Auxiliary Instruments Of The Orchestra - Cor Anglais

History and Use

The cor anglais, also known as the English horn, is the alto instrument of the oboe family. In the 19th century it was referred to as the alto oboe.

In Baroque times there existed the forerunner of the modern cor anglais, called the oboe da caccia. In 1720, an oboe maker called J. T. Weigel replaced the flared bell on the oboe da caccia with a pear or bulb shaped bell and attached the double reeds to a small curved pipe. Because the oboe da caccia resembled the horns played by angels in religious medieval imagery, it was referred to as engellisches horn - angelic horn. At the time, 'engellisches' also translated to 'English' hence the name English horn which passed to, and was retained by the cor anglais when the oboe da caccia became obsolete.

Italian composer Niccolò Jommellis introduced the cor anglais into the orchestra with his opera Ezio in 1749. Christoph Willibald Gluck was one of the first composers who made regular use of the cor anglais, first using it in his opera La Danza. It afterwards gained great popularity in Italian opera, often utilized to perform lyrical sections. Italian opera houses were built in many major European cities, and cor anglais makers also setup their workshops there.

At the start of the 19th Century, French musicians began to take an interest in the new-style oboe, and the oboist and English hornist Gustave Vogt, a professor at Paris conservatoire, was a great inspiration to composers, including Rossini and Berlioz, on account of his virtuosity on the instrument. The sound of the cor anglais is often perceived as sentimental, mournful and melancholic, and it was Berlioz who exploited this sound characteristic, even from his earliest works for the instrument.

Over the course of the 19th century, the cor anglais was modified, with extra keys added, and straight tubing used. This straight version of the instrument had a better resonance  than its predecessor and was easier to handle. Curiously, in the early part of the 19th century the cor anglais was rarely used in German-speaking countries, and it was not until the romantic period when composers such as Mahler, Strauss and Wagner fully integrated it into the orchestra, joining the other middle voices of the woodwind. It was also used for exotic sounds and special effects, and since that time the cor anglais has increasingly taken on solo roles.   

Note Production and Construction

The cor anglais is very similar in construction to the oboe. It is roughly a third longer and with a bigger bore, and its bell is pear or bulb shaped rather than flared. The cor anglais also has a bocal (also used by the bassoon) which the oboe doesn't have. Both instruments however use a double reed, with the cor anglais' being wider and longer. Both instruments also share the same keyset. and thus the same fingering. 

Selected Pieces

Gioachino Rossini - William Tell Overture

Approximately halfway through this piece there features a sublime solo for cor anglais, supported by plucked strings and flute. This passage really evokes the sentimental, pastoral side to the instrument, and its unique timbre can be clearly heard allowing for a comparison to my experience of the oboe's sound. Both instruments have a very clean and pure sound, but there is a definite difference in tone so that I think even considering a passage with notes that overlap both instruments registers, it would not be difficult to distinguish between the two.

John Williams - Theme from Schindler's List

The mellow and rich tone of the cor anglais can be heard at the very opening of this piece, where it plays a short introduction before the solo violin takes the baton. The violin picks up on the same note the cor anglais finishes on, and I was struck by how similar the tones of the two instruments are when the violin is at that lower pitch.

Claude Debussy - Nuages from Nocturnes

In this piece the cor anglais has several short solo type passages at various points. It's useful that the oboe also does, so it was very easy to compare the two different timbres. In this context I was able to see just how different the sound qualities are, although it's clear they are part of the same instrument family. At times while listening to this piece I was thinking that the cor anglais shares some similar warm tone characteristics with the clarinet, even though the clarinet is a single reed instrument.