The cor anglais (UK: /kr le/, US: /kr le/[1][2] or original French: [k l][3]) or

English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It
is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe.
The cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe (a
C instrument). This means that music for the cor anglais is written a perfect fifth higher than
the instrument actually sounds. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais
are essentially the same as those of the oboe and oboists typically double on the cor anglais
when required. The cor anglais normally lacks the lowest B key found on most oboes and so
its sounding range stretches from E3 (written B natural) below middle C to C6 two octaves
above middle C.

Contents

1 Description and timbre

2 History and etymology
3 Repertoire
o 3.1 Concertos and concertante
o 3.2 Chamber music
o 3.3 Solos in orchestral works
o 3.4 Unaccompanied
4 Use outside classical music
5 References
6 External links

1. Description and timbre

The pear-shaped bell of the cor anglais gives it a more covered timbre than the oboe, closer in
tonal quality to the oboe d'amore. Whereas the oboe is the soprano instrument of the oboe
family, the cor anglais is generally regarded as the tenor member of the family, and the oboe
d'amorepitched between the two in the key of Aas the alto member.[4] The cor anglais is
perceived to have a more mellow and plaintive tone than the oboe. Its appearance differs
from the oboe in that the reed is attached to a slightly bent metal tube called the bocal, or
crook, and the bell has a bulbous shape. It is also much longer.
The cor anglais is usually notated in the treble clef, a perfect fifth higher than sounding. Some
composers notated it in the bass clef, when the lower register was persistently used,[5] and
historically several other options were employed. Alto clef written at sounding pitch is
occasionally used, even by as late a composer as Sergei Prokofiev. In late-18th and early19th-century Italy, where the instrument was often played by bassoonists instead of oboists, it
was notated in the bass clef an octave below sounding pitch (as found in Rossini's Overture to
William Tell). French operatic composers up to Fromental Halvy notated the instrument at
sounding pitch in the mezzo-soprano clef, which enabled the player to read the part as if it
were in the treble clef.[4]
Although the instrument usually descends only to (written) low B, continental instruments
with an extension to low B (sounding E) have existed since early in the 19th century.[6]

Examples of works requiring this note (while acknowledging its exceptional nature) include
Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder and Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. Antonn
Dvok, in his Scherzo Capriccioso, even writes for the cor anglais down to low A, though it
seems unlikely that such an extension ever existed.[7]
Reeds used to play the cor anglais are similar to those used for an oboe, consisting of a piece
of cane folded in two. While the cane on an oboe reed is mounted on a small metal tube (the
staple) partially covered in cork, there is no such cork on a cor anglais reed, which fits
directly on the bocal. The cane part of the reed is wider and longer than that of the oboe.
Unlike American style oboe reeds, cor anglais reeds typically have wire at the base,
approximately 5 millimeters from the top of the string used to attach the cane to the staple.
This wire serves to hold the two blades of cane together and stabilize tone and pitch.
Perhaps the best-known makers of modern cors anglais are the French firms of F. Lore,
Marigaux and Rigoutat, the British firm of T. W. Howarth, and the American firm Fox.
Instruments from smaller makers, such as A. Laubin, are also sought after. Instruments are
usually made from African Blackwood (aka Grenadilla), although some makers offer
instruments in a choice of alternative woods as well, such as cocobolo (Howarth) or violet
wood (Lore), which are said to alter the voice of the cor anglais slightly, reputedly making it
even more mellow and warmer. Fox has recently made some instruments in plastic resin.

2. History and etymology

The term cor anglais is French for English horn, but the instrument is neither from England
nor related to the various conical-bore brass instruments called "horns", such as the French
horn, the natural horn, the post horn, or the alto horn. The instrument originated in Silesia
about 1720, when a bulb bell was fitted to a curved oboe da caccia-type body by the Weigel
family of Breslau. The two-keyed, open-belled, straight tenor oboe (French taille de hautbois,
"tenor oboe"), and more particularly the flare-belled oboe da caccia, resembled the horns
played by angels in religious images of the Middle Ages. This gave rise in German-speaking
central Europe to the Middle High German name engellisches Horn, meaning angelic horn.
Because engellisch also meant English in the vernacular of the time, the "angelic horn"
became the "English horn." In the absence of any better alternative, the curved, bulb-belled
tenor oboe then retained the name even after the oboe da caccia fell into disuse around
1760.[8] The name first appeared on a regular basis in Italian, German, and Austrian scores
from 1741 on, usually in the Italian form corno inglese.[9]
The earliest known orchestral part specifically for the instrument is in the Vienna version of
Niccol Jommelli's opera Ezio dating from 1749,[10] where it was given the Italian name
corno inglese.[11] Gluck and Haydn followed suit in the 1750s,[12] and the first English horn
concertos were written in the 1770s. Considering the name "cor anglais," it is ironic that the
instrument was not used in France until about 1800 or in England until the 1830s.[12] The
OED lists the first mention of the instrument in the English language in a 1775 musical
travelogue ("... I plainly distinguished... the English horn") and in the Penny Cyclopedia in
1838 ("The English Horn, or Corno Inglese, is a deeper-toned oboe..."), while the first
identified printed use of the term cor anglais in English was in 1870.[13] In the UK the
instrument is colloquially generally referred to as the "cor".[4] The local equivalent for
"English horn" is used in most other European languages, while a few languages use their
equivalent of "alto oboe".

As the cor anglais has a bent metal pipe (the bocal) that connects the reed to the instrument
proper, the suggestion has been made that anglais might be a corruption of Middle French
angl (angular, or bent at an angle, angulaire in modern French),[14] but this has been rejected
on grounds that there is no evidence of the term cor angl before it was offered as a possible
origin of anglais in the 19th century.[15]

3. Repertoire
Concertos and concertante
Main article: List of concertos for English horn
Until the 20th century, there were few solo pieces for the instrument with a large ensemble
(such as orchestra or concert band). Important examples of such concertos and concertante
works are:

William Alwyn's Autumn Legend for English horn and string orchestra (1954)
Emmanuel Chabrier's Lamento for English horn and orchestra (1875)
Aaron Copland's Quiet City for trumpet, English horn, and string orchestra (1940)
Gaetano Donizetti's Concertino in G major (1816)
Arthur Honegger's Concerto da camera for flute, English horn and string orchestra
(1948)
Gordon Jacob's Rhapsody for English horn and strings (1948)
Aaron Jay Kernis' Colored Field (1994)
James MacMillan's The World's Ransoming, for obbligato English horn and orchestra
(199596), part of the orchestral tryptich Triduum (199597)
Walter Piston's Fantasy for English horn, harp and string orchestra (1952)
Ned Rorem's Concerto for English horn and orchestra (1992)
Jean Sibelius' The Swan of Tuonela (1893)
Jack Stamp's Elegy for English horn and Band (2004)
Pteris Vasks' Concerto for English horn and orchestra (1989)

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Concertino in A, op. 34 (1947)

Though concertante in nature, these are just orchestral works featuring extensive solos, with
the player seated within the orchestra

Chamber music
Better known chamber music for English horn includes:

Ludwig van Beethoven's Trio for 2 oboes and English horn, Op. 87 (1795)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Variations on "L ci darem la mano", for 2 oboes and
English horn, WoO 28 (1796)
Elliott Carter's Pastoral for English horn (or viola, clarinet or saxophone) and piano
(1940)
Felix Draeseke's Little Suite for English horn and piano, Op. 87 (1911)
Paul Hindemith's Sonata for English Horn and Piano (1941)
Charles Koechlin's Monody for English Horn, Op. 216, Nr. 11 (194748)
Vincent Persichetti's Parable XV for Solo English Horn

Karlheinz Stockhausen's Zeitmae for flute, oboe, clarinet, English horn and bassoon
(195556)
Igor Stravinsky's Pastorale for soprano and piano (1907), in the composer's own
arrangements for soprano, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (1923), and
violin, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (1933)
Augusta Read Thomas's Pilgrim Soul for cor anglais and two violins (2011)
Heitor Villa-Lobos' Quinteto (em forma de chros) for flute, oboe, clarinet, English
horn and bassoon (1928)
Carlo Yvon's Sonata in F minor for English Horn (or Viola) and Piano (published ca.
1831), one of the few sonatas written during the Romantic era for this combination.

Solos in orchestral works

The English horn's timbre makes it well suited to the performance of expressive, melancholic
solos in orchestral works (including film scores) as well as operas. Famous examples are:

Opening motive from the 2nd movement (Largo) of Dvok's Symphony No. 9, From the
New World

Vincenzo Bellini's Il Pirata (Act II: Introduzione) (1827)

Hector Berlioz's Harold in Italy (1834)
Hector Berlioz's Rob Roy Overture (1826)
Hector Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture (1844)
Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique (third movement) (1830)
Alexander Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880)
Alexander Borodin's "Polovetsian Dances" from Prince Igor (1890)
Emmanuel Chabrier's "Lamento" for orchestra (1875)
Claude Debussy's Nocturnes (1899) ("Nuages")
Antonn Dvok's Symphony No. 9 (1893), From the New World (Largo)
Csar Franck's Symphony in D minor (1888) (2nd movement)
George Gershwin's Concerto in F (1925) (1st movement)
Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 22, "The Philosopher" (1764) (two English horns)
Joseph Haydn's Divertimento in F, for two violins, two English horns, two horns &
two bassoons Hob. II: 6 (1760)

Joseph Haydn's Divertimento in E, for flute, two English horns, bassoon, two horns,
two violins & bass Hob. II: 24 (Fragment, ca. 1761)
Vincent d'Indy's Symphony on a French Mountain Air (1886)
Zoltn Kodly's Summer Evening (1906)
Gustav Mahler's Wenn dein Mtterlein from Kindertotenlieder (1905)
Jules Massenet's Le Cid Ballet Suite (Madrilne) (1885)
Olivier Messiaen's L'ascension (193233) (2nd movement)
Thea Musgrave's Phoenix Rising (1997)
Basil Poledouris' Conan the Barbarian score "Riddle of Steel" (1982)

Gaetano Pugnani's Werther Melodrama in Two Parts, (Part II No. 21 Largo assai)
(1790)
Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances (1940)
Sergei Rachmaninoff's The Bells (1913) (4th movement)
Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G (1931) (2nd movement)
Maurice Ravel's Ballet Daphnis et Chlo (1912)
Maurice Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole (1908)
Alfred Reed's Russian Christmas Music (1944)
Ottorino Respighi's Lauda per la Nativit del Signore (1930)
Ottorino Respighi's Pini di Roma (1924)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol (1887) (2nd movement)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade Op. 35 (1888)
Joaqun Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) (2nd movement)
Gioachino Rossini's William Tell Overture (1829)
Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (film score)
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 in C minor (1943) (1st movement)
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 in E minor (1953) (3rd movement)
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 in G minor (1957) (4th movement)
Jean Sibelius' Karelia Suite (1893) and Pellas et Mlisande (1905)
Robert W. Smith's Symphony No. 2 "The Odyssey" (3rd movement,"The Isle of
Calypso")
Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben (1898)
Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (1913) Mainly in the Intro to Part I and the nextto-last dance in Part II, Ritual Action of the Ancestors
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (1870) (Love Theme,
Exposition)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker (1892)
Ralph Vaughan Williams's In the Fen Country (1904)
Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 2 A London Symphony (2nd movement)
Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943) (3rd movement)
Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 6 in E Minor (19467) (2nd movement)
Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (1859) (Act 3, Scene 1)
John Williams' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film) (film score) (2001)
John Williams' Schindler's List (film score) (1993)

Unaccompanied

Andriessen, H., Elegia

Auerbach, Lera, The Prayer
Bancquart, A., Sonatine
Bentzon, J., Rhapsodique Etude op.10
Berkely, M., Snake
Brandon, J., In the City at Night
Caldini, F., Abendstuck, op. 12
Caldini, F., Aria di Eliogabalo, op. 18
Cantalbiano, R., Sonata
Carbon, J., Four Impromptus
Carter, E., A 6 Letter Letter
Cherney, B., Epitaph
Childs, B., Four Involutions

Dagher, The New Egyptian-Arabic

Davies, Dark River
Douglas, Luquet
Downey, Soliloquy
Filippi, A., Equations
Hall, Juliana, A Certain Tune
Head, No Nights are Dark Enough
Isaacson, M., A Quiet Prayer
Koechlin, C., Monodie
Koechlin, C., Suite
Lawrence, Echoes in Wilderness
Persichetti, V., Parable XV
Pfiffner, Miniature d'Umbria I
Rudin, R., Recitativ und Arie
Silvestrini, Paysage avec Pyrame eet Thisbe
Tomasi, H., Evocations
Turok, P., Partita
Verroust, S., Theme and Variations

4. Use outside classical music

Though primarily featured in classical music, the cor anglais has also been used by a few
musicians as a jazz instrument; most prominent among these are Paul McCandless, Jean-Luc
Fillon, Sonny Simmons, and Vinny Golia (see also Oboists performing primarily outside
classical genres). From the mid-1930s, Mitch Miller played the instrument in popular radio
orchestras and made a number of recordings with the instrument, notably solos on the albums
Music Until Midnight (1954) and It's So Peaceful In The Country (1956) with Percy Faith.
Multi-instrumentalist Bill Page performed on the instrument with the Lawrence Welk band
from 1951 until 1965. The cor anglais figures in the instrumental arrangements of several
Carpenters songs. It has made some appearances in pop music, such as in Dream Academy's
"Life in a Northern Town", King Crimson's Dawn Song on their album Lizard, Lindisfarne's
Run For Home, Randy Crawford's One Day I'll Fly Away, Tanita Tikaram's Twist in My
Sobriety, Marianne Faithfull's As Tears Go By, and many (e.g., Judy Collins' and Barbra
Streisand's) versions of Send in the Clowns. The cor anglais is also featured in the Lionel
Richie and Diana Ross version of Endless Love, and in Elton John's Can You Feel the Love
Tonight and Candle in the Wind 1997. The song A Mutual Friend by the band Wire from the
album 154 uses a cor anglais. A cor anglais carries the opening of Fiddler on the Roof's
"Sabbath Prayer".
In Britain, Tony Hatch's theme tune to the long-running soap opera Emmerdale Farm was
originally performed on the cor anglais, as was also the version of Harry South's theme tune
played at the end of each episode of The Sweeney. The instrument also features prominently
in the theme music to the ITV productions of Brideshead Revisited and The Chief.
Paul McCartney holds a cor anglais on the album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band. The instrument also features in the 2005 film American Pie Presents: Band Camp
(referred to as an oboe). Kate St John of Dream Academy plays the cor anglais.

5. References

Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, cor anglais, Cambridge University Press,

2011, p. 110
Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd edition, Pearson Education Limited, 2008, p.185
cor anglais in the Oxford English Dictionary
Norman Del Mar, Anatomy of the Orchestra (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1981): 143. ISBN 0-520-04500-9 (cloth); ISBN 0-520-05062-2.
William Alexander Barrett, An Introduction to Form and Instrumentation for the Use of
Beginners in Composition (London, Oxford, and Cambridge: Rivingtons, 1879): 55.
Hector Berlioz, Berlioz's Orchestration Treatise: A Translation and Commentary,
translated from the French by Hugh Macdonald (Cambridge Musical Texts and
Monographs. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002): 108. ISBN
0-521-23953-2.
Norman Del Mar, Anatomy of the Orchestra (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1981): 15859. ISBN 0-520-04500-9 (cloth); ISBN 0-520-05062-2.
Michael Finkelman, "Oboe: III. Larger and Smaller European Oboes, 4. Tenor Oboes,
(iv) English Horn", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition,
edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001); also at
Grove Music Online (Subscription access).
Willi Apel, "English Horn", The Harvard Dictionary of Music, second edition
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969). ISBN 0-674-37501-7.
History of the English horn/cor anglais at the Vienna Symphonic Library
Adam Carse, Musical Wind Instruments: A History of the Wind Instruments Used in
European Orchestras and Wind-Bands from the Later Middle Ages Up to the Present
Time (London: Macmillan and Co., 1939): 144.
Michael Finkelman, "Die Oboeinstrumente in tieferer Stimmlage Teil 5: Das
Englischhorn in der Klassik", in Tibia 99 (1999): 61824. (German)
English Horn at www.oed.com
Michael Kennedy, "Cor anglais", The Oxford Dictionary of Music, second edition,
revised, Joyce Bourne, associate editor (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,
2006); A. J. Greimas, Dictionnaire de l'ancien franais jusqu'au milieu du XIV sicle,
second edition (Paris: Librarie Larousse, 1968): 31. OCLC 802019668
Adam Carse, Musical Wind Instruments: A History of the Wind Instruments Used in
European Orchestras and Wind-Bands from the Later Middle Ages Up to the Present
Time (London: Macmillan and Co., 1939): 143;
Sybil Marcuse, "Cor anglais", in Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary,
revised edition, The Norton Library (New York: W. W. Norton, 1975). ISBN 0-39300758-8.

External links
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopdia Britannica article Cor anglais.

Media related to Cor anglais at Wikimedia Commons

English horn fingering guide