To the oboe belongs the duty of sounding the A to which the whole orchestra tunes. This privilege dates from the time of Handel, when it was the principal wind-instrument employed in the band.
THE ENGLISH HORN
The English horn is not, as its name seems to imply, an instrument of brass, but of wood. It is, in fact, an alto oboe. Its compass is from the E below the treble clef to the F on the fifth line. This carries it five tones below the oboe. Its tone is similar to that of the oboe, but is heavier and has a dryer quality. Its character is less feminine, more sombre, and more pathetic. Yet it is not incapable of joyous expression, if the expression is not strained by the context. In all the range of music there are no such examples of the eloquence of the English horn as in the works of Wagner, who made it speak with a human voice. The finest instances of its powers are to be found in his later dramas, and perhaps the most familiar are in “Tristan und Isolde.” The English horn is the instrument which imitates the shepherd’s pipe in the melancholy wail of Act III., played while Tristan is waiting for news of the ship.
When the ship is sighted by the herdsman, his pipe (still the English horn) bursts into this pæan of joy:
