Around the turn of the eighteenth century, European double-reed instruments underwent several organological changes. Changes in bore and turning profiles accompanied a shift in the role of these instruments in society.[1] While there has been extensive research on what societal changes double-reed instruments underwent within England[2] and the German-speaking lands of the Holy Roman Empire,[3] an inquiry into the instruments’ context within the Republic — that is, much of the modern-day Netherlands — has yet to be conducted. Although a relatively small nation, the Republic produced many of the earliest-surviving double-reed instruments of the French Baroque style, including 25% (97 out of 388) of all pre-Classical oboes[4] and the earliest-surviving datable bassoon.[5]
As the context of double-reed instruments in the Republic has hitherto not been explored from a non-organological perspective, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate the various roles of these instruments in the period between the reopening of the Amsterdamse Schouwburg (1677) and the beginnings of a more cohesive and organised integration of double-reed players into military regiments (ca. 1725). Although this is not an organological study, the instruments relevant to this research are defined and compared in Chapter 2.
Utilising the few extant primary sources and even fewer secondary sources, this study connects several fragments of Netherlandish music history. Despite the over 250 surviving Dutch woodwind instruments from 1675–1750,[6] there is disproportionately little repertoire in the region specifically for double-reed instruments. The social context of these instruments, informed by both fiction and non-fiction literature, has been essential in discovering the genres of music which the Netherlandish people may have heard played on double-reed instruments. As many of the surviving oboes in question are made of luxurious materials (such as ebony, ivory, and silver) and/or are ornately decorated (Figures 1.1 and 1.2), it has been speculated that there was a considerable wealthy amateur class of oboists,[7] making the lack of published repertoire even more puzzling. Despite this, a sizeable list of published works and manuscripts which may have been performed on double-reed instruments in the Republic during the period of study has been compiled as Appendix A. This has been possible as some of the works published in the period are prescribed for a flexible instrumentation. There are also examples of works listed in catalogues as being for double-reed instruments, even in cases where an instrumentation is not provided in the score, itself.
Given the sheer number of surviving instruments and the new comprehensive list of complementing repertoire that this study provides, there is little reason to disregard the unique aspects of double-reed instruments’ context within the Republic. It is my hope that, with further interest and funding, more information about Netherlandish double-reed culture can be discovered.
[1] Haynes, Bruce, The Eloquent Oboe: A History of the Hautboy 1640–1760 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 6–8.
[2] For example, Owens, Samantha, ‘“Seven Young Men on Hautboys”: The Oboe Band in England, c. 1680–1740’, in Musical Exchange between Britain and Europe, 1500–1800: Essays in Honour of Peter Holman (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2020), 257–68.
[3] For example, Owens, Samantha, ‘Upgrading from Consort to Orchestra at the Württemberg Court’, in From Renaissance to Baroque: Change in Instruments and Instrumental Music in the Seventeenth Century, ed. Holman, Peter and Wainright, Jonathan (National Early Music Association Conference, York, 1999, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005), 227–40.
[5] Kopp, James, The Bassoon, Yale Musical Instrument Series (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), 84.
[7] Di Stefano, Giovanni Paolo, ‘The Rijksmuseum’s Remarkable Collection of Oboes’, 101.
[9] Rijksmuseum, ‘Hobo, Hendrik Richters, ca. 1720 - ca. 1730’, n.d., http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.703378.