-
{The Brussels Musical Instruments Museum Oboe Collection}
Stefaan Verdegem - Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel
-
IND ?> Inv. number
2606
-
CN/NP ?> Common name / Nominal Pitch
Oboe in C
-
TS ?> Type or system
3 keys
-
MK ?> Maker
Willems, Jean Baptiste
-
IN ?> Mark, inscriptions
.IB. / WILLEMS / (six-point star) – on all 3 parts.
- PL ?> Place of origin Brussels
- DM ?> Date of making 2nd half of the 18th century.
- MATERIALS Boxwood with brass keys.
- MEASUREMENTS
- Body Length 594mm
- TJ length (body + tenon) 219mm + 24mm
- MJ length (body +tenon) 216mm + 28mm
- B length 159mm
- Acoustic Length 335mm
- BORE
- Minimal bore 6.5mm
- Reed well diameter 8.1mm
- Bore at end of TJ 10.5mm
- Bore at top of MJ 11.4mm
- Bore at end of MJ 16.9mm
- Bore at top of B 19mm
-
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
Brass keys with round flat flaps, type Young-S for C-key, and type Heyde-179/1 for Eb-keys, keyhead being the mirror of the touch.
SATB (springs attached to the body).
Raised key rings circular.
3rd hole doubled with finger cove.
Bell with 2 vent-holes and inner rim.
There has been a (non-original?) L-thumb-hole (‘octave-hole’) which has been wax refilled afterwards.
Fingerholes 1 to 5 seem to be sanded in a clumsy attempt to make finger coves. The holes do not seem to be enlarged.
-
FL ?> Faults
Fair condition. Crack (?repaired) in TJ. 'Thumbhole' drilled in TJ, but filled again. Finger-holes show alteration. Some chips on MJ. Instrument slightly bent.
-
UP ?> Usable Pitch
Pitch difficult to estimate because of crack in top joint. The best result was with reed TL 78mm / 2-part staple 59mm (27mm Chiarugi no.2 EH staple + 36.9mm ø 5mm + 3.3mm bottom staple) with bottom insert / tip width 9.5mm, giving A =c.405Hz.
-
PC ?> Performance Characteristics
The impression is a very nice, velvet sounding instrument with easy sound emission.
Several notes crack (low d rolls) or do not play well.
Octaves are difficult to tune, having tried with several reed types.
The finger-holes alterations might be responsible for uneven intonation.
-
PO ?> Previous Ownership
Ex-Snoeck
-
FM ?> Further information on maker
Haine & Meeùs (1986) p.455.
-
SR ?> Specific literature Reference
Mahillon (R1978) Vol.IV p.358.
Listed in Young (1993) p.257.
Mentioned in Waterhouse (1993) p.430.
- Comparable instruments
-
Remarks
There is a kind of 'thumbhole' which is not very well drilled and stuffed with wax again. Most probably not original.
Very wide minimal bore.