Historical development » Cor anglais » Philipp Dangas

Historical development vom Cor anglais

The Cor anglais is the alto in the oboe family. And like the other oboes, is a descendant of the shawm family. It is not known exactly when the instrument finally acquired its current shape and technical structure. Today's term "Cor anglais" apparently came from the French "Cor anglé".

While the use of the term horn here can be traced back to the semi-circular shape of the tube. The "anglé", which refers to the often applied "kink" of the tube, was undoubtedly anglicized through usage. And thereby became "anglais", so that finally in France from "cor anglais". And this name was then translated in Germany as "English horn".

What is certain is that the Cor anglais parts preserved in the works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Were written for the old oboe da caccia or for the cor anglé.

The origin of the Cor anglais in its current form dates back to 1820. In fact, it only reappears in works written after this date, such as Gioacchino Rossini's "Wilheim Tell" (1829), Halévy's "Jewess" (1835), Giacomo Meyerbeer's "Huguenots" (1836) and others. Whereby the designation cor anglé had now finally changed to cor anglais. Since the reed of the new Cor anglais was no longer curved or angled, but straight. So that the term "bent" horn had lost its meaning.

Towards the middle of the 19th century, the current Cor anglais soon became at home everywhere. Especially after it was equipped with the Boehm key system.