The English Horn, or cor anglais is a large oboe with a distinctive, bulging bell. This odd-shaped bell gives the instrument a rich, warm sound that is well suited to long, slow melodies. It has the same keywork as the oboe but plays notes of a lower pitch. The low notes of the English horn are often featured in solo orchestral passages.
Family |
Woodwinds |
Pitch range |
Two-and-a-half octaves. |
Material |
African blackwood (a hard, dense wood from Central Africa or Madagascar), with a metal bocal. |
Size |
32 in (81 cm) long. |
Origins |
The English horn was developed from the tenor oboe, which played in military bands and other music. |
Classification |
Aerophone: an instrument that produces its sound by the vibration of a column of air. |
And also... |
The English horn, or cor anglais, is unusually named since it is neither English nor a horn. "Anglais" (the French word for "English") probably derives from "anglé" (French for "bent") because the early instruments were curved. |