Introducing the Baroque Oboe

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'The lack of keys on this instrument should never be seen as a disadvantage.'

Our Co-Principal Oboe Katharina Spreckelsen on why the quirks of the Baroque oboe make it so exciting.

[joeltunnah]

This whole series is so wonderful. Love the baroque period instruments.

[josephwalton]

Lady right here....
Is an absolute musical genius.
She is one incredible player, and very, very schooled.

[infledermaus]

Baroque is my number one as regards music. It's what I usually listen to. Thanks to your demonstration and that of Haydn's oboe demo, I now know I love and adore the baroque oboe over others. The sound is so much more sweet, mellow and richer, deeper. The oboe in the Brandenburgs is one of my faves! Beautiful played!

Thank you! I feel a little less ignorant now! 😊😊😊

[prsonaz]

“The lack of keys should never be seen as a disadvantage”

*Middle School Trumpet ego inflates*

[freeheeler]

Bluegrass guitar player her, but I love this series on Baroque instruments. The softer sound of the wooden instruments is particularly nice.

[JM-yktb]

Thank you so much for this beautifully clear and eloquent enlightenment. I just inherited my father’s baroque oboe and you have given me my first lesson in what that actually means.

[jcortese]

That's mutually keyed for left or right handed play. That's wonderful!

[tahutoa]

2:08 I love parts being written based around the instrument's limitations/technicalities

[glynnwright]

Five minutes of pure enjoyment, listening to your description. Thank you so much.

[RockStarOscarStern]

2:07 What happened was that as they added more keys, a lot of tone colors have been diminished which resulted in a fully equalized sound throughout every note, it's not really supposed to be a bad thing these days, and they even make Low A Oboes. Actually a lot of Modern Oboes aren't fully equalized on every note, they made each tone hole a different size to compensate for a lot of the tone colors that have diminished.

[jaksilver]

I honestly LOVE the sounds of the baroque instruments far above the sounds of the modern...

[e.heller]

Very nice introduction to the baroque oboe. I examined some baroque oboe fingering charts and noticed that the fingering is very similar to that of the baroque recorder.

[donalddodson]

Again, thank you all for this wonderful insight (or in-hearing??) of orchestral instruments in the past. All of the oboe related programs I have seen so far, model the softer, mellower sound quality, compared to some players of modern oboes. Personally, I always leaned toward that side of the modern instruments' capabilities, depending upon the music. Thank you.

[Herschli]

Beautiful sounding instrument. Very instructive input, especially your thoughts on the missing keys, thank you very much!

[ddr]

Beautiful instrument and informative video. One good thing about the baroque oboe is you don't hear that irritating key clacking.

[RockStarOscarStern]

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Those 3 keys are Left Hand D Sharp, Right Hand D sharp, & for both hands Middle C. The lowest note that this oboe can play is Middle C. Modern Oboes can go 2 more notes lower down to Low Bb, although they now make versions that can go another note Lower down to Low A and even more so to Low F (etc.).

[enzoma]

Love what you are doing! So glad I've found your channel.

[zebrastripes]

Thumbs up if you're watching in 1718!

[UnderTheBamboooTree]

ok, now I definitely want one, you really gor me at the musical advantages of the lack of keys

[andreag]

Lovely, I am not a musician but I am loving these videos. Fascinating.