The origin of the name of the instrument is also a matter of
conjecture. Two theories exist--one that cor anglais is a corruption
of _cor angle_, a name given on account of the angular bend of the
early specimens. In that case the name, but not necessarily the
instrument, probably originated in France early in the 18th century,
for Gluck scored for two cors anglais in his Italian version of
_Alceste_ played in Vienna in 1767. When a French version of this
opera was given in Paris two years later, the cor anglais, not being
known or available there, was replaced by oboes. It was not until 1808
that the cor anglais was heard at the Paris Opera, when it was played
by the oboist Vogt in Catel's _Alexandre chez Apelle_. This, however,
proves only that the name was not familiar in France, where the oboe
of the same pitch was called _haute-contre de hautbois_. The bending
of the tube and the development of the cor anglais as solo instrument
originated in Germany, unless the _oboe da caccia_ was identical with
the cor anglais, in which case Italy would be the country of origin.
Thomas Stanesby, junior, made an oboe da caccia in 1740 of straight
pattern in four pieces, having a bent metal crook for the insertion of
the reed and two saddle keys; but the bell was like the bell of the
oboe, not globular like that of the cor anglais, a form to which the
veiled quality of its _timbre_ is due. It is interesting in this
connexion to recall some experiments in bending the cor anglais, which
do not appear to have led to any practical result. A French broadside
(c. 1650), "La Musique," preserved in the British Museum, contains
drawings of many musical instruments in use in the 17th century; among
them are an oboe with keys in a perforated case, and two other wood
wind instruments of the same family, which may be taken to represent
attempts to dispose of the inconvenient length of the _haute-contre_
(1) by bending the tube at right angles for about one quarter of its
length from the mouthpiece, which contains a large double reed, (2)
by bending the tube in the elongated "S" shape of the _corno torto_ or
bass Zinke, for which the drawing in question might be mistaken but
for the bent crook inserted in the end for the reception of the reed,
which, however, is missing. The other hypothesis is that when the cor
anglais was given a bend in order to facilitate the handling, the name
was adopted to mark its resemblance to a kind of hunting-horn said to
be in use in England at the time. This suggestion does not seem to be
a happy one; for if the reference be to the crescent-shaped horn, that
instrument was in use in all countries at various periods before the
17th century, while if it be to the angular form, then a reproduction
of such a horn should be forthcoming to support the statement.
The idea of bending the instrument is attributed to Giovanni or
Giuseppe Ferlendis of Bergamo,[3] brothers and virtuosi on the oboe.
One of these had settled in Salzburg, and both were equally renowned
as performers on the English horn. They visited Venice, Brescia,
Trieste, Vienna, London (in 1795) and Lisbon, where Giuseppe died. In
this case we might expect the name to have been given in Italian,
_corno inglese_; yet Gluck in his Italian edition used the French name
already in 1767, when Giuseppe was but twelve years old. We must await
some more conclusive explanation, but we may suppose that the new name
was bestowed when the instrument assumed a form entirely new to the
family of hautbois or oboes. The cor anglais was well known in England
before 1774, for in a quaint book of travels through England,
published in that year, we read that Signor Sougelder,[4] "an eminent
surgeon of Bristol," was a performer "on the English horn."
The experiment of bending the cor anglais did not prove satisfactory,
for the tube instead of being bored had to be cut out of two pieces of
wood which were then glued together and covered with leather. Even the
most skilful craftsman did not succeed in making the inside of the
tube quite smooth; the roughness of the wood was detrimental to the
tone and gave the cor anglais a veiled, somewhat hoarse quality, and
makers before long reverted to the direct or vertical form. (K. S.)