{Mahillon}

Simplified system 4 keywork. Matches the Mahillon type ‘2’ of the 1911 Catalogue (see B-BC 68.688), but without a B-C# trill key. No plateau for R2. No rings or plateaux for L2 or R1.

3rd hole doubled with finger cove.

Keyhead type Heyde-181/6.

SATK (springs attached to the key).

Bulb bell, no vent-holes.

Metal lining: reed well, joint/bell ends.

Tenons and sockets are not metal lined.

Perfect condition. One pad (low b) missing. All springs present. Pads seem new or never used / second octave cylinder through bore. Bocal damaged on top. 2nd bocal seems to be missing.

Case present, likely original. (WxDxH) 428 x 128 x 84mm.

Reed box, 1 reed and 1 bocal, all likely original.

• Reed box HxWxD 65.8 x 36.1 x 18.9mm.
• Reed: broken, with a very short scrape TL 50.2mm / staple 25mm (?) / tip width 7.5-8mm (? – broken).
• Bocal, likely shortened on both sides, and damaged; TL 63.5mm / ø 3.9mm + 5.4mm.

Tried with a reed comparable to the one found in the case the instrument gave a very high pitch of A = c.455Hz, tending even higher.

De Keyser (1994).

De Keyser (1996).

Haine & Meeùs (1986) pp.274–9.

Lagye (1874).

Verdegem (2015).

Verdegem (2015) p.112.

Burgess & Haynes (2004) pp.189–190.

Finkelman (1999) Teil 2, pp.364–8.

De Keyser (1996) vol.II pp.268–9 on Mahillon and the revival of the oboe d’amore.

Verdegem (2015).

Edinburgh: EUCHMI, Mahillon Oboe d’amore no.957; see Myers (1999) pp.41–2. Comparable measures.

Oxford: The Bate Collection, Mahillon Oboe d’amore no.263.

Stockholm Musikmuseet, Mahillon Oboe d’amore M4138, TL 631mm so probably lower pitched. See www.musikmuseet.se.

According to some articles in ‘l’Echo Musical’ from 1874, François-Auguste Gevaert (1828–1908), the director of the Brussels Royal Conservatory, ordered Mahillon to make an oboe d’amore – which was at that time an obsolete instrument. According to the same source it had apparently already been used in the same year in a Bach concert.

Lagye (1874) p.454 reports that Mahillon presented at the 1874 Exposition des arts industriels de Bruxelles an Oboe d’Amore “...for the faithful performance of Bach’s music”.

‘l’Echo Musical’ (1878) mentions that Mahillon exhibited an oboe d’amore at the Paris Exposition Universelle de 1878. Apparently he was awarded a gold medal, hence the mark mention.

Most probably made in Brussels according to De Keyser (private communication). See De Keyser (1996) vol.I pp. 72–73 on the London Mahillon branch.

In view of the pitch this instrument was probably made for England – the mark is in English – at Old Philharmonic Pitch. Another possibility would be a military band pitch, but these bands and their repertoire basically did not require an oboe d’amore.