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{The Brussels Musical Instruments Museum Oboe Collection}
Stefaan Verdegem - Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel
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IND ?> Inv. number
1991.068
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CN/NP ?> Common name / Nominal Pitch
Oboe in C
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TS ?> Type or system
Système Albert
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MK ?> Maker
Albert, Jacques
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IN ?> Mark, inscriptions
(sunburst) / JACques ALBERT / BRUXELLES / (sunburst) / BREVETE – on TJ;
(sunburst) / JACques ALBERT / BRUXELLES / (sunburst) – on MJ;
(sunburst) / JACques ALBERT / (sunburst) – on B.
- PL ?> Place of origin Brussels
- DM ?> Date of making End of the 19th century – before 1918.
- MATERIALS Rosewood or ebony with silver plated keywork.
- MEASUREMENTS
- Body Length 599.5mm
- TJ length (body + tenon) 234.5mm + 19.3mm
- MJ length (body +tenon) 240.3mm + 19.3mm
- B length 124.7mm
- Acoustic Length 323.4mm
- BORE
- Minimal bore c.4.1mm
- Reed well diameter 7.0mm
- Reed or crook well depth (if cylindrical) 17.9mm
- Bore at end of TJ 10.0mm
- Bore at top of MJ 10.5mm
- Bore at end of MJ 15.6mm
- Bore at top of B 16.1mm
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TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
Silver plated keywork, ferrules, thumb rest and reed cylinder.
Albert system, meaning a system no.6 oboe with some particularities: duplicate C# for L4. Octave keys are not semi-automatic. Double junction TJ-MJ enabling alternative fingerings for C and Bb in first and second octave. Extra Bb with separate key-hole and lever for R1. Low B-flat on bell.
Flat lipped keyheads.
Key-holes milled out with countersunk edge.
No inner rim on bell.
Metal lining: reed well, TJ tenon, TJ & MJ sockets, joint and bell ends.
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FL ?> Faults
Good general condition apart from one crack in bell and two (repaired?) small cracks in TJ. The keywork is not in playing condition.
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CS ?> Case
Black leather covered wooden case with key, inside in red chamois. Case Dimensions: (LxDxH) 420 x 115 x 60mm.
Reed box absent - space length 85.5mm.
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UP ?> Usable Pitch
Pitch could not be established because the oboe’s mechanism is not in playing condition.
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PO ?> Previous Ownership
Ex-Samoyault Le Vésinet.
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FM ?> Further information on maker
Haine & Meeùs (1986) pp.21–3.
Verdegem (2015) pp.100–120.
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Remarks
Albert system (System no.6) oboe with some particularities.
Interesting information comes from the patent no.148204 (1900) which Jacques Albert took on a specific oboe keywork improvement system. The patent details – with a complete drawing and explanation of the technical particularities – indeed show the double TJ-MJ junction. Strangely enough the patented system seems to improve some notes and trills but also complicates fingerings for them.
This oboe does not entirely match the patent drawing. On the one hand the double junction seems rather a simplified version of it, on the other hand this oboe has an extra Bb for R1, a Low Bb and a left C#. This leaves it unclear if it was made before or after 1900.
{Albert}
