Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 87
Scan 87
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
4 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 67. See the scan on archive.org.
1according to M. Chouquet, first employed in the orchestra of the opera, in Cambert's "Pomone," in 1659. The two lower keys for c' and e'b came into use at the end of the 17th century; the double hole, for the little finger, near the bell disappeared, and in 1727 the instrument maker Gerhard Hofmann, of Rastenberg, added two keys for g'♯ and a'♯. Shortly afterwards the instrument was further improved by the brothers Bessozi, the most celebrated oboe players of the time; and a speaker or octave key was added, which increased the previous compass of the instrument by an octave upwards. Still the usual form of oboe, up till about 1790, had but three keys; and the third and fourth finger-holes were made double in order to allow of the production of semitones. The proportions of the bore had been considerably improved by the clever maker Delusse, and the position of the keys was made more accessible. The principal improvements are, nevertheless, the result of the present century. With the more general use of the instrument other keys came to be gradually added, and a Method by Sellner, published in 1825, at Vienna, shows that the instrument had then keys producing c', c'♯, d'♯, f', f'♯, g'♯, a'♯, c'', and also an octave key. The octave key was placed upon the upper side of the instrument, and still retains this position.
3The experiments made by Boehm in perfecting the flute led to the adoption, by the maker Buffet, of rings upon the oboe; and further ingenious applications of mechanism were designed by the oboe player Brod, who was also a maker, about 1846, and by lengthening the instrument the lower notes were rendered better and more full. The Austrian maker Uhlmann, of Vienna, had about this time brought out a mechanism somewhat similar to the present Barret action, but which was so delicate and expensive that its use was never general. Turning his attention to the proportion of the bore, and the correct position of the holes, the late M. Lavigne produced, after many experiments, an instrument wonderfully perfect in intonation; but which had, nevertheless, a tone-quality differing somewhat from the ordinary oboe, and on that account never came into general use. Shortly afterwards Triebert, the clever Parisian maker, following up the ideas of Brod and Lavigne succeeded in producing a model almost perfect, and too well known to need a detailed description here. Latterly further improvements made by Barret, and resulting
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