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Cor anglais
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The cor anglais, or English horn, 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-third longer. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais are essentially the same as those of the oboe. Music for the cor anglais is thus written a perfect fifth higher than the instrument actually sounds.
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Encyclopedia
The cor anglais, or English horn, 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-third longer. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais are essentially the same as those of the oboe. Music for the cor anglais is thus written a perfect fifth higher than the instrument actually sounds. This results in the fingering being the same as that for the oboe. Its sounding range stretches from the E (or, rarely, E flat) 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 that of the oboe, being 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. It 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.
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 bocal. The cane part of the reed is wider and longer than that of the oboe.
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 or 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 English nor a horn. The instrument is thought to have originated in Silesia about 1720, when a bulb bell was added to the oboe da caccia, a Baroque alto instrument of the oboe family, possibly by J. T. Weigel of Breslau. It has been suggested that the tenor oboe and the oboe da caccia resembled the horns played by angels in religious icons of the Middle Ages and that this gave rise to the Middle High German name engellisches Horn, meaning angelic horn. But engellisch also meant English, and so the angelic horn became the English horn, a name which was retained for the bulb-belled tenor oboe after the oboe da caccia fell into disuse around 1760.
The earliest known orchestral part specifically for the English horn is in the Vienna version of Niccolò Jommelli's opera Ezio dating from 1749. Gluck and Haydn followed suit in the 1750s, and the first English horn concertos were written in the 1770s. Considering the name "cor anglais", it is ironic that the instrument wasn't used in France until about 1800 and in England until the 1830s.
Its name is sometimes said to derive from its original resemblance to the oboe da caccia, which tended to be either bent or 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
Many oboists double on the cor anglais, just as flutists double on the piccolo. (Although piccolo oboes, called oboe musette, do exist, they are very rarely played.)
Until the 20th century, there were few solo pieces for the instrument with a large ensemble. Important examples of such English horn concertos and concertante works are:
† Though concerto in nature, these are officially just extensive solos in orchestral works, as the players are seated within the orchestra
Better known chamber music for English horn include:
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:
In addition to classical music, the cor anglais has also been used by a few musicians as a jazz instrument; most prominent among these are Paul McCandless, Sonny Simmons, Vinny Golia, and Tom Christensen, and Nancy Rumbel of the Grammy-winning duo Tingstad and Rumbel. The cor anglais also figures in the instrumental arrangements of several Carpenters songs, most notably "For All We Know" (1971). It has also made some appearances in pop music, such as in Lindisfarne's "Run For Home" and Randy Crawford's "One Day I'll Fly Away." In Britain, Tony Hatch's theme tune to the long-running soap opera Emmerdale Farm was originally performed on the 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 movie American Pie Presents: Band Camp (referred to as the oboe).
See also
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