Cor anglais

The cor anglais, or English horn, is a double-reed woodwind instrument pitched a perfect fifth below the oboe. Its curved metal bocal and pear-shaped bell give it a mellow, dark tone.

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Double reed: A mouthpiece made from two pieces of cane that vibrate against each other to produce sound. The cor anglais uses a double reed, as the oboe does, to set its air column vibrating.
Oboe: A double-reed woodwind instrument with a conical bore and a bright, penetrating tone. The cor anglais is the oboe’s lower-pitched relative and shares much of its playing technique.
Symphony orchestra: A large ensemble combining strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. The cor anglais is a standard orchestral woodwind, often featured for its distinctive color.
Baroque oboe da caccia: A curved, lower-pitched Baroque double-reed instrument regarded as a predecessor of the cor anglais. Its curved body and lower register anticipate features of the later cor anglais.
Bocal: A curved metal tube that connects a double-reed instrument’s reed to its body. The cor anglais’s bocal angles the reed toward the player and shapes the instrument’s response.
Oboe d'amore: A double-reed woodwind instrument pitched between the oboe and cor anglais, with a pear-shaped bell. It is another lower member of the oboe family, providing a close comparison in register and design.
The Swan of Tuonela: A tone poem by Jean Sibelius, whose prominent cor anglais solo evokes a swan on a mythic river. Its opening solo is one of the best-known orchestral showcases for the instrument.
Johann Sebastian Bach: A German composer of the Baroque era whose works include substantial writing for oboe-family instruments. Bach’s cantatas and Passions include parts for the oboe da caccia, an ancestor of the cor anglais.
Acoustic impedance: The opposition a sound system presents to oscillating airflow, affecting how efficiently sound is produced. The reed and bore interact through impedance, helping determine the cor anglais’s pitch and tone.
Bass oboe: A large double-reed instrument that sounds an octave below the oboe. It extends the oboe family lower than the cor anglais and appears in some modern orchestral writing.