A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Oboe d'Amore
OBOE D'AMORE (Fr. Hautbois d'amour). An instrument of exactly the same compass and construction as the ordinary oboe, except that it stands a minor third lower than that, being in the key of A. It has also a hollow globular bell instead of a conical one, which renders the tone more veiled and pathetic. In this respect it is intermediate between the first and the Corno Inglese. It is chiefly in the scores of Bach that this instrument is met with, most of his works containing important parts for it. As a good instance may be cited the air No. 4 in the first part of the Christmas oratorio—'Bereite dich Zion.'
It has been common of late to replace this fine but almost obsolete instrument by the ordinary oboe. Occasionally, however, as in No. 7 of the work above named, the two are written for together, and the extreme note A is required, two lines below the treble stave, which is below the compass of the ordinary oboe.
The instrument has lately been reconstructed by Mons. Mahillon, of Brussels, according to the designs of Mons. Gevaert, the learned director of the Conservatoire of Music in that capital, for the special purpose of playing Bach's scores correctly. It was thus used in Westminster Abbey on Jan. 15, 1880.[ W. H. S. ]