Cor anglais

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Special-T (talk | contribs) at 18:24, 31 May 2012 (rm overlinking). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Cor anglais or English horn
Woodwind instrument
Classification
Hornbostel–Sachs classification422.112-71
(Double reed aerophone with keys)
Developedabout 1720 from the oboe da caccia
Playing range
in F: sounds one fifth lower than written.
Related instruments
Part of a series on
Musical instruments
Woodwinds
Brass instruments
String instruments
Bowed

Plucked

Percussion
Keyboards
Others

The cor anglais (UK: /ˌkɔːr ˈɑːŋɡleɪ/ or US: /ˌkɔːr ɒŋˈɡleɪ/; French: [kɔʁ ɑ̃ɡlɛ]), or English horn (American English), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family.

The cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe (a C instrument), and is consequently approximately one and a half times the length of the oboe. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais are essentially the same as those of the oboe, and most oboists double on the cor anglais. Music for the cor anglais is thus written a perfect fifth higher than the instrument actually sounds. Because the cor anglais normally lacks the lowest B-flat of the oboe, its sounding range stretches from the E (written B natural) below middle C to the C two octaves above middle C.

Description and timbre

Its pear-shaped bell gives it a more covered timbre than the oboe, closer in tonal quality to the oboe d'amore. Whereas the oboe is the soprano instrument of the oboe family, the cor anglais is generally regarded as the alto member of the family, and the oboe d'amore—pitched between the two in the key of A—as the mezzo-soprano member. The cor anglais is perceived to have a more mellow and plaintive tone than the oboe. Its appearance differs from the oboe in that the reed is attached to a slightly bent metal tube called the bocal, or crook, and the bell has a bulbous shape. It is also much longer.

Reeds used to play the cor anglais are similar to those used for an oboe, consisting of a piece of cane folded in two. While the cane on an oboe reed is mounted on a small metal tube (the staple) partially covered in cork, there is no such cork on a cor anglais reed, which fits directly on the bocal. The cane part of the reed is wider and longer than that of the oboe. Unlike American style oboe reeds, cor anglais reeds typically have wire at the base, approximately 5 millimeters from the top of the string used to attach the cane to the staple. This wire serves to hold the two blades of cane together and stabilize tone and pitch.

Perhaps the best known makers of modern instruments are the French firms of F. Lorée, Marigaux and Rigoutat, the British firm of T W Howarth, and the American firm Fox. Instruments from smaller makers, such as A. Laubin, are also sought after. Instruments are usually made from African Blackwood (aka Grenadilla), although some makers offer instruments in a choice of alternative woods as well, such as cocobolo (Howarth) or violet wood (Lorée), which are said to alter the voice of the cor anglais slightly, reputedly making it even more mellow and warmer. Fox has recently made some instruments in plastic resin.

History and etymology

The term cor anglais is French for English horn, but the instrument is neither from England nor related to the (French) horn. The instrument originated in Silesia about 1720, when a bulb bell was fitted to a curved oboe da caccia-type body by the Weigel family of Breslau. The two-keyed, open-belled straight tenor oboe (in French called taille de hautbois, i.e., tenor oboe) and more especially the flare-belled oboe da caccia, resembled the horns played by angels in religious images of the Middle Ages and this gave rise in German-speaking central Europe to the Middle High German name engellisches Horn, meaning angelic horn. But engellisch also meant English in the vernacular of the time, and so the angelic horn became the English horn and—in the absence of any better alternative—retained the name for the curved, bulb-belled tenor oboe even after the oboe da caccia fell into disuse around 1760.[1]

The earliest known orchestral part specifically for the English horn is in the Vienna version of Niccolò Jommelli's opera Ezio dating from 1749.[2] Gluck and Haydn followed suit in the 1750s,[3] and the first English horn concertos were written in the 1770s. Considering the name cor anglais, it is ironic that the instrument was not used in France until about 1800 or in England until the 1830s.[3] The local equivalent for "English horn" is used in other European languages such as Italian, German and Spanish.

The name is sometimes incorrectly[citation needed] said to derive from its original resemblance to the oboe da caccia, which was curved in shape and was thus supposedly called a cor anglé (bent horn), a name later corrupted to cor anglais. The cor anglais still has a bent metal pipe, known as the bocal, which connects the reed to the instrument proper. This, however, is a false etymology, as anglé does not mean angled in any language. The name first appeared on a regular basis in Italian, German and Austrian scores from 1749, usually in the Italian form corno inglese.

Repertoire

Concertos

Main article: List of concertos for English horn

Until the 20th century, there were few solo pieces for the instrument with a large ensemble. Important examples of such concertos and concertante works are:

† Though concertante in nature, these are just orchestral works featuring extensive solos, with the player seated within the orchestra

Chamber music

Better known chamber music for English horn include:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven's Trio for 2 oboes and English horn, Op. 87 (1795)
  • Ludwig van Beethoven's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano", for 2 oboes and English horn, WoO 28 (1796)
  • Elliott Carter's Pastoral for English horn (or viola, or clarinet) and piano (1940)
  • Felix Draeseke's Little Suite for English horn and piano, Op. 87 (1911)
  • Paul Hindemith's English Horn Sonata (1941)
  • Charles Koechlin's Monody for English Horn, Op. 216, Nr. 11 (1947–1948)
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Adagio in F (or C) major, K 580a (Fragment, 1789) (Probably not an original piece for cor anglais[4])
  • Vincent Persichetti's Parable XV for Solo English Horn
  • Igor Stravinsky's Pastorale for soprano and piano (1907), in the composer's own arrangements for soprano, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (1923), and violin, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (1933)
  • Carlo Yvon's Sonata in F minor for English Horn (or Viola) and Piano (published ca. 1831), one of the few sonatas written during the Romantic era for this combination.

Solos in orchestral works

The English horn's timbre makes it well suited to the performance of expressive, melancholic solos in orchestral works (including film scores) as well as operas. Famous examples are:

Opening motive from the 2nd movement (Largo) of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Use outside classical music

Though primarily featured in classical music, the cor anglais has also been used by a few musicians as a jazz instrument; most prominent among these are Paul McCandless, Jean-Luc Fillon, Sonny Simmons, and Vinny Golia (see also Oboists performing primarily outside classical genres). The cor anglais figures in the instrumental arrangements of several Carpenters songs. It has made some appearances in pop music, such as in King Crimson's Dawn Song on their album Lizard, Lindisfarne's Run For Home, Randy Crawford's One Day I'll Fly Away, Tanita Tikaram's Twist in My Sobriety, Marianne Faithfull's As Tears Go By, and many (e.g., Judy Collins' and Barbra Streisand's) versions of Send in the Clowns. In Britain, Tony Hatch's theme tune to the long-running soap opera Emmerdale Farm was originally performed on the cor anglais. The cor anglais is also featured in the Lionel Richie and Diana Ross version of Endless Love, and in Elton John's Can You Feel the Love Tonight and Candle in the Wind 1997. The song A Mutual Friend by the band Wire from the album 154 uses a cor anglais.

Paul McCartney holds a cor anglais on the album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The instrument also features in the 2005 film American Pie Presents: Band Camp (referred to as an oboe).

References

  1. ^ Michael Finkelman, "Oboe: III. Larger and Smaller European Oboes, 4. Tenor Oboes, (iv) English Horn", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001); also at Grove Music Online (Subscription access).
  2. ^ History of the English horn/cor anglais at the Vienna Symphonic Library.
  3. ^ a b Michael Finkelman, "Die Oboeinstrumente in tieferer Stimmlage – Teil 5: Das Englischhorn in der Klassik", in Tibia 99 (1999): 618–24. Template:De icon
  4. ^ http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=161

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Cor anglais".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cor_anglais&oldid=495334002"