The oboe is a double-reed woodwind instrument with a long history in orchestral music dating back to the Baroque period. Modern orchestras typically have two to four oboes, with the number used at any given time depending on the work being performed and the composer’s requirements. In most orchestral music, the oboe plays an important role, and its clear sound can pick up a melody and be heard above the rest of the orchestra. The oboe has made appearances in popular music and is still used some jazz groups today. Oboe music has long been used as film background music to enhance the emotional atmosphere of moving scenes.
The oboe can combine with other instruments in large orchestral works such as symphonies or tone poems, but it can also take over a melody or a descriptive passage and impose its distinct, clear sound on top of the other instruments. There are several sections in Ludwig van Beethoven’s and Johannes Brahms’ symphonies where the oboe plays a prominent role. The sound of the oboe is used in well-known musical works such as Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition to create the atmosphere characteristic of these descriptive pieces.
The oboe has frequently appeared as a solo instrument in works such as Antonio Vivaldi’s and Tomaso Albinoni’s oboe concertos, in which the oboe sings above the continuo, imitating a phrase or taking up a melody. Oboe music appears frequently in Georg Philipp Telemann’s works, as well as in Johann Sebastian Bach’s first two Brandenburg concertos. Many composers turned to the oboe in the twentieth century to create music for it in their own style. Carl Nielsen wrote two oboe and piano pieces, and Camille Saint Saens wrote an oboe and piano sonata. Another example is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ oboe concerto, in which the oboe evokes the composer’s signature pastoral mood.
The oboe has only been used in jazz on a few occasions, though it is still used some jazz groups that are influenced classical music today. The oboe has also been featured in some well-known songs, such as the Carpenters’ For All We Know. Some classical oboists have recorded performances of other types of oboe music on the oboe. The oboe has also been used in film music to express a sad, melancholy mood as a background to emotional scenes, which is a non-classical use of the instrument.