The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.

1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED 59

Historical Oboes 2: Development of the

French Simple System Oboe 1800-1840
By Robert Howe
Wilbraham, Massachusetts

n the last issue I discussed four subjugated or impoverished. Musi-

I nineteenth century oboes: two

from Dresden, one from
Prague and one from Philadel-
phia. This may have given a
biased view of the development of
cal instrument makers came to the
relative stability of Paris to learn
and practice their trades, profiting
from sales to professional musi-
cians, students and the French
oboe key systems, much of which army. Paris thus abounded with
occurred in France. French and woodwind makers; their names fill
German oboes evolved along dif- 8 columns in the standard ref-
ferent lines after 1800. Paris in erence4. Many made but one
1800-1840 was the crossroad of type of instrument, a specializa-
European intellectual ferment1; it tion that was not possible in the
was also Europe’s busiest center of more widely dispersed east Euro-
musical instrument manufacture. pean market2. In these years, var-
Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Prague ious improvements in metal and
and Vienna were hubs of wind woodworking were applied to wind
instrument manufacture in east- instruments. The industrial revo-
ern Europe, but none boasted the lution provided the technology to
number of makers or instruments produce large numbers of inter-
made as did the French capital. changeable parts, making mass
This was due to political factors. production of woodwinds possible
France had been a single large by mid-century. Makers in such
nation under a king since the 12th villages as LaCouture, Ivry-la-Bat-
FIGURE 1. Two key oboe by Geh-
century, with Paris as its political taile, Chateau-Thierry, Mantes-la-
ring, Leipzig 1755-1811; 12 key
and educational capital the entire oboe (originally 2-9 keys) by Guil- Ville, Garennes and Mirecourt con-
time. Until the 19th century, how- laume Triébert, Paris, circa 1815; tributed parts, signed instruments
ever, central and eastern Europe Sellner model oboe by Ludwig & and unstamped instruments to the
consisted of relatively small nation- Martinka, Prague, 1857-86. enormous number of woodwinds
states without a common artistic produced in the area of the French
or cultural center. State academies for distin- capital. Thus, it is no surprise that important
guished singers and actors were established in advances in woodwind design occurred here.
Paris by Louis XVI in 1784 and 1786; the National When studying the history of a woodwind
(later Paris) Conservatoire was founded in 17932,3. instrument it is tempting to count and describe
These national artistic centers were preserved keys, presuming that this is all that we need
by very different suc- to know. This presumption is false; the devel-
cessive French govern- opment of an instrument did not occur in a
ments through the tur- vacuum, nor consist solely of the addition of
moils of the French keys. To understand the development of a wood-
Revolution, Napoleonic wind instrument one must study key systems,
era and Bourbon res- the metal used to make the keys, the method of
toration3. They served mounting the keys to the body, manufacturing
to concentrate French methods, the wood used for the body, the deco-
musical, dramatic, and rative designs placed on the wood, the dimen-
balletic resources in sions of the bore, toneholes and vents, the
Paris; painting and lit- design of the reed, the players’ concept of what
erature inevitably fol- the instrument should sound like and how that
lowed suit. sound can be achieved, the instrument’s role in
FIGURE 2: Trademark of
During the Napole- the orchestra and its compass or range. Because
Gehring oboe. onic wars (1792-1815), the oboe’s Parisian development was profoundly
much of Europe was influenced by work carried out on other instru-
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001
60 HISTORICAL OBOES 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH SIMPLE SYSTEM OBOE 1800-1840
ments, I will touch on the history of
the flute and clarinet as well.
THE TWO KEYED OBOE
In 1800 the orchestral wood-
wind choir was clearly defined as
pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and
bassoons. The oldest of the stan-
dard woodwinds was the two keyed
oboe. The Eroica Symphony (1803)
was probably premiered on an oboe
such as the Gehring in figures 1
and 2. Johann Christian Gehring
and his son Heinrich Gottfried Geh-
ring made woodwinds in Leipzig FIGURE 3. Tone hole design
on an 18th century woodwind.
between 1755-1811, possbily in con-
This is the low c from an oboe
junction with Gottlieb Crone5. This by Thomas Cahusac (Senior), importantly allowed the oboist to
instrument dates from circa 1780,
and plays very well at A430. It is
of boxwood, the standard material of 18th cen-
tury woodwinds, and has brass keys. The simple
scale of the two keyed oboe is D, with a flat
F#6. G# was produced by a double hole on 3; F,
Bb1 and c2 by cross fingerings, Eb and c1 (the
lowest note on the oboe) by the two keys; c#1
was absent. Notes above the staff were made by
long cross fingerings as overblown lower octave
fingerings were less stable. An octave key was
not required on the two keyed oboe; when first
added during the 19th century, it was not used
as on a modern oboe, but only to assist with
upward slurs and occasional awkward intervals
using the short fingerings. Tellingly, it was called
the “slur” or “speaker” key2. The tone holes
were undercut, the bell had an internal rim and
two vent holes, and the bore expanded acutely
at each joint. The reed well was in the form of
an inverted cone and the reed was usually not
placed all the way to the bottom of the well.
The two keyed oboe had great tonal flexibil-
ity but limited technique in chromatic passages
or in keys remote from C. The early acoustician
J. A. Charles in 1802 noted that “The oboe plays
very well in the keys of C, F and E flat; it is
extremely difficult in the sharp keys; and prac-
tically impossible in the key of E major”7. Why
was playing in sharp (or very flat) keys so hard?
Because of several balky fingerings. The player
had to humor F# up into tune, using a double
hole on 4 and the Eb key; G# is awkward in pas-
sages going to F, E or D, as the left hand must
pivot around a tiny radius; there was no low
c#1 while c#2 was flat; and the interval c#2-d#2
required that the player shift from one flat key
for the right pinkie to another without leaving
any gap between the notes.
Knowing this gives us insight
into the oboe and oboe d’amore
writing of Bach and Telemann, as
opposed to the classical masters.
In the baroque era, oboes typically
doubled violins in tuttis, writing was
very florid and the oboist was fre-
quently exposed as a soloist in can-
tata or instrumental writing in sharp
keys. Composers knew the capabil-
ities of their players; baroque era
oboe solos are almost always in the
comfortable keys of G, C, F, or Bb,
less commonly in D or Eb. But not
all music was written in these keys.
The oboe d’amore provided a color
to the baroque orchestra but more
circa 1780. function as a soloist in the concert
keys of A or E major. Bach rarely
writes for the oboe in A major, or for the oboe
d’amore in flat keys.
The baroque oboe d’amore had a very pale,
monochromactic sound (at least in modern
reconstructions) which was poorly suited to
music written in the predominantly Italianate late
18th century styles. Also, oboe writing in the clas-
sical period was simpler and more restrained;
the oboist rarely needed to play a lot of notes in
A or E major, and certainly not in a solo capacity.
Thus the oboe d’amore no longer had a reason
to exist, and it died with Bach and Telemann as a
new fashion of oboe writing replaced the old.
As the 19th century began, keys were added
to the oboe in an ad hoc fashion to meet the
needs of new musical styles and to improve
pitch2,8,9,10. Many players and makers were skepti-
cal about adding keys2; the prominent Dresden
maker Heinrich Grenser and
the virtuoso Wilhelm The-
odor Johann Braun wrote
articles opposing the addi-
tion of keys to the oboe8,11.
This may have been because
leather pads closing on flat
holes in boxwood seal
poorly12 and impair the resis-
tance and tone of the oboe.
To improve the seal, keyed
tone holes are generally
drilled in flattened areas on
the body (figure 3).
But perhaps this con-
FIGURE 4. servatism is the natural
Construction of Eb skepticism of a professional
and C keys on towards changes in his work-
Gehring oboe. ing tools. A musician who has
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED 61

spent years learning to play a difficult instru- key closed a vent hole on the bell to lower the
ment has little reason to give up his advantages, pitch of c1. Conrey states that Sallantin played
so long as he can continue to play well; nor do a Delusse oboe with 10 added keys3, but eight
the realities of regular professional engagements of these were added after Sallantin’s death17. Sal-
make such a change practical. We see this is the lantin was succeeded by Auguste Georges Gus-
twentieth century, when such logical instruments tave Vogt (served 1816-53), who at first played a
as LeBlanc’s Le Rationalle saxophone and the four keyed oboe but changed to a Delusse with
McIntyre clarinet gained no professional favor; 7 added keys around 18243,17,18. The next profes-
and in the difficulties that faced British and sor, Louis Stanislaus Xavier Verroust (served
American bassoonists changing from French to 1853-63), used a Tulou oboe built with nine keys.
German system instruments. All three of these oboes are on display at the
The keys on a 2 key Musèe de Musique in Paris19.
oboe are mounted in raised While the Parisian gray hairs used extra keys
wooden rings left during to help with pitch, younger players used keys
the turning of the wood; to simplify technique2. Henri Brod (1799-1839)
the upper ring is inevitably was a virtuoso player and later an oboe maker
squared off and supports who made several notable improvements2,24,20. A
the Eb key (“small key”) and native Parisian, Brod entered the Conservatoire
the C key’s (“great key”) at the age of 12. At 20 he was playing second
touchpiece, while the oboe in the Opera orchestra to his teacher Vogt.
rounded lower ring holds He wrote in his Method of 1826: “When buying
the great key’s pad (figure a first instrument the beginner can economize
4). Other original keys may on the exterior; but above all he must get an
be mounted in blocks left instrument provided with all the keys. Other-
on the wood during turn- wise, having an instrument that is not in tune,
FIGURE 5. Metal
ing, as shown by the Bauer he will be obliged to force certain notes up or
saddle with Eb key
as added to Triébert
and Weygandt oboes in the down and will become used to poor fingering
12 key oboe, circa previous article8. Added habits which avoid the keys. Advanced or begin-
1815. keys are usually (but not ning students who cannot appreciate the qual-
always!) in brass saddles8. ity of an instrument would do well to leave the
The saddle is screwed into a slot cut into the choice to a good teacher...The best oboes are
wood (figure 5). Brass saddles do not bind when made in Paris at Triébert’s. Those of Delusse are
wood shrinks and thus may be more reliable than also very well regarded but one is always obliged
keys in wooden rings. Period specimens often to add keys, because in Delusse’s time the instru-
show several added keys, effectively making a ment only had two”21,22.
new instrument out of an old one with little Garnier’s oboe tutor of 1800 recommended
change in its playing qualities. It is common to oboes made in the exact proportions of Delusse’s
find that an oboe had several added keys which model5,23. Sallantin, Vogt and Brod used and
differ in their details, suggesting that they were recommended oboes by Delusse, as did Veny,
successively added to preserve the oboe’s useful another prominent player, in 182824. This is
playing life8,13,14. odd; was no one making fine oboes in Paris at
the turn of the 19th century? It
THE OBOES OF DELUSSE says much about the social insta-
bility of the French revolution
Most French oboists in 1800 and Napoleonic era that the finest
used 2 to 4 key oboes2. The first oboists in France advocated using
professor of oboe at the Paris oboes by a maker who had died
Conservatoire was François Alex- 40 years earlier25. One might ask,
andre Antoine Sallantin (served how many major modern players
1793-1816), who used a four keyed use B series Lorées?
oboe3,15,16. The third key, an F# The workshop of Jacques
corrector, allowed F# to be played Delusse and Christophe Delusse
as 1234-F# key, avoiding the need flourished from 1748 to 17895—or
for a half hole on 4. As figure 6 FIGURE 6. F# corrector on Triébert did it? Evidence concerning
shows, the key was opened by the oboe circa 1815; note the identical Delusse is confusing; it is even
ring or pinkie finger; this was awk- location of the F# vent on Lorée unclear if these makers were
ward in fast passages. The fourth oboe CY68 (1973). father and son or the same person
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001
62 HISTORICAL OBOES 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH SIMPLE SYSTEM OBOE 1800-1840
working under different names5,26. Jacques was
listed as one of five woodwind makers in the
Community of Master Musical Instrument Makers
in 17485; Christophe Delusse was made a Master
in the Community, on 10 May 175827. Was Jacques
Delusse an earlier maker or the same person as
Christophe, elevated to Master in 1758?26.
The Community of Master Musical Instru-
ment Makers28 is an interesting organization,
a loose association of makers which enforced
quality standards among its members and pro-
moted the sale of their products. A recent paper
describes the Community and lists all the makers
who were members from 1723 to 1789 (except for
1731 to 1734, the records of which were lost)26.
Makers could join the Community of Masters
by working as an apprentice and presenting a
“masterwork” (exhibition instrument); by being
the son of a maker; by the award of a privilege
(“brevet”) by the members of the Community;
by the award of the King’s Council (“conseil du
roi”); by past experience; by the deliberation of
the Community; or by the award of a privilege
upon completing an apprenticeship specifically
for orphans in l’Hôpital de la Trinitè.
Such manufacturer’s organizations were
common in 18th century Europe, in a time when
large industrial firms were unknown; they were
remnants of the Medieval trade guilds. Their
attitude survived the Industrial Revolution in
such Parisian woodwind makers as Le Union de
la facture instrumentale, Association fraternelle
d’ouvriers facteur d’instruments de vent, Associ-
ation générale des ouvriers, and Ouvriers réunis
association générale, which flourished in the late
19th and early 20th centuries5,29.
The Delusses’ Paris shop made various wood-
winds including galoubets (French bagpipes),
bird whistles, flutes and bassoons5,30. However,
they were most noted for their oboes; 25 of the 43
Delusse specimens listed in Phillip Young’s 4900
Historical Woodwind Instruments30 are oboes of
one sort or another. These included curved cors
anglais, tenor oboes (straight oboes in F with
wider bores than a cor anglais), and the only
known contrabass oboe, two octaves below the
usual oboe5,30. Jacque’s oboes were illustrated in
Diderot and d’Alembert’s famous Encyclopédie
of 1769, in the article “Musique” penned by “M.
de Lusse” (this was Charles de Lusse, who
apparently was not related to Jacques Delusse)5.
The Delusses’ work was highly regarded in their
time; of the 18 Delusse oboes known to exist, half
have added keys30, showing that players liked
them enough to keep them up to date. Michel
Piguet has recorded the Mozart Oboe Quartet on
a two keyed Delusse oboe31. Curiously, 6 of the
18 Delusse oboes are of woods other than box
(2 of cedar, one each of cocuswood, ebony, vio-
letwood and palissandre), as are 8 of their 15
known flutes and whistles30,32.
No Delusse clarinets are known. This might
suggest a rarity of use of that instrument in Paris
before 1790; the great French clarinet makers
Michel Amlingue, Joseph Baumann and Jacques
François Simiot opened their ateliers in 1782,
1790 and 18085. However, it is more likely a sign
of the Delusses’ specialization in oboes, or of the
ravages of history. Clarinets were initially made
in Paris in small numbers beginning in the mid-
1750s. Gluck was obliged to substitute clarinets
for cors anglais in the 1774 Paris premiere of
Orphée et Euridice33,34. Evidence for the construc-
tion of many clarinets in eighteenth-century Paris
is found in the inventory of the Prudent work-
shop in 178635,36, probably undertaken on the
death of the proprietor and father, Prudent Thi-
erriot. The shop contained 143 clarinets (in Bb,
C, D, and F), 22 oboes, 58 bassoons, 177 flutes,
36 fifes, 261 flageolets, and 41 recorders. Of the
three surviving Prudent clarinets none appear
early enough to be made by Prudent përe, but he
had three sons. The first son, Jean-Baptiste Pru-
dent Thieriot (born 1762) is absent from Paris
after 1792 and not heard of after this date. The
extant Prudent clarinets were probably made by
his second son, Nicolas-Louis Prudent Thieriot
(1777-1822), known as a key maker from 1793.
There was also a third son and maker of instru-
ments, Jean-François Prudent Thieriot (born
1781), who made instruments until 18115,27.
Unfortunately, examples of French clarinets
before 1800 are quite scarce today; many makers
are known by a single specimen37. By the 1770s
most French clarinets were made for military
use. One logical explanation for the dearth of
early French clarinets is that most of these
instruments perished during
the French Revolution (1789),
during which numerous sym-
bols of Royalty, the Catholic
Church and the military were
destroyed or defaced. Alter-
nately, the Napoleonic Wars
may have ruined earlier
instruments and caused their
replacement by later spec-
imens. Certainly a clarinet
would make excellent fire-
wood for a French soldier
shivering on his way back
FIGURE 7. Half
from Moscow during the
hole apparatus as
winter of 1812. added to Triébert
oboe, circa 1840.
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED
HENRI BROD’S INFLUENCE
The Delusse’s work was con-
tinued by Henri Brod, who
obtained their oboe making
tools and began making his own
innovative oboes by 18292,5,30,
at times in conjunction with
his younger brother Jean-
Godefroy5. He anticipated the
modern English horn by devis-
ing a straight form of the instru- FIGURE 8. Bell rim of Triébert
ment21. To improve the reliabil- 12 key oboe.
ity of Eb2 and pitch of c#3, Brod
developed a half hole plate, which has been a
part of virtually every oboe mechanism since
(figure 7). He ultimately adopted the c#1 mecha-
nism shown in figure 25, eliminated the bell vent
to standardize the lowest note as B, and mini-
mized the internal bell rim (figure 8). Of 11 Brod
oboes recorded in Young30, two have a single
vent and the others, none. His oboes are slim
and elegant, perhaps the sveltest oboes ever
made13,14,38 (figures 9, 10).
Whereas 18th century flutes are usually
beautifully simple, oboes were almost always
graced with elegant and elab-
orate turnings. It is for good
reason that modern copies of
18th century oboes are some-
times dismissed as “chair legs”,
for more than one noted oboe
maker began his work as a furni-
ture maker5. Particular design
schemes are characteristic of
individual makers and of oboes
made for different purposes.
Even the plainest 18th century
oboes, the English straight-top
oboe, often has elaborate carv-
ing on the lower joint and
bell39,40. Cecil Adkins has shown
that the 18th century oboe FIGURE 9. Oboe
uses then-contemporary archi- by Henri Brod,
tectural motifs derived from 1828-39. This
specimen is less
classical Greek and Roman
slender than
models41. He illustrates how the those illustrated
ornamental elements on the in the
facade of a two story building references, but
of that period have exact homo- the key work is
logues in the turning of an oboe, indeed
suggesting a common underly- extremely
ing sense of proportion in archi- smooth. Col-
lection of the
tects and oboe makers. Brod’s late Josef Marx,
work, with its simple elegance, by kind permis-
represented an extreme depar- sion of Deborah
ture from that esthetic. Marx.
63
Boxwood had long been the
preferred wood for oboes. Gar-
nier wrote in 1798, “The box-
wood of which the oboe is
made must be quite dry, with-
out nodes and of a very close
to equal porosity throughout
its length. A piece of boxwood
never has same porosity
throughout. As experiment
shows that the top of the instru-
ment always has less influence
on the sound than the rest of the
body, the maker must use the
hardest wood for the top and the softest for the
bottom.”23
Brod wrote that “One can try several kinds
of wood in manufacturing oboes, such as ebène,
grenadilla, cedar and boxwood. Boxwood always
offers the best results, its tone quality is supe-
rior not only for sweetness and flexibility but
for strength and balance. Cedar, however, should
not be scorned, it makes for beautiful instru-
ments and gives a very soft tone which is appro-
priate in small rooms”21,42. However, Brod did
not follow his own advice in his choice of wood
for making oboes, preferring tropical hardwoods
to European boxwood. Young includes data on
12 oboes by Brod or Brod Frérés; 3 are of box-
wood, 6 are of rosewood and one each are grena-
dilla, violetwood and maple30. Let us contrast this
to the habits of Brod’s contemporaries. Forty-
nine of 50 known oboes by Augustin and Heinrich
Grenser (Dresden, 1744-1813) are of boxwood.
So are 29 of 30 by William Milhouse (London,
1787-1840), 5 of 6 by Prudent (Paris, 1765-1830),
12 of 15 by Stephan Koch (Vienna, 1807-66),
4 of 4 by Dominique
Antony Porthaux (Paris
1782-1824) and 11 of
11 by George Astor
(London, 1778-1831)30.
Clearly, Brod had a
reason to favor the
harder woods (as had
Delusse), probably relat-
ing to the greater sta-
bility of these woods
with changes in humid-
FIGURE 10. Trademark
ity, an attribute that was
of Brod oboe.
of increasing value as
more keys were added.
Young notes that the keys on Brod’s oboes
“are of unbelievable lightness and delicacy, per-
haps more so than any oboe keys before or
since”14. This facility was obtained by placing
tiny circular metal shims between each rod and
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001
64 HISTORICAL OBOES 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH SIMPLE SYSTEM OBOE 1800-1840

FIGURE 13. Buthod & Thibouville

trademark.
holes, allowing a perfectly sealed pad
and eliminating the leaks that plagued
FIGURE 12. Graves trademark.
early keys44,45(figure 14). By 1814, when
post to smooth the Beethoven wrote his 7th and 8th Sym-
motion of the rod. Note phonies, such multiple key systems were rou-
on Brod’s oboes, as tinely available on other woodwinds but still
well as on all the other variable on the oboe9. It is likely that the most
FIGURE 11. Müller system
French oboes illus- modern designs were used only by adventurous
clarinet in Eb by Buthod &
Thibouville (Paris trated in this paper, professionals or wealthy amateurs who would
1857-67). Five key Eb clari- how the keys are much spend enough money to purchase the most
net by Graves (Winchester more elegant and advanced instruments.
NH 1830-50). The Graves is pleasing in form than One wonders why the oboe added keys and
analogous to the two keyed those on contempo- achieved mechanization after the flute, clarinet
oboe while the Buthod rary eastern European and bassoon. The answer is basically that other
&Thibouville is analogous oboes shown in the instruments needed more help than the oboe47.
to the 10-12 key simple 8
last paper . In general, cross fingerings on the clarinet are not
system oboe.
Brod died aged 39 as successful, especially in the low register, as
years, depriving the oboe of a major innovator. on flutes, oboes, and bassoons; thus the clarinet
It is said that he died while giving a recital in with 5 keys was standard as early as 1800. The
Algeria13,15, although this is a romantic legend5,20. enormous number of flutes made for amateur
Goossens notes of the composer Cherubini, players led to an early proliferation of improve-
“When told, ‘Brod est mort, maitre’, he replied: ments to that instrument; however, the old cross
‘Qui?’ ‘Brod’ ‘Ah! Petit son!’“(small sound)15,43. fingerings work well on many flutes, including
Apparently the attitudes of composers toward those with more than 8-keys27.
musicians have not changed Cross and double-holed fin-
greatly in 160 years. gerings work better on the oboe
By 1811 Iwan Müller (a than on other woodwinds. The
German then living in Paris)5 reason lies in the relatively
had introduced a 13 key clar- broad, supple reed used in the
inet which gave the player 18th century47,48. Such a reed
more technical facility in all gave these oboists greater flex-
tonalities (figures 11-13) with- ibility of pitch and voicing than
out excessive use of cross we have today; thus the oboe
fingerings44,45,46. The old cross did not need keys as soon as
fingerings remain valid on the flute or clarinet. A broad,
Müller’s clarinet and can be bassoon-like reed gives the two
used freely. To avoid the leaks FIGURE 14. Müller’s method of keyed oboe a fabulous low reg-
inherent from added keys, countersinking tone holes. ister while a narrower, smaller
Müller invented the modern reed supports the high notes
pad as a small ball of leather stuffed with wool better49,50 and encourages the use of the simpler
and sewn shut. His key cups were hemispheri- short fingerings. Although 18th and early 19th
cal (“salt spoon”); later makers used cardboard century reeds are quite rare51 a fair number of
shims behind the wool with flat key cups. datable French reeds exist from the mid 19th
Müller was the first to countersink keyed tone century. These are illustrated9,10,21,50-52 and dis-
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED 65

cussed21, 50-53 in several references. Müller’s advances were adopted by oboe

Brod, of course, had something to say about makers. Figure 1 also shows a much altered
the reed and the sound of the oboe. He wrote, Parisian oboe of circa 181555. It is by Guillaume
“The quality of the sound depends on the reed Triébert, the predominant oboe maker of the 19th
and especially on the choice of the cane. I will century56. Born Georg Wilhelm Ludwig Triebert
describe at the beginning of the second part of in Storndorf, Hesse (then a Grand Duchy, now
this Method, the manner of making reeds; it is a central German state) in 1770, he learned fur-
good that a pupil play upon niture making5 and engraving2,
those of his Master, to be crafts that would prove useful
in a position to know well to an oboe maker. He walked
what constitutes a good reed. to Paris in 1804, becoming a
The making of reeds is not French citizen 7 years later.
the same in different countries Triébert founded his atelier in
where one plays the Oboe; the 1810. His first trademark was
Italians, the Germans and in a little tower with three stones
general almost all foreigners (merlons) on top (figure16a). It
make them stronger than us. is believed that in 1848 when
Therefore they have a hard Guillaume died and his sons
sound which misses the essen- FIGURE 15. Modern reeds intended for Charles-Louis and Frédéric took
tial nature of the instrument, copy of Denner oboe, circa 1720; for Geh- over the firm, the word “Bre-
and makes their playing so ring oboe, circa 1780; for copy of Floth veté” (patented) was added
painful that it becomes tiring oboe, circa 1805; ; for Triébert oboe, circa above the tower (figure16b).
for the listeners. The quality of 1860; for Lorée oboe KL40, 1993. Tip Frédéric died unexpectedly in
sound which is obtained from widths are 8.9, 8.0, 7.4, 7.2 and 6.9 mm 1878, leading to a crisis during
the oboe in France is indisput- respectively. which François Lorée, who had
ably the finest, and brings the been foreman since 18672,
oboe closer to the sound of the Violin.”54 founded his own firm5. Triébert’s excellent repu-
Early in the century the oboe reed was fairly tation is shown by the fact that as late as 1913,
broad, with a conspicuous expansion of the the cover page of the Lorée catalog noted that F.
width towards the tip to as much as 8-9 mm. Lorée was former shop foreman for the Triébert
There was a continual narrowing of the cane firm57. The modern firm of Lorée thus represents
through the mechanization of the oboe, so that an uninterrupted link to Guillaume Triébert and
by the end of the Triébert period the modern the first mechanised oboes.
form, with a width of about 6.5 mm and almost In 1881 the Triébert family sold their trade-
parallel sides, was fully established in France. mark to Gautrot (later, Couesnon) but required
Figure 15 shows modern reconstructions of reeds that a fourth stone be added to the tower
for oboes from circa 1720, 1780, 1805, 1860 and (figure16c). Figure 16d shows the trademark from
1993. a Couesnon-Triébert oboe dating to circa 1930.
An oboe marked “Triébert” can thus be assigned
GUILLAUME TRIÉBERT to a range of dates by the trademark14 as well as

A. B. C. D.

FIGURE 16. Trademarks of the Triébert firm. A, 1810-48 (from Triébert oboe in figure 23).
B, 1849-80. C, after 1881. D, mid 20th century.
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001
66 HISTORICAL OBOES 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH SIMPLE SYSTEM OBOE 1800-1840

A. B. C.
FIGURE 17. Evidence of changes made to Triébert oboe.
A, shows repositioning of the saddle used to add low B key.
B, repair to ring passing the key for left hand Eb; note the shape of the cup.
C, right hand Eb key showing original cup style.

by the details of the body and key
work58. Triébert instruments bear-
ing the 4 merlon mark were not
made by the Triébert family and
are not examples of the oboe’s
early development. By the time that
the company passed out of the fam-
ily’s hands, all modern varieties of
French oboe except Systeme 6 bis,
the modern French plateau keyed
oboe, had been developed2.
Before 1881 Triébert made oboes
and bassoons almost exclusively; a
single clarinet from the Gautrot era
and 7 early flutes are mentioned in
Young,30 while two other clarinets
and a saxophone are known from
the Gautrot or Couesnon eras27. Guil-
laume Triébert’s flutes were simple
system instruments with one to
eight keys30; two are shown in Gianni-
ni’s history of French flute makers59.
A Triébert prospectus from circa
186060 shows 26 double reed wood-
winds including hautbois pastorale
(musettes), oboes in Eb, Db, C and
Bb, cors anglais, baritone oboes and
bassoons11,61,62,63.
Guillaume Triébert was very
interested in modernizing the oboe;
of 101 three merlon specimens listed
in Young, only one oboe and two
English horns are known with 2 key
design30. During the years 1840-1875,
the firm introduced 6 “systemes”
of oboe key work. These were the
Systeme 3, introduced in 1840; the
FIGURE 18. C#1 apparatus on
Triébert (above) and Bauer
(below) oboes. The Triébert
apparatus is almost certainly
added; the Bauer may be origi-
nal. The Bauer is from Prague,
circa 1805.
Systeme 4 of 1843; the Systeme
5 (thumb plate system) of 1849;
Charles-Louis Triébert’s revision of
the Boehm oboe and the Barret
Systeme, both introduced in 1855;
and Frédéric Triébert’s Systeme 6
of 1875.9,10,11,58
The 12 keyed oboe in figure 1
has the three merlon trademark,
which shows faintly in figure 5.
It was probably built with 9 or
fewer keys. The great and Eb keys
are clearly original, as they are
mounted in turnings. The left hand
Eb is certainly added, as the low B
has been moved laterally to make
room for this key (figure 17a). It
has a salt spoon cup, rather than a
flat cup as elsewhere on the oboe;
it traverses a brass sleeve in the
squared key ring on the boxwood,
which the other keys lack; and it
lacks a square design element which
is on the keys that are unquestion-
ably original (figures 17 b,c). The
long keys for low B and Eb are
levers rather than a single axle and
the bell has a thick internal rim.
Other changes are evident. The
octave key is probably added, as it
is mounted on posts as on a modern
oboe, rather than a saddle; posts
were invented by Theobald Boehm
around 1830.64 It has the only needle
spring on the oboe (invented circa
1840 by Auguste Louis Buffet)45 and
lacks design elements common to
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED
the original keys. The evidence of other spec-
imens is interesting on this point. A Triébert
oboe owned by Han de Vries13,14 is identical to
this oboe but without octave key, half hole, or left
hand Eb. This suggests those keys were added
to the oboe in figure 1. A specimen in a Paris
museum is identical to De Vries’, but with a side
c2 key65, while MacGillivray displays an oboe
from his own collection which resembles DeVr-
ies’ oboe but with octave key, half hole and side
c2 key66. It seems likely that Triebert made oboes
with key systems to order.
LOW B, C AND C#
The c#1 apparatus seen on this and similar
French oboes differs from the c#1 keys on the
Germanic oboes shown in my last column (figure
18). In those, a small thin key opens a tiny hole
below the c1 hole. The touch of that key over-
laps the touchpiece of the great key so that when
c#1 is pressed, c1 closes and c#1 opens. The two
keys are side by side. On this oboe, a box-like
apparatus contains both keys. The c#1 key over-
lies the c1 key, and the touch of the great key
extends farther back. Thus, the same effect can
be obtained; if the great key is pressed, the large
hole is closed. If c#1 is pressed,
both keys operate, c1 closes and
c#1 opens to produce the tone c#1.
On the French oboe the spring that
keeps the great key opened and the
c#1 key closed is between the two
keys, and does not contact the
wood of the oboe.
C#1 boxes identical to this are
seen on the deVries, Paris and
MacGillivray specimens mentioned
above. Another is shown on the
oboes drawn in Henri Brod’s Method
of 182621,67 and on Sallantin’s oboe.
Since writing the last column I have
had the opportunity to study the
Floth oboe at Yale; it has a similar FIGURE 19. Obliterated bell vent c1 intolerably sharp. Hence the bell
box, but made of silver. On the on Triébert 12 key oboe.
Triébert oboe in figure 1, removing
the box reveals a channel cut in the wood under
the c#1 key. This is the location of the spring
for the great key when there is no c#1 appara-
tus; this implies that my oboe was built without
a c#1 key. Most likely on these oboes, the box
was placed after the oboe was completed to
add the missing semitone to the oboe’s range.
It is reasonable to suppose that Parisian mak-
ers—including Triébert—used a standard mech-
anism to extend the capabilities of earlier oboes.
Triébert probably had a drawer full of these c#1
67
keys, which could be added to any extant oboe
by removing the old great key, drilling and coun-
tersinking the c#1 hole, applying the new appa-
ratus, and replacing the great key. The whole
operation might take a half hour.
This all relates to the key on the oboe’s bell.
A modern oboist assumes that this key closes
to produce low B. However, the Triébert oboe
in figure 1 has a second bell vent which is filled
with wax and cork (figure 19), showing that the
bell key on this oboe was originally not a low B,
but rather a low C corrector. On early oboes with
a bell key, if an unkeyed bell vent is present, the
bell key flattens low c1 down to pitch. If there is
no bell vent or if a second vent has been filled,
the key gives low B17.
Why is this so? On the two keyed oboe the
great key was closed to produce c1 and c#2
through paired holes in the bell; c1 was very
sharp and c#2, very flat. Neveu wrote in 1772
that “Low C is always false; it is too high to be
a C natural, and too low to be C#, even while
forcing. Consequently I have put a crescent over
these notes (ie, in his example) to see that these
sounds are not given. One should be especially
careful of these notes in a Solo. The only time
to play it unaltered is as a passing tone. (He
gives examples).... In this Example
(an arpeggio down to c1) before the
low C make a little rest, one can
then release the lips a little, which
makes it less false....It is similar for
C#, which is of similar degree”68.
On such an oboe, one can also
bring c1 down to pitch by closing
one of the vents against the knee;
closing both produces a B. Makers
learned to correct the pitch of c#2
by enlarging the leftmost vent on
the bell and placing a key on it. The
c#2 was raised from being flat by
the enlargement of the keyed vent
hole. However, this made the low
key; closing the c1 key and this new
bell key produced a perfect c1. The
earliest example of this that I have seen is a
Delusse oboe from circa 1785, now owned by
Geoffrey Burgess; the date of the added key is
uncertain69.
Two keyed oboes, of course, had no c#1 key.
When the c#1 assembly was added, the new key
was used for c#1, and the traditional fingering
was used for c#2. This may seem illogical but it is
typical; the early 19th century oboe had numer-
ous notes that fingered differently at the octave:
f#1, a1, Bb1, b1 and c2. Players were accustomed
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001
68 HISTORICAL OBOES 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH SIMPLE SYSTEM OBOE 1800-1840
to these fingerings.
Period fingering charts prove this point.
Vogt’s Methode de Hautbois (1813) has a chart
showing a four keyed oboe, having only c1
corrector, c1, Eb and F# corrector keys; this
is the oboe as used by Vogt
and Sallantin. The chart shows
the bell key closed for low c1;
c#1 does not appear on this
chart70. The charts from two
editions of Henri Brod’s Method
of circa 1830 show a bulb
topped 9 key French oboe21,67.
The bell key and the great key
are pressed for c1; the c#1 key
for c#1; and the great key, for
c#2.
Two pages from the French FIGURE 20. Bars 52-55 of the Schubert
translation of Joseph Sellner’s Unfinished Symphony, second movement. B here? Carse’s comment that
Shown are flutes, oboes and clarinets in A.
Theoretisch praktische Oboe
Schule (written 1825, translated circa 1830) were
kindly given to me by Dr. Albert Rice71. One
shows a 9 keyed French instrument (with no
speaker key!), upon which the bell key is labeled
“Grande clef d’UT bas” (“Big key for low C”).
The fingering chart shows this and the c1 key
depressed for c1. The other page illustrates a
Sellner model oboe, on which this key is marked
“Clef de SI” (“B key”). The fingering chart shows
that this does, indeed, produce a low B. German
oboe makers had learned that the c#1 tone hole
could be altered to give a properly pitched c#2
with the same fingering. Filling in the other small
vent on the bell put c1 into good tune, with
the long key now giving B, not c1. There are no
proven examples of an oboe made outside of
France with a c1 corrector72.
The use of a bell key as a low C corrector
has been consistently misinterpreted by histo-
rians although the evidence of instruments, fin-
gering charts, and composers’ habits is unmis-
takable17. Only one major English language ref-
erence on the history of the oboe mentions the
c1 corrector, and then only in a footnote73; else-
where it is always listed as a low B9,10,11,14,30,58,74-76. gifted) craftsman, using keys from a different
One writer printed Vogt’s fingering chart but
overlooked this fingering in an otherwise very
detailed article on Vogt’s music70. Another stud-
ied a later instrument that lacked the vent hole
and concluded that the low C fingering in Brod’s
charts, although consistently shown using this
77
key, was “an obvious error”! . This conceit does
not belong only to modern oboists; Auguste
Bruyant studied with Vogt in the 1840s. He added
a note to Vogt’s fingering chart to the effect that
the master must be wrong; but of course Bruyant
was the one who didn’t understand17.
This explains the avoidance of low B by com-
posers through the mid 1800s. I can find no
low B’s in Berlioz, although my search was
not comprehensive. The lack of the low B on
early 19th century oboes produced some inter-
esting writing. See, for example,
bars 52-55 of the second move-
ment of the Schubert Unfin-
ished Symphony (figure 20).
Note that the flute carries the
chordal motif from e2 down
to b1. The oboe, alone of any
instrument in this movement,
moves instead from e1 up to
f#1. Schubert avoided a note
that did not always exist on the
oboe he knew. Knowing this,
should modern oboists play a
“before the mid-(19th) century
the B-natural, a semitone lower, was sometimes
available” seems the best summation of the situ-
ation78. The low C corrector carries two morals
for students of early instruments: Things are not
always as they seem to a modern player; and
whenever possible, consult and believe period
sources.
Getting back to the Triébert oboe in figure 1, I
am unsure if the half hole, side c2, side Bb, G#, F#
corrector and short F keys are original or added.
The workmanship on the indisputably original
portions of this oboe is wonderful; for example,
the bell ivory is threaded onto the wood of
the bell. All keys except Eb and the c1 key are
saddle mounted, and thus could be added on.
Few of the saddles are applied in a fully satisfac-
tory manner; some look “tacked-on”. I doubt that
Triébert would have made such an oboe as new;
his craftmanship was too fine. One can thus rea-
sonably argue that this oboe started with as
few as two keys, or as many as nine. I conclude
that this was originally a four keyed oboe and
that Triébert added side c2, side Bb, G#, c#1
and short F as a first modification. Another (less
source, later added a half hole, octave and the
left hand Eb key, while simultaneously moving
the low c1 corrector laterally and converting it
into a low B by plugging the bell vent.
THE FRENCH 10 KEY OBOE
By 1824, the year of Beethoven’s 9th Sym-
phony, 10-13 keyed oboes were in general use;
German oboes tended to have more keys than
French. In 1825 the Mainz woodwind maker
Schott9 made 2 key and 14 key oboes; these latter
(and 12 key Müller clarinets) were labeled “new
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED
FIGURE 21.
Sellner
model oboe
by Ludwig &
Martinka,
showing left
hand F.
invention”. The 14 keys were
octave, right hand and left
thumb keys for Bb and C (all
located on the upper joint),
left hand G# plus double 3
holes, upper B-C# trill, F#
corrector, long and short F,
left and right hand keys for
Eb, low C#, C, and B6,8,47. This
is the typical Sellner model
oboe (figure 1)9,79, which con-
tinued (with minor variation)
to be used in Eastern Europe
and Italy until the 20th cen-
tury. Note the left hand F
FIGURE 22. A simi-
on this circa 1870 oboe. Bor-
lar long F on Nich-
olson model flute by rowed from the flute (figures
Clementi (London), 21, 22), this key is found
circa 1825. on Sellner oboes as early
as 182514,71,80, although it
only appears on French
oboes before the 20th
century in Barret’s 1855
system52,81.
Figure 23 shows
three Parisian oboes,
two from circa 1830. The
left oboe82 is by Frédéric
Guillaume Adler (figure
24), yet another German
émigré5 who worked in
Paris from 1808 until his
death in 1854. It has
10 keys, all of which
appear original. The
keys, including the
speaker key, are now
plate mounted rather
than ring mounted.
FIGURE 23. Oboes by There are no duplicate
Frédéric Adler (Paris keys for F or Bb. Note
1808-1854), by Buffet,
that the layout of the
(Paris circa 1830) and
by Guillaume Triébert right hand pinkie keys
(Paris 1840-1848). All has been improved. The
are boxwood with brass c#1 box is gone, replaced
keys and ivory mounts. by a much more graceful
69
apparatus that uses
a touchplate to link
the c1 and c#1 keys
(Figure 25). The c#1
touch moves two keys
in opposite directions
to open c#1 while
closing c1. Side keys
for c2 and Bb allow
an alternative to the
use of cross finger-
ings. The top baluster
is retained and may
have been been short- FIGURE 24.
ened by 7 mm (as sug- Adler’s trademark.
gested by the case,
which may be original); however, the cylindrical
reed well is the same depth (11 mm) as on
the Triebert and the Buffet. A reed box which is
preserved with the oboe suggests that the
reeds had a length
of 60-63 mm and a
width at the tip of
approximately 7.5-8.5
mm. Note the lack of a
half hole key. Several
cracks in the top joint
have kept me from
restoring this oboe to
playing condition.
With the Adler is
an oboe by Buffet83.
The trademark does
not match that of any FIGURE 25. C# apparatus
of the seven Buffets on Buffet oboe. This is the
making woodwinds in typical French right hand
Paris then (Figure 26)5; pinkie finger apparatus
from the time of Brod
I suspect it is by Denis
to the mid 1840s.
Buffet (flourished
1825-42) or Jean Louis Buffet, who founded the
firm of Buffet-Crampon which flourishes today.
The oboe is similar to the Adler but more
slender (like a Brod),
and has a single rather
than double hole for
4. Several factors sug-
gest it is later than the
Adler. The speaker key
is post mounted but
has a flat spring rather
than a needle spring.
Note the new design
of the baluster, which
now displays a long
finial that became fash-
ionable among French FIGURE 26.
makers. The bore is Buffet trademark.
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001
70 HISTORICAL OBOES 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH SIMPLE SYSTEM OBOE 1800-1840
narrower, and there is a thumb rest, which has
been moved from its original position84. It plays
well with a reed such as shown in the center of
figure 15, giving better longnotes with the tradi-
tional long fingerings than with the short finger-
ings using the speaker key.
The simple system oboe with 10 to 12 keys
had advantages over the 2 keyed oboe. It pro-
vided alternatives to cross fingerings for Bb1,
c2 and F, allowed a well-tuned F#, and had a
complete chromatic scale. The French simple
system oboe is more complicated than the 8-key
oboes discussed in the December column8 but
less complex than the Sellner system, as it lacks
the duplicate touches for several keys; it is the
equivalent of Müller’s 13 key clarinet. Every half
step in the instrument’s range is available and
it plays with facility in most keys. Both the old
style forked fingerings and the new fingerings
using keys are valid on this instrument. It is the
apogee of a simple system oboe.
By “simple system” I mean that the oboe is
based upon the 2 keyed oboe, with keys added in
a more or less standardized manner. The instru-
ment has not been redesigned from ground zero,
only improved. It is not “mechanized” in that
most any individual key could be dispensed with
and the oboe would still play; except for c1-c#1,
there are no mechanical linkages between any
two keys.
Such an oboe meets the difficult, chromatic
music of Berlioz, Mendelssohn and other mid
19th century composers with assurance. This
is the oboe for which Berlioz wrote in the Sym-
phonie Fantastique; his description of the oboe’s
tone in his Treatise on Instrumentation is reveal-
ing: “Artless grace, pure innocence, mellow joy,
the pain of a tender soul—all these the oboe can
render admirably with its cantabile. A certain
degree of excitement is also within its power; but
one must guard against increasing it to the cry
of passion, the stormy outburst of fury, menace
or heroism; for then its small voice, sweet and
somewhat tart at the same time, becomes com-
pletely grotesque85,86.”
This oboe design had some flaws. First among
them was the F# corrector, obligatory for f#1
and useful for f#2. It was awkward to use in fast
passages; Berlioz describes the F# major arpeg-
gio as being quite difficult85. Excepting Brod’s
oboes, venting of the half hole was inconsistent,
depending on how much the player rolled his
finger down; the note Eb2 was particularly unsta-
ble. The preferred fingerings for f#2, a2, Bb2, b2
and c3 did not match those of the lower octave.
The right hand pinkie finger keys did not permit
easy movement between c1, c#1 and Eb1. The
G# key was too small and high on the instrument
(to avoid being located on the central tenon) and
produced a rather strained sound compared to
the half-holed G#, which could be shaded by the
player. The c#1 key was likewise too small and
high, placed where it was to avoid compromis-
ing the lower tenon, and producing a squawky
sound. The side key fingering for c2, being vented
from a very tiny hole, was of poor quality. There
being no articulations between various keys, cer-
tain combinations were difficult to play quickly
and impossible to trill. Berlioz noted that of 61
possible whole and half step trills within the
range of the oboe (B to f3), 13 were difficult and
13 others impossible85.
Having analyzed the flaws of the French
simple system oboe, Guilliaume Triébert mech-
anized the oboe, introducing his Systeme 3 in
1840. The last oboe in figure 23 is an early
Triébert Systeme 3 oboe, with a 3 merlon mark
on all joints87. I leave this as a teaser, as I had
intended to discuss this and later mechanical
developments in this column. But the hour is late
and I do not want to tire the reader (or myself)
any more than I have already. Triébert’s mecha-
nization of the French oboe will wait for the next
issue of the Double Reed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Drs. Geoffrey Burgess and Albert Rice reviewed
the manuscript, provided references and offered
innumerable helpful suggestions and corrections. I
thank them both for their valuable help.
REFERENCES & FOOTNOTES
1. Barzun, Jacques. From Dawn to Decadence.
500 Years of Western Cultural Life. HarperCollins
publishers, New York 2000. Pages 491-518
2. Bate, Philip. The Oboe. Ernest Benn Lim-
ited, London, 1956. Pages 52-81, “The Oboe in
the 19th Century”.
3. Conrey, George A. The Paris Conservatory:
Its Oboe Professors, Laureates (1795-1984). Jour-
nal of the International Double Reed Society
14:7-17, 1986.
4. Waterhouse, William. The New Langwill
Index. A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument
Makers and Inventors. Tony Bingham, London
1993. Pages 474-476.
5. Waterhouse, William. Opus cit. See refer-
ences to individual makers.
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED
6. I use the pitch notation c1-b1 for the
octave extending up from middle C. c2-b2 is the
upper octave of the treble staff and low B is the
note below c1. Notes that may apply to either
octave are in capital letters (F, G#, etc). Fingers
are labelled 1-6 from the top of the instrument
down.
7. Barbieri, Patrizio. Musical Instruments and
Players in J.-A. Charle’s Acoustique (Paris, c.
1787-1802) and Other French Technical Sources.
Journal of the American Musical Instrument Soci-
ety XXIII: 94-120, 1997.
8. Howe, Robert S. Historical Oboes 1—the
Development of Keywork, 1800-1820. Double Reed,
December 2000, pages 21-27.
9. Baines, Anthony. Woodwind Instruments
and their History. W. W. Norton, New York 1963.
10. Bate, Philip. Oboe. In Sadie, Stanley
(ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musi-
cians. Macmillan, London 1980. Volume 13, pages
468-471.
11. Joppig, Gunther. The Oboe and the Bas-
soon. (Translation by Alfred Clayton of Oboe &
Fagott, Halliwag AG Bern, 1981). Amadeus Press,
Portland OR, 1988.
12. Robinson, Joel. Personal communica-
tions, 11/20/00, 12/8/2000
13. de Vries, Han. Hobo d’amore. The collec-
tion of oboes (1680-1980) of Han de Vries. Rijks-
museum Twenthe, Enschede (Holland), 1999.
14. Young, Philip T. Loan Exhibition of His-
toric Double Reed Instruments. University of Vic-
toria, 1988.
15. Goossens, Leon and Roxburgh, Edwin.
Oboe. Schirmer Books, New York 1977.
16. Margelli, Tad. The Paris Conservatoire
Concours Oboe Solos: The Gillet Years. Journal of
the International Double Reed Society 24: 41-55,
1996.
17. Burgess, Geoffrey. Gustav Vogt (1781-1870)
und Konstrukstionsmerkmale französischer Oboen
im 1. Viertel des 19. Jahrhunderts. (Gustave Vogt
(1781-1870) and the French Oboe Design in the
First Quarter of the 19th Century). Tibia 1/94
(1994): 14-26
71
18. Burgess, Geoffrey. “Le premier hautboïste
d’Europe”: A Portrait of Gustave Vogt: 19th-century
oboe virtuoso, teacher and composer. In press.
19. Guide du Musee de la Musique. Editions
de la reunion des musees nationaux. Paris, 1997.
Page 81.
20. André Lardrot’s forthcoming biography
and definitive worklist of Brod’s compositions (in
Tibia, 2001, in press) shows that Brod died in
Paris but that his oboe was then taken to Algeria.
21. Brod, Henri. Method de Hautbois. Paris:
Dufaut et Dubois, c1826. This is reprinted in
Warner, Thomas E. An annotated bibliography of
woodwind instruction books, 1600-1830. Detroit,
1967.
22. In the original French,
“Lorsqu’il s’agira de l’acquisition d’un
premier instrument les commencants pourront
bien, par mesure d’économie ne point s’attacher
à l’extérieur, mais, il ne devront rien épargner
pour qu’il soit bon, et pourvu surtout de toutes
ses clefs: sans cette précaution ils s’exposeraient
à contracter de mauvaises habitudes, ayant un
instrument peu juste, ils seraient obligés de
ménager ou forcer certains sons, selons qu’ils
seraient trop hauts ou trop bas, et s’habituraient
a de mauvais doigtes, que leur ferait éviter
l’usage des clefs. Les élèves ou commençants
hors d’état d’apprécier la qualité d’un instru-
ment feront bien d’en laisser le choix à un bon
professeur....Les meilleurs hautbois. Se font a
Paris chez Triébert... Ceux de Delusse sont aussi
tres estimés mais on est toujours oblige d’y faire
ajouter des clefs, car de son temps l’instrument
n’en avait que deux.”21
The translations from French are my own.
I apologize to my French-speaking friends for
any mayhem I may commit on their beautiful lan-
guage.
23. “modèle du Haut-Bois d’après Delusse,
dans ses proportions éxactes”. This and the
next quote by Garnier are from Garnier, Joseph
Francois. Methode Raisonnée Pour le Haut-bois,
pages 2-3. Paris, circa 1798. Reprinted in Les-
caut, Philippe and Saint-Arroman, Jean. Hautbois.
Méthodes et Traités-Dictionnaires, pages 150-51.
Editions J. M. Fuzeau, Courlay, France, 1999. This
invaluable book contains complete reprints of 17
French sources on the oboe, 1636-1798.
The original French for the quote on box-
wood is “Le buis, dont il est fait, doit être bien
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001
72 HISTORICAL OBOES 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH SIMPLE SYSTEM OBOE 1800-1840
sec, sans noeuds et d’une porosité a peu près
égale dans toute sa longueur; je dis a peu près
egale, par ceque le même morceau de buis n’a
jamais la même porosité dans toutes ses parties;
mais comme l’experience démontre que la partie
du haut de l’instrument influe toujours moins
sur le son que produit le corps entier, le facteur
doit employer la partie du bois la plus dure pour
le haut et la plus molle pour le bas.”
24. Delusse oboes are recommended in Veny,
Méthode abregée pour le hautbois. Paris: Pleyel et
Cie, 1828. This was reprinted with some changes
by V. Bretonnière as: Méthode complète pour
le hautbois à 8 et à 15 clefs nouveau edition
augmentée de Tablatures des systèmes Boehm
et Triébert et suivie de 4 Grands Etudes par V.
Bretonnière. Paris: Cotelle, rue St Honoré, circa
1844-55
25. Susan Thompson of Yale University
relates that students at the Paris Conservatoire
in the early winters of the nineteenth century
were forced to burn old harpsichords, by Taskin
and others, for heat. They started with the
harpsichord stands and when these were all
gone, burnt the actual instruments. The harpsi-
chords had been relegated to storage after being
replaced by pianos years earlier.
26. Jean Jeltsch and Denis Watel. Maîtres
et jurandes dans la communauté des faiseurs
d’instruments de musique a Paris. (Masters and
journeymen in the Parisian community of musical
instrument makers). Musique-Images-Instruments
1999. No. 4 pages 8-31
27. Rice, Albert. Personal communication,
1/14/01.
28. “Communauté des Maîtres Luthiers”
29. These names are of worker-owned musi-
cal instrument making firms from late 19th cen-
tury Paris. Le Union de la Facture Instrumentale
= United Musical Instrument Makers. Associa-
tion fraternelle d’ouvriers facteur d’instruments
de vent = Fraternal Association of Wind Instru-
ment Makers. Association générale des ouvriers
= Workers’ Association. Ouvriers réunis associ-
ation générale = Reunited workers’ association.
Any relationship between these companies and
the Communards of Paris (1871) is speculative
but entirely plausible.
30. Young, Phillip T. 4900 Historical Wood-
wind Instruments. Tony Bingham, London 1993.
See references to individual makers.
31. Mozart, W.A. Quartet, K370 for oboe and
strings. Michel Piguet, oboe. Das Alte Werk/
Telefunken 6.42173AW (LP record)
32. The words ebony, ebène, and grenadilla
are often confused. Ebony is a specific African
hardwood, Diospyros ebenum, the dark-colored
heartwood of which is used for piano keys. The
French word ebène translates literally as ebony
but is sometimes used to mean grenadilla, Dal-
bergia melanoxylon, which is also referred to as
African blackwood and ebène de Mozambique.
Note how Brod42 specifies both ebène and grena-
dilla. Interestingly, the French word “ébéniste”
means cabinet maker. Grenadilla (in French “la
grenadille”), the common material of modern
oboes and clarinets, is denser and harder than
ebony and is readily recognized by the fact that it
is heavier than water; ebony is not (see reference
2, page 129). For safety, I use the terms ebony,
ebène, and grenadilla exactly as they appear in
original sources; if I describe an instrument as
being of grenadilla, its bell sinks in water. Palis-
sandre is rosewood, a Brazilian species of genus
Dalbergia having a dark red color with a strongly
marked grain and a striking appearance when
varnished or polished.
33. Burgess, Geoffrey. Personal communica-
tion, 1/3/01.
34. Croll, Gerhard. Gluck, Christoph Wil-
libald. In Sadie, Stanley (ed), The New Grove Dic-
tionary of Music & Musicians. Macmillan, London
1980. Volume 7 page 465.
35. Giannini, Tula. A French dynasty of master
woodwind makers revealed, Bizey, Prudent and
Portheaux, their workshop in Paris, Rue Dauphine,
St. Andrè des Arts, ca. 1745-1812: new archival
documents. NAMIS vol. 27, no. 1 (Feb. 1998):
7-10
36. Jeltsch, Jean. Prudent a Paris: vie et
carriére d’un maître faiseur d’instruments de
vent. Musique-Images-Instruments no. 3 (1998):
129-152.
37. Albert Rice lists these early French
makers of clarinets, most with only one surviv-
ing example: Gilles Lot (Paris, 1752-75), Martin
Lot (Paris, 1743-85), Dominique Portheaux (Paris,
1782-1824), Nicolas Viennen (or Winnen, Paris,
1788-1833, brother-in-law to Jean-François Pru-
dent), Naust (Paris, circa 1780-90), Theodore
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED
(Paris circa 1780-90), Bernard (Lyon, circa 1800),
Cuvillier (St. Omer, after 1792), Roberty (Bor-
deaux, late 18th century), and Proff (Tours, circa
1790).
38. Young, Philip T. The Look of Music. Uni-
versity of Washington Press, Seattle, 1980. Pages
148, 189-193.
39. Adkins, Cecil. William Milhouse and the
English Classical Oboe. Journal of the American
Musical Instrument Society XXII; pages 42-88,
1996.
40. Howe, Robert. Communication on Adkins,
William Milhouse and the English Classical Oboe.
Journal of the American Musical Instrument Soci-
ety XXV; pages 164-65, 1999.
41. Adkins, Cecil. Proportions and Architec-
tural Motives in the Design of the Eighteenth-
Century Oboe. Journal of the American Musical
Instrument Society XXV; pages 95-132, 1999.
42. Brod’s original text reads: “On a essayé
plusieurs sortes de bois dans la fabrication de
cet instrument, l’Ebène, la Grenadille, le Cèdre et
le Buis, ce dernier est celui qui a toujours offert
le meilleur résultant, il donne une qualite de son
supérieure, soit sous le rapport de la douceur
et du moelleux, soit sous le rapport de l’énergie
et du brillant. Le Cèdre cependant, n’est point
à dédaigner, il fait de fort beaux instruments et
donne un son tres doux qui convient dans les
appartements.”21
43. Goossens derived this anecdote from
Berlioz, Hector. Les Grotesques Ce la musique
(Paris: Librairie nouvelle, 1951), page 256.
44. Brymer, Jack. Clarinet. Schirmer Books,
New York 1976.
45. Shackleton, Nicholas. The development
of the clarinet. In Lawson, Colin (ed), The Cam-
bridge Companion to the Clarinet. Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, Cambridge, 1995. Pages 16-32.
46. Shackleton, Nicholas and Rice, Albert,
Cèsar Janssen and the transmission of Müller’s
13-keyed clarinet in France. Galpin Society Jour-
nal LII (April 1999): 183-194.
47. Benade, Arthur H. Woodwinds: The Evolu-
tionary Path since 1700. The Galpin Society Jour-
nal XLVII (March 1994). Pages 63-110.
73
48. Benade, Arthur H. Acoustics IV. Wind
Instruments. In Sadie, Stanley (ed), The New
Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Macmil-
lan, London 1980. Volume 1 pages 77-82.
49. Haynes, Bruce. A Reconstruction of Tal-
bot’s Hautboy Reed. Galpin Society Journal LIII,
2000. Pages 78-86.
50. Hedrick, Peter. Henri Brod on the
Making of Oboe Reeds. Journal of the Interna-
tional Double Reed Society 6: 7-12, 1978.
51. Burgess, Geoffrey; Hedrick, Peter. The
Oldest English Reeds? An Examination of 19 Sur-
viving Examples. Galpin Society Journal 42: 32-69,
1989
52. Barret, Apollon Marie Rose. A Complete
Method for the Oboe. Second Edition, 1856.
Boosey & Hawkes, London (ND).
53. Ledet, David. Oboe Reed Styles, Theory
and Practice. Indiana University Press, Blooming-
ton 1981. Page 38.
54. Brod’s reedmaking is discussed in ref-
erence 50. His original French text reads: “La
qualité du son, dépend de l’anche de sa confec-
tion et surtout du choix du roseau. Je décrirai
au commencement de la seconde partie de cette
Méthode, la manière de les faire; il est bon qu’un
élève ait poué pendant quelque temps celles de
son maître, pour être en état de bien connaitre
ce qui constitue une bonne anche.
La facture des anches n’est point la meme
dans les différens pays ou l’on joue le Hautbois;
les Italiens, les Allemands et en général presque
tous les étrangers, les font plus fortes que nous,
aussi ont ils un son dur et sourd qui dénature
l’instrument, et rend leur exécution si pénible
qu’elle devient fatigante même pour les audit-
eurs. La qualité de son qu’on est parvenu à obte-
nir du hautbois en France est sans contredit la
meillure, et qui rapproche le plus cet instrument
du Violon.”21
55. Vichy (France) Auction Catalog. Instru-
ments de Musique Vents et Divers. 4 December
1999. Lot 216 (illustrated)
56. Waterhouse16 notes that Georg Triébert
“Frenchified (his name) as ‘Guillaume
Triébert’...”. However, every 19th century oboe
and document that I have seen spells it “Triebert”,
including the price list of circa 1860, where it
appears 6 times. In deference to current usage I
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001
74 HISTORICAL OBOES 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH SIMPLE SYSTEM OBOE 1800-1840
employ the modern spelling in this paper.
57. Lorée F, L. Lorée Fils Successeur (com-
pany). Prix-Courant 1913. Paris, 1913. With,
Lorée F, first page of 1881-82 sales ledger.
Reprinted in Larigot 20: 20-29, September 1997.
On the cover of the Prix-Courant (pricelist),
François Lorée is described as “Ex-chef d’atelier
de M. Triébert” (The Triébert company’s former
foreman).
58. Silva, Jose da. Contribution aux Tentatives
de Reperage Chronologique des Hautbois Triébert
fils (Frédéric). Larigot number 10, February 1992.
Pages 8-16
59. Giannini, Tula. Great Flute Makers of
France. The Lot & Godfroy Families 1650-1900.
Tony Bingham, London 1993. Pages 83, 174.
60. Triébert et Companie. Catalogue
d’instruments et Nouveau Prix-Courant. Paris, circa
1860. Reprinted in Larigot 4, January 1989. Pp
4-7.
61. Silva, Jose da. Catalog de la Collection
d’Instruments de Musique a Vent. Larigot 2 Special
February 1993
62. Kampmann, Bruno. Catalog de la Collec-
tion d’Instruments de Musique a Vent. Triébert,
Hautbois Boehm en Re b. Larigot 9 Special Sep-
tember 1998. Pages 62, 63, 105.
63. Kampmann, Bruno. Catalog de la Collec-
tion d’Instruments de Musique a Vent. Triebert,
Hautbois en Si b. Larigot 1 Special September
1991. Page 66. This oboe is now in the author’s
collection.
64. Posts and the equipment to place them
were invented, but not patented, by Theobald
Boehm around 1830. See Boehm, Theobald. The
Flute and Flute-Playing. Translation by Dayton
C. Miller, 1922, of Die Flote und das Flotenspiel,
Munich 1871. Dover Publications, NY 1964
65. Vesian, Helene et al. Catalogue de
l’exposition “Le roseau et la musique”. In Le
Roseau et la Musique. Editio Arcam/Edisud. La
calade, Aix-en-Provence, France. 1988.
66. MacGillivray, James A. The Woodwind.
In Baines, Anthony, editor, Musical Instruments
Through the Ages. Penguin Books, Baltimore,
1961. Pages 237-276
67. Hedrick, Peter. A Ten-keyed Oboe by
Guillaume Triébert. Journal of the International
Double Reed Society 17: 19-28, 1989.
68. Francoeur le Neveu, Louis-Joseph. Diap-
son Générale de tous les instruments a vent.
Paris, circa 1772, pages 13-14. Reprinted in Les-
caut, Philippe and Saint-Arroman, Jean. Haut-
bois. Méthodes et Traités-Dictionnaires, pages
93-94. Editions J. M. Fuzeau, Courlay, France,
1999.
His original French: “L’UT est toujours faux;
cést à dire trop haut pour etre considéré comme
natural, et trop bas pour etre dieze, même en
forçant; en conséquence j’ai mis ces deux notes
sous un croissant pour faire connoitre que ces
sons ne sont point déterminés. On ne doit
pas y faire des tenues surtout dans les Solo,
la seule maniere de l’employer n’est qu’en pas-
sant. Voyez l’Exemple cy-après....Dans cet Exem-
ple comme l’ut forme un espece de repos, on
peut lacher un peu les levres, ce qui le rend
moins faux. Il en est de meme de l’Ut dieze, qui
est sur le même degré.”
Francoeur le Neveu is unusual in suggesting
that one can obtain a c#1 on the two keyed oboe;
certainly the lowest note on such instruments
is too sharp to be an in tune c1, but it is much
closer to c1 than c#1. Other texts of the time
simply accept that the note c#1 did not exist.
69. Sotheby’s (London) auction catalog.
Early Musical Instruments. Sale LN7691, Decem-
ber 17,1997, lot 96 (illustrated). This oboe was
once Michel Piguet’s and is now the property of
Geoffrey Burgess.
70. Lehrer, Charles-David. An Introduction to
the 16 Oboe Concertos of Gustav Vogt and a Discus-
sion of the Nineteenth Century Performance Prac-
tices Preserved Within Them. Journal of the Inter-
national Double Reed Society 16: 19-51, 1988
71. Sellner, Joseph. Theoretisch praktische
Oboe Schule. Sauer & Leidesdorf, Vienna, circa
1825. French translation, circa 1830.
72. However, an anonymous English horn at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
(accession number 1982.110.2) has a c1 correc-
tor. The maker is unknown but the instrument
is believed to be Italian or German, 1825-1850.
I thank Herbert Heyde of the Metropolitan
Museum for permitting me to examine this instru-
ment.
73. Bates, Philip. Opus cit, The Oboe. Page 80.
 The Double Reed, Vol. 24 • No.1 • 2001 THE DOUBLE REED
74. Baines, Anthony. The Oxford Companion
to Musical Instruments. Oxford University Press,
Oxford. 1992
75. Montagu, Jeremy. The World of Romantic
& Modern Musical Instruments. David & Charles
Limited, London 1981
76. Remnant, Mary. Musical Instruments. An
Illustrated History from Antiquity to the Present.
Amadeus Press, Portland 1989. Pages 124-125
77. Hedrick, Peter, opus cit, page 45.
78. Carse, Adam. The History of Orchestra-
tion. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Com-
pany, 1925. Reprinted by Dover Publications,
New York, 1964. Page 202.
79. Sotheby’s (London) auction catalog.
Early Musical Instruments. Sale LN8667, Novem-
ber 4, 1998. lot 7 (illustrated).
80. Joppig, opus cit. Page 68, oboe #4.
81. Storch, Laila. Georges Gillet—Master Per-
former and Teacher. Journal of the International
Double Reed Society 5:1-19, 1977. French resis-
tance to the left hand F is puzzling, Storch implies
that it was due to Gillet’s intransigence on the
point. The Lorée price list of 191324 shows the
forked F resonance key as an option, but left
hand F is only shown on the Barret model. I own
a Lorée system 4 oboe (serial G8, 1890) to which
a left hand F, opening a new hole, has clearly
been added.
82. Sotheby’s (London) auction catalog. Early
Musical Instruments. Sale L#AN7691, December
17,1997, lot 21 (illustrated). Also seen in Sale
LN8667, November 4, 1998, lot 9 (illustrated)
83. Sotheby’s (London) auction catalog.
Early Musical Instruments. Sale LN7691, Decem-
ber 17,1997, lot 104 (illustrated)
84. Thumb rests do not appear with regular-
ity on oboes until the 1840s. Many early clarinets
75
(even a few five-key examples) include integral
wooden thumb rests, as does the oboe in figure
21. Because museum catalogs rarely show the
back of an old oboe or clarinet, information on
this topic is difficult to obtain. The Triebert 12
key and the Buffet are my earliest oboes with
thumb rests; of course, I cannot be certain if
these are original. Müller did not include a thumb
rest in his 13-key clarinet (1811) but Baumann
used them for his 13-key clarinets (c1825).
85. Berlioz, Hector - Strauss, Richard. Trea-
tise on Instrumentation (1843, second edition1855,
revised 1904). Dover Publications, NY 1991
pages 163-164
86. The original French reads:
“La candeur, la grâce naïve, la douce
joie, ou la douleur d’un être faible, conviennent
aux accents du hautbois : il les exprime à mer-
veille dans le cantabile.
Un certain degré d’agitation lui est encore
accessible, mais il faut se garder de le pousser
jusqu’aux cris de la passion, jusqu’à l’élan rapide
de la colère, de la menace ou de l’héroïsme, car
sa petite voix aigre-douce devient alors impuis-
sante et d’un grotesque parfait.”
An earlier English translation of this passage,
prepared under Berlioz’ direction, is taken from
Berlioz, Hector: A Treatise on Modern Instrumen-
tation and Orchestration, dedicated to Frederick
William IV, King of Prussia. Novello, London/New
York, 1855.
“Candour, artless grace, soft joy, or the grief
of a fragile being, suits the hautboy’s accents; it
expresses them admirably in its cantabile. A cer-
tain degree of agitation is also within its powers
of expression; but care should be taken not to
urge it into utterances of passion-the rash out-
burst of anger, threat or heroism; for then its
small acid-sweet voice becomes ineffectual, and
absolutely grotesque.”
87. Vichy (France) Auction Catalog. Instru-
ments de Musique Vents et Divers. 13 June 1998.
Lot 147, illustrated.