The type of these instruments was a _conical_ tube of wood with a bell at one end and a bent metal tube at the other containing a double reed mouthpiece. There was a quartet of them; and the oboe, or _hautbois_ (high-wood) was the treble. There was also an _oboe d’amore_[20] and an _oboe di caccia_, hunting oboe (from which the _cor anglais_ is supposed to have been derived), and there were many others. Old writers refer to them as _chalumeau_ and _schalmey_ and _shawm_; and in such a general and confused way that it is hard to know just which special instrument they are talking about. These old oboes are called for in Bach’s scores; but they began to drop out of use in his time. We know, however, that _chalumeau_ was the instrument of the old reed band that always played the melody and that from it sprang the oboe of to-day. The instrument went through many changes before it reached its present condition; but none of these affected the family voice—the penetrating, roughish twang. The Bombardino-Schalmey voice still persists: it is like some other famous family traits—the Bourbon nose and the Hapsburg lip for instance—it is hard to suppress. However, it is this peculiar voice that makes the oboe such a desirable member of the orchestra. “The _timbre_ is thin and nasal, very piercing in its _forte_ passages, of exquisite refinement in its _piano_ passages; harsh and of bad quality in its very high and very low notes. The oboe is artless and rustic in its expression; it is pastoral and melancholy; if it is gay, its gayety is frank and almost excessive and exaggerated; but its natural tone is of a _gentle sadness and a resigned endurance_. It is unrivalled in depicting simple, rural sentiments of any kind, and on occasion can even become pathetic.”[21] [Illustration: FIRST OBOE, SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK _Henri De Busscher_] The oboe is the most elaborate and complicated of all the reed instruments. The mechanical changes are due to Apollon Marie Rose Barret (1804-1879), a remarkable French oboe-player, aided by a French instrument-maker named Triébert. Historically and musically the oboe is the most important member of the reed band. It is first of all a _melodic_ instrument; or, in other words, its tone quality is what it is especially valued for and not for brilliant passages. It can call up pastoral scenes and it can express innocence, grief, pathos and gentle gayety. The oboe is a wooden pipe, or tube, with conical bore widening out gradually until it forms a small bell, shaped something like the flower of a morning-glory, or convolvulus. At the opposite end it has a small metal tube, or mouthpiece, called “staple,” to which the reed (consisting of two blades of thin cane) is attached by means of silken threads. Along the wooden pipe are two “speaker keys,” worked by metal rods called “trackers.” This reed is the _speaking part_ of the instrument.