Contrabass oboe Contrabass oboe The contrabass oboe is a double reed woodwind instrument in the key of C or F, sounding two octaves or an octave and a fourth (respectively) lower than the standard oboe. Current research, in particular that by hautboy specialist Bruce Haynes, suggests that such instruments may have been developed in France as part of an original attempt to maintain the complete family of double reed instruments when the oboe was created from the shawm. There was an instrument referred to as the basse de cromorne or basse de hautbois which was used by Lully, Charpentier, and other French
Wiener oboe played very expressively and blends well with other instruments." The Viennese oboe is (with the Viennese horn) perhaps the most distinctive member of the Vienna Philharmonic instrumentarium. The oboe in use in Vienna in the early and mid-19th century was originally a design called the Koch/Sellner oboe. In 1825 Viennese oboist and teacher Joseph Sellner wrote an oboe tutor ("Theoretische-praktische Oboeschule"), which included an illustrated fingering chart. The oboe associated with these materials was produced by Stefan Koch (1772–1828). This instrument was very well regarded in central Europe. In addition to a modernized mechanism with up to 13 keys, the