided that the best solution is to add a key operated by the little finger of the right hand, which doubles the effect of the long key used to tune the low C. B is the new key which cannot be activated without also closing key A, and this offers the possibility to produce the low C with the little finger alone, instead of, as previously being obliged to use the long key C, operated by the little finger of the left hand (this can still however be done, by playing this C only with the little finger while closing the double key A B; the long key C is used to play the B, for which I have made these changes.) |
|
La Clef de I'Ut dièse Wen bas se trouve maintenant placée entre I'Ut
naturel et le Ré dièse, de sorte que pour faire une Gamme chromatique
de I'Ut au Mi bémol, le petit doigt
parcourt les Clefs en allant toujours de droite A gauche. On voit en E,
que j'ai tout a fait adopte la petite bascule qui sert á lier I'Ut
diese A, avec le Re diese du medium F, ou le Mi bémol avec le Ré bémol. La Clef de La bémol G, est d'un fort bon usage, mais elle oblige á reporter la Clef H, de la cadence du Si avec I'Ut du medium de I'autre côté, c'est à dire, à côté de celle de Si bémol. Plusieurs de mes élèves trouvant beaucoup de difficulté à prendre souvent la moitié du premier trou, soit pour le Mi bémol du medium, ou le Ré et le Mi bémol d'en haut, font usage de la Clef 1, qui évite l'inquiétude d'ouvrir trop, ou pas du tout ce trou, ce dont dépend la surete de la Note que I'on veut attaquer, cette Clef offre en cela beaucoup de sécurité, le petit trou qui est pratiqué à son centre et qui communique á celui de l'instrument, étant juste de la grandeur convenable aux sons qu'il doit favoriser.65 |
The low C# key, D, is now placed
between the
c-natural and the D#, in order to allow the little finger to move
consistently from right to left in playing a chromatic scale for C to
Eb. It can be seen at E that I have redesigned the keys to accomodate the
finger movement that connect the c# A to the middle d#F (or the eb with
the db). The ab key G, is very useful, but its presence necessitates moving key H (used for the trill between bb-c2) to the other side, next to the bb key. Several of my students have found it very difficult to open the first hole only halfway (to produce either the middle eb or the high d and eb), and are using key 1, which eliminates the anxiety of opening this hole too much, or not enough, which affects the assurance with which these notes are attacked. For this, the key offers considerable accuracy, as the little hole that is placed at its center and communicates with the one in the instrument is exactly the correct size to produce the notes for which it is intended. |
Italy seems to have been more conservative than France. Rossini's good friend Baldassare Centroni (c.1784-1860), the oboist for whom he probably wrote his famous solos, is shown in a portrait in c1815 with a two-keyed oboe.67 Rossini's overture to La scala di seta was written in 1812; La gazza ladra in 1817. The portrait of the oboist Giuseppe Berti [c.1812]68 also appears to show a two-keyed oboe. Berti dedicated his XVIII Capricci per oboe (c.1825) to Centroni.69 A fingering chart published in Milan before 1830 and probably prepared by the oboist Carlo Yvon (1798-1854) shows two types of oboe, one with four keys (G# and Bb in addition to C and Eb) and the other with two more (a C2 trill and low C#).70 Andrea Fornari was still making two-keyed oboes in c. 1832.71
| ... ancora nel 1845 ... un metodo elementare per oboe ... dove compaino ben tre tavole di diteggiature differenti: la prima per uno strumento a due chiavi, la seconda per uno a 9 chiavi, di influenze francese, e la terza per uno a 11 chiavi, di influenza viennese.72 | ... as late as 1845 ... an elementary oboe method ... had to include three different fingering charts: the first for a two- keyed instrument, the second for one with 9 keys (in the French style), and a third Viennese type with 11 keys. |
It is probably for this reason that when Rossini visited London in 1824-25, he asked Centroni to accompany him, which he did to great success;73 we do not know if he was then still playing his two-keyed oboe.
An article in the Harmonicon published in 1830 mentions thatThe period 1790-1830 links the 18th-century oboe to the Brod-Triebert type that led directly to the model still played in modern symphony orchestras: "Système A6" perfected by Georges Gillet and François Lorée. The oboe continued to evolve after 1830, of course, but the revolution had already come. Late makers were above all concerned with questions of keywork and key systems. Such changes are superficial, since the character and playing qualities of an oboe are ultimately determined not by how many keys it has but by bore dimensions and proportions, and tone-hole placement and size: factors that dictate the kind of reed with which it will function best.
Perhaps because mechanized oboes represented the spirit of "progress" that arose during the Industrial Revolution, the number of keys on an oboe is often mistakenly equated with ease of playing, even by some players. The experience of players who are now rediscovering the essentially keyless oboes of the 18th-century puts this attitude in perspective. For better or for worse (and probably both), oboes, like all musical instruments, continued and still continue to evolve, and the spirit of 18th-century woodwind making so well encapsulated by the flute and oboe maker Heinrich Grenser in 1800 lost ground to newer trends:|
Zu Verbesserung dieses oder jenes Tones aber eine Klappe anzubringen, ist weder Schwierigkeit noch Kunst. Auch sind die Klappen ganz nichts neues ... Die Hauptkunst ... besteht, Flöten zu bauen, auf denen man alles, ohne Klappen, leisten kann, so ist erforderlich, die in solchen Floten noch herrschenden Mängel auf eine Art zu heben, welche eben so entsprechend, als eine Klappe ist.75 |
To improve this or any note by adding a key is neither difficult nor clever. The keys are after all nothing new ... The real art ... consists in making flutes on which everything can be achieved without keys. We must remove the deficiencies that still afflict such flutes in a way that is just as effective as a key. |
1. There are some early bassoons
that lack it, however.
2. Quantz added a second key to the
traverso to distinguish d#1 from eb I but the case was isolated.
3. The nearest equivalent I know on the modern oboe is the use of the forked f1 without the automatic opening of the Eb key, as can be heard on recordings by Marcel Tabuteau.
4. As MacGillivray 251 pointed out, the bagpipe makers who developed the oboe for Lully's orchestra were5. Equal temperament was well-known by the 18th century but not generally appreciated. R. Smith (1759), "Harmonics," 2d ed., pp. 166-67 (quoted in Ellis 55) described it as "harmony extremely coarse and disagreeable."
6. For more background on non-keyboard tuning systems, see Barbieri 1992 and Haynes 1992.8. According to information in Young, clarinets by Grundmann and A. Grenser had 4 keys in the 1770s and 5 by the 1790s. The earliest dated clarinet with 5 keys is by T. Collier (1770).
9. A third key, a duplicate Eb for either right- or left-hand playing, was sometimes added. The common theory is that the baroque oboe was three-keyed while the classical was two-keyed. In fact, two-keyed oboes were common throughout the century.
10. Interestingly, Grenser is survived by many instruments with extra keys, many original.13. Trills on woodwind instruments in the early 18th century often involved the use of fingerings that exaggerated the interval between the notes, in order to make them clear. Cf. the trill charts in Hotteterre 1707.
14. Chapter 1, §10.
23.
Vogt 16, Vény 30, Sellner 5.
24. Vény 30. Grush 54 points out that "...the technical limit of the two or three keyed oboe is reached with a signature or musical situation which requires the player to cross the interval C-sharp to D-sharp, for which there is no provision as there is on the modern oboe." Though true in general, there is an alternate fingering for c#2 (all holes open), and this is often used in combinations with d#2 (db2-eb2). c#2 played in this way tends to be too low for equal temperament (though fine for meantone).
25 Koch 1084, Anonymous 1812, Vogt 18, Braun 168 (repeated by Anonymous26. Cf. Tromlitz's comment quoted above.
28. Sellner 4.31. Burgess 1994 rightly associates the gradual move toward equal temperament and "expressive intonation" with the extension into remote tonalities and the addition of keys to woodwinds. All these phenomena were interrelated and happened simultaneously, if gradually.
32. Burgess 1994:24. A complete facsimile of the Methode together with a transcription and English translation, with a biography and work-list, is in preparation by Geoffrey Burgess .
33. Vogt 1 5ff.34. Cf. surviving oboes by Stephan Koch (fl. c1 807-after 1866) and Johann Tobias Uhlmann (fl. 1810-after 1838).
35. Without special treatment. The use of a polyethylene glycol immersion, originally developed for stabilizing the wooden stocks of rifles, was not then an option.
36. Because these woods had a brighter sound, projection (an obsession of modern woodwind players not shared by early ones) was also increased; this surely reenforced their popularity.
37. Vogt 16. The relative conservatism of the French is discussed in Heyde 1986:27, associated there with the fundamental principle of "nature" and "natural" as expounded especially by Rousseau. Heyde sees the avoidance of valves on the horn and the "Pistons et Pavilions" of A. Sax (1862) as examples of this attitude.
38. Sellner 4-8.45. Grundmanns that may have original extra keys are listed in Young (Y numbers 14, 17, 22, 24, 28, 46-48); six of these are dated, the earliest being 1781. With two known exceptions, octave-keys date from the late 1780s and beyond. The first such key known appeared on an oboe dated 1749 by Charles Bizey (M. Piguet collection). Grundmann added a "Schleifklappe" and c# keys to an oboe dated 1781 (Young Y14). The next appearance is 1788.
46. Four other instruments may have had additional original keys, but this is not certain. See Young Y14, Y 17, Y22 and Y24.
47. Young Y4 (dated 1805), Y5, Y7, Y10.
49. Young Y13. These two keys were evidently considered the most necessary additions. As a player of the baroque oboe, I have more than once thought the instrument would be just about perfect with the addition of these two keys for c#l and the octave. One adds a note otherwise missing, the other opens up new possibilities in the upper range.
50. Young Y7, Y13 "Schleifklappe"?;
Y15 C# and F?; Y16
F and Bb?; Y22?; Y9 low B. Bernardini's statement (1987:19) that ...
Jakob [sic.] Grundmann, Johann Friedrich Floth e Heinrich Grenser erano
giunti a
costruire oboi a 8 o 9 chiavi. is speculative (see above, and Koch's
report below, written after Grundmann's death). Since their instruments
continued to be played into the nineteenth century, many of those that survive
have keys that were later added, some
probably by the original maker. It is sometimes difficult to
distinguish between original keys and later additions.
52. Zeekaf 1991:44 makes an interesting comparison between the more limited use of the octave key on the modern Viennese oboe and that of Sellner's time.
53. Castillon (1777) comments on this over-small interval: ... M. Quantz's flutes differ from all others in their tuning. Usually the F on the transverse flute is not flat enough and the F# is correct; in his, on the contrary, the F is true and the F# a little flat.... Rarely, if ever, is music written in the key of F#, either major or minor, but very often in F major and minor. The F# appears but seldom as a tonic, and it is much better to have the F in tune, since it is the keynote of a tonality not only much used, but one of the most beautiful on the flute. F#, when it appears, could easily be tempered by the embouchure; but as it stands, F natural remains a bad note.
Tr. from Halfpenny.
55. Brod included no octave key in either part of his Methode, although his own last oboe (now owned by Han de Vries) has one.
56. Braun 168. This article is cited by Anonymous 1827 (see below).57. Braun refers here to the oboe maker Bischoff of Darmstadt.
58. Braun refers here to the oboe maker Bischoff of Darmstadt.
59. Surviving Koch instruments are impressive for their fine craftsmanship. Their keywork is considerably better made than that of modern oboes. Fourteen surviving oboes with 7-13 keys are listed in Young. A history of the development of key-making technique can be found in MacGillivray 252.
60. Sellner 4-6.61. Sallantin/Sallentin was active in Paris, 1768-1816. He played at the Opéra 1770/73-1812 and was the first oboe professor at the Conservatoire, 1792-1816. At the Concert Spirituel from 1768 -aged 12 years) he played both flute and oboe. Sallantin heard J.C. Fischer in [? 1774]; in 1790-92 he went to London to study with him. The connection from Alessandro Besozzi, with whom Fischer had studied, to the Paris Conservatoire school is interesting. See Conrey 1986:8- 9; Pierre 1975:213; Burgess 1994:14.
62. See Burgess 1994:20ff.63. The lack of an octave key may have to do with the smaller reeds used in France (see Bernardini 1987:29 citing I.P.), which probably responded more readily in the higher registers.
64. Vény's book, which appeared between the two parts of Brod's, shows the earlier 8-keyed oboe, as well as more complicated ones (see below).
65. Brod 107-8.70. Reproduced and discussed in Bernardini 1987:19, 21.
75. Grenser 44.