Autbòi

Musician with traditional oboe at the boat piercing ( joute nautique ) in Sète

Autbòi ( masculine , read: auˈbɔi ) is the Occitan word for oboe . It describes the traditional shawm that is widespread in Bas-Languedoc and the Cevennes and is often also called Hautbois Languedocien ("Oboe des Languedoc ").

description

The sound tube is about 44-49 cm long and consists of three parts, each of which is reinforced at the ends by bone, ivory or metal rings. The first section is egg-shaped thickened at the upper end, the second has two protruding circumferential webs at the lower end. The bell has a wide opening.

The Autbòi has a relatively large trapezoidal double reed , a wide conical bore, six finger holes on the front and no thumb hole. A tuning hole is located below the finger holes. The horn can have up to two sound holes. In the older form the instrument had no keys. The root note is usually C or D.

History and dissemination

The autbòi has retained elements of the Baroque shawm from which the oboe developed in the second third of the 17th century. The oldest surviving instruments date from the 19th century. In the first half of the 20th century, the instruments were modernized, that is, the rings or horn rings that had been turned up until then were replaced by flatter metal rings. The vocal hole was provided with a key and gave the lead tone below the root tone. The steeper clarinet shape was chosen for the bell, and bassoon reeds could be used as the reed.

In the second half of the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century there were three groups of autbòi players: Firstly, semi-professional musicians, mostly urban craftsmen, who accompanied all festive occasions with a drummer (called tamborin or tamborinet ). Second, farmers who played unaccompanied at village festivals. And finally, shepherds who played to pass the time or for entertainment, often on self-made instruments, and who also spread the autbòi in mountainous regions.

The use of the instrument was practically extinct by the middle of the 20th century. Only at the annual jousts ( Joute nautiques ) in Sète it remained in use. Since the 1970s there has been an intense revival (folklore, carnival, parades) and today the instrument and its music play an important role in the perception of regional identity.

Related instruments

Hautbois de Valhourles (bright tall instrument in the middle), left of it: upper part of a Hautbois du Cousarans (upper end downwards), right of it: the associated lower parts (upright)

The Aboès (Hautbois du Couserans ) is very similar to the Aubòi. The arrangement of the circumferential turned wooden rings is different and the upper ends of the three instrument pieces are reinforced with horn. This instrument died out in the mid-20th century and was revived by the Center Occitan des Musiques et Danses Traditionnelles (COMDT) in Toulouse .

Other Occitan shawms are the Graile (Hautbois des monts de Lacaune ) and the Clarin ( Pyrenees ).

Related instruments in other areas are Bombarde , Tarota , Tenora , Piffero , Ciaramella , Sopila , Zurna and others.

swell

• Vincent GIBIAT: Mesures acoustiques sur une sélection de hautbois languedociens . In: Luc CHARLES-DOMINIQUE & Pierre LAURENCE (eds.): Les hautbois populaires: anches doubles, enjeux multiples . Edition modal, Saint-Jouin-de-Milly 2002, ISBN 2-910432-32-7 , p. 110-121 .

• Pierre LAURENCE: Inventaire des hautbois Languedociens conservés dans les collections publiques ou privées. (7.4 MB) 2007, accessed on April 10, 2010 (French, PDF). 

• Pierre LAURENCE: Figures de hautboïstes en Bas-Languedoc et Cévennes: L'artisan, le berger, le paysan . In: Luc CHARLES-DOMINIQUE & Pierre LAURENCE (eds.): Les hautbois populaires: anches doubles, enjeux multiples . Edition modal, Saint-Jouin-de-Milly 2002, ISBN 2-910432-32-7 , p. 92-109 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Laurance, Inventaire pp. 4-5
2. ↑ Gibiat, Mesures, p 113
3. ↑ Laurance, Figures, pp. 92-109
4. ↑ Pierre Rouch: L'Aboes - Hautbois du Couserans. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 23, 2016 ; Retrieved April 18, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Bruno Salenson (instrument maker). Retrieved April 12, 2010 . 

• TV report FR3 à Montagnac (Occitan). Retrieved April 12, 2010 . 

• Video with two Aboès (Hautbois du Couserans). Retrieved April 18, 2010 .