OBOE D'AMORE

The 'oboe d'amore' (''oboe of love'' in Italian) is a woodwind instrument. It is a member of the double reed family, very similar to the oboe. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the mezzo-soprano or alto of the oboe family. It is a transposing instrument, sounding a minor third lower than it is notated, i.e. in A. The bell is pear-shaped and the instrument uses a bocal, similar to the larger English Horn, whose bocal is larger.
The oboe d'amore was invented in the 18th century and was first used by Christoph Graupner in ''Wie wunderbar ist Gottes Güt''. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote many pieces — a concerto, many of his cantatas, and the "In Spiritum Sanctum" movement of his Mass in B minor — for the instrument. Georg Philipp Telemann also occasionally employed the oboe d'amore.
After waning popularity in the late 18th century, the oboe d'amore fell into disuse for about 100 years until composers such as Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Frederick Delius, and others began using it once again at the end of the 19th century. It can be heard in Toru Takemitsu's "Vers, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Palma," but its most famous modern usage is, perhaps, in "Boléro" by Maurice Ravel.

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See also

See also

★ Oboe

★ English horn

★ Bassoon