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{The Brussels Musical Instruments Museum Oboe Collection}
Stefaan Verdegem - Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel
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IND ?> Inv. number
2332
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CN/NP ?> Common name / Nominal Pitch
Oboe in C
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TS ?> Type or system
12-keyed Sellner-type oboe
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MK ?> Maker
Schott
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IN ?> Mark, inscriptions
LES FILS / DE B. SCHOTT / A ANVERS – on all 3 parts.
- PL ?> Place of origin [Mainz]
- DM ?> Date of making Between 1824 and 1840.
- MATERIALS Boxwood with ivory mounts, brass keys.
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MEASUREMENTS
Short tuning slide = 51.1mm.
Long tuning slide = 54.2mm.
- Body Length 542mm (with shortest tuning slide).
- TJ length (body + tenon) c.210.5mm + n.m. (TJ stuck).
- MJ length (body +tenon) c.200.5mm + n.m. (MJ stuck).
- B length 130.1mm
- Acoustic Length 311mm (with shortest tuning slide).
- BORE
- Minimal bore 4.5mm (bottom of tuning slides).
- Reed well diameter 6.7mm (on both tuning slides).
- Bore at end of TJ n.m.
- Bore at top of MJ n.m.
- Bore at end of MJ n.m.
- Bore at top of B n.m.
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TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
Multi-keyed Sellner-system oboe with 12 keys / 14 touches (duplicates for Bb and F).
Keys with round short-soldered flat flaps, all mounted on woodblocks.
On TJ: Schleifklappe (slur key or octave key), D or C# trill for L3, C for R1, Bb for R1 with duplicate for L0, G# for L4;
On MJ: F# for R4, cross-F with duplicate for L4, C-C#-Eb, Left Eb for L4, low B with long lever on back of the instrument (worked into thumb rest) for L0, key on bell.
SATK (springs attached to the key).
Raised key rings circular.
Milled out key-holes.
3rd hole doubled with finger cove.
No vent-holes and hardly any inner rim on bell.
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FL ?> Faults
Good condition. Joints stuck.
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CS ?> Case
Leather-covered wood case with key. Inscription on key plate ‘Ch J Roger’. Inside fawn-coloured leather or tissue. Oboe fits in 2 parts. Instrument fits perfectly in the box including the second tuning slide and low B key. Dimensions: (LxDxH) 428 x 102 x 78mm.
Reed case missing. Space for reed case: 84.8mm.
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UP ?> Usable Pitch
A = c.442Hz with short tuning slide completely in and with reed TL 62mm / staple 38mm / tip width 8mm, going down to c.432–435Hz with tuning slide pulled out. Long tuning slide could not be tested because of inner wood shrinkage. One could assume that it plays lower than the short tuning slide.
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PC ?> Performance Characteristics
Slender ‘classical’ sound with character, a little bright.
Rather even intonation as far as the oboe could be accurately evaluated, given that the instrument is not in good playing condition.
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PO ?> Previous Ownership
Gift of Massau, cello teacher of the Verviers Music Academy.
- FM ?> Further information on maker
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SR ?> Specific literature Reference
Mahillon (R1978) Vol.IV pp.199-201.
Verdegem (2008a) pp.211-6.
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IR ?> Illustration reference
Verdegem (2008a) p.250.
- GL ?> General literature (about this type of instrument)
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Comparable instruments
Brussels: Schott oboe MIM 3579 and English horn MIM 2620.
See also Verdegem (2008a) pp.211–6 and pp.246–250 for more comparable instruments.
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Remarks
Oboe type based on the Viennese ‘Sellner-oboe’ made by Stephan Koch and others, but without the metal cylinders Koch normally used for the tuning slide, and without a folding mechanism for the low B lever on the back of the instrument.
See Verdegem (2008a) and Mahillon (R1978) Vol.IV p.199 on place of origin. The Schott Mainz firm produced instruments between 1818 and 1840, and had shops in Mainz, Antwerp (from c.1824), Brussels (from 1833), Paris and London, but the instruments were always made in the Mainz workshop.
It is not unimaginable that this instrument came to Belgium through the agency of Jean-Valentin Bender, who was on good terms with the Schott brothers. Being of German origin himself, he was from 1826 the conductor of the Antwerp Société d’Harmonie and from 1832 the founder and conductor of the famous Belgian military Band of Guides.
{Schott}
