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
Oboe Sonata (Poulenc) Oboe Sonata (Poulenc) The Sonate pour hautbois et piano de Poulenc (Oboe Sonata) FP 185, for oboe and piano by Francis Poulenc dates from 1962. It is dedicated to the memory of Sergei Prokofiev. According to many, the last movement, "Déploration," is the last piece Poulenc wrote before he died. It sits as a kind of obituary. The Oboe Sonata is very difficult in places, especially the Scherzo. The sorrowful Déploration also requires great skill. To express his mourning for his friend Prokofiev, Poulenc uses the extremes of the oboe. For example, in one passage the player must play a