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{The Brussels Musical Instruments Museum Oboe Collection}
Stefaan Verdegem - Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel
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IND ?> Inv. number
2318
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CN/NP ?> Common name / Nominal Pitch
Oboe in C
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TS ?> Type or system
12 keys and 2 rings
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MK ?> Maker
Triebert
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IN ?> Mark, inscriptions
(hardly legible)
(barbican tower with 3 merlons) / TRIEBERT / A PARIS – on all 3 parts.
- PL ?> Place of origin Paris
- DM ?> Date of making Probably 2nd quarter of the 19th century.
- MATERIALS Boxwood with ivory mounts, brass keys.
- MEASUREMENTS
- Body Length 558mm
- TJ length (body + tenon) 208mm + 21mm
- MJ length (body +tenon) 207mm + 24mm
- B length 143mm
- Acoustic Length 321mm
- BORE
- Minimal bore 4.2mm
- Reed well diameter 6.8mm
- Reed or crook well depth (if cylindrical) 17mm
- Bore at end of TJ 10.0mm
- Bore at top of MJ 10.5mm
- Bore at end of MJ 14.7mm
- Bore at top of B 15.0mm
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TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
12 keys with round lipped flaps, and 2 rings (‘Brille’). All keys on rods and pillars. Octave key and rings on long axles. Separate long levers for Eb-left and Low B.
On TJ: Octave key, half-hole plateau , C and Bb for R1, G# for L4;
On MJ: 2 rings operating F# vent key, cross-F, C-C#-Eb for R4 (C-C# linked), Eb-left and low B for L4;
Low B key on bell.
Brass thumb rest.
SATK (springs attached to the keys).
Reed well metal lined.
3rd hole doubled with finger cove.
Most key-holes milled out with countersunk edge. Octave key-hole with metal cylinder insert, through the bore.
Bell with inner rim.
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FL ?> Faults
Top joint slightly warped. Middle joint top heavily chipped and reglued. Crack in bell end. One octave key pillar-hole poorly repaired. Underneath the octave key: two pillar-holes and one vent-hole plugged. Underneath the half-hole plateau: one plugged hole.
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UP ?> Usable Pitch
A = c.448Hz with reed TL 68.9mm / staple 42mm / tip width 7.7mm, and with reed TL 71mm / staple 47mm / tip with 7.3mm.
The first reed gave better forked-fingerings.
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PC ?> Performance Characteristics
Slender, direct sound. Intonation a little uneven.
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PO ?> Previous Ownership
Mahillon (R1978) Vol.IV p.194: “Gift....of Mr Guidé....first instrument of the donor, who is currently oboe professor at the Royal Conservatory”. According to the Annuaires du Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles (1900) p.88 (see B-Bc SS 48) this gift was in 1900.
Guillaume Guidé (1859 Liège–1917 Brussels) was the third oboe teacher of the Brussels Conservatorium from 1884–1910, and principal oboe of the Monnaie Theatre opera orchestra. From 1900 until his death he was the director of the Monnaie Theatre. See Verdegem (2008b) on Guidé.
- FM ?> Further information on maker
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SR ?> Specific literature Reference
Mahillon (R1978) Vol.IV p.194.
Listed in Young (1993) p.238.
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Comparable instruments
Brussels: MIM 2319.
Edinburgh: EUCHMI no.963 but with original ring keys. See Myers (1999) p.30. Comparable measures.
Oxford, The Bate Collection: Triebert oboe no.220 has apparently undergone the same F# modernisation: an old-style F#-key, coupled with a ‘Brille’.
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Remarks
Probably made by Guillaume Triebert.
Possibly an earlier oboe than MIM 2319 with a number of ‘modernisations’ applied later, and not all of them were well done:
- Cylindrical reed-well, metal lined
- Brille coupled with a probably cut-off ‘old style’ F#-key. Cross-F combined with an angled pillar of the F#-key: unconventional construction.
- There are a number of plugged holes or ‘empty’ holes.