piccolo oboe
The piccolo oboe, also known as the piccoloboe or sopranino oboe and historically called an oboe musette (or just musette), is the smallest and highest pitched member of the oboe family. Pitched in E♭ or F above the regular oboe (i.e. notated a minor third or perfect fourth lower than sounding), the piccolo oboe is a sopranino version of the oboe, comparable to the E♭ clarinet. It is most commonly found in early 20th-century marching band music, and more rarely in chamber music ensembles or contemporary compositions.
Also recorded as piccoloboe · oboe musette · musette · Musette
piccolo oboe
Hautbois · Own work, scan perso · Public domain
- Name
- Piccolo oboe
- Field
- oboe family instrument · transposing instrument
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for piccolo oboe. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q602719 · wikipedia · Piccolo oboe
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Piccolo oboe • Background — woodwind • Classification — *Wind • Woodwind • Double reed • Hornbostel Sachs — 422.112-71 • Hornbostel Sachs Desc — Double-reeded aerophone with keys • Range — { \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } \clef treble \key c \major ^ \markup "written" \cadenzaOn \override NoteHead.style = #'2 bes1 \glissando \ottava #1 g1 \ottava #0 \clef treble ^ \markup "in E♭" des'1 \glissando \ottava #1 bes1 \ottava #0 \clef treble ^ \markup "in F" ees'1 \glissando \ottava #1 ces'1 } Piccolo oboe sounds a minor third or perfect fourth higher than written. • Related — *Oboe • Oboe d'amore • Cor anglais (English horn) • Oboe da caccia • Wiener oboe • Bombarde • Bass oboe • Heckelphone • Lupophon • Contrabass oboe • Piston oboe
Makers
Makers
Piccolo oboes are produced by the French makers F. Lorée (pitched in F) and Marigaux (pitched in E♭), as well as the Italian firm Fratelli Patricola (pitched in E♭). Lorée calls its instrument "piccolo oboe or oboe musette (in F)", while Marigaux and Patricola call their instruments simply "oboe musette". • Illustration — Two shawm players from the Cantigas de Santa Maria (13th century)
Repertoire
The instrument has found the most use in chamber and contemporary music, where it is valued for its unusual tone colour. It is also employed in double-reed ensembles, such as Amoris, and in film scoring. Perhaps the best-known pieces requiring piccolo oboe are "Solo for Oboe Instruments" (1971) and "Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra No. 2", both by Bruno Maderna; "Vérifications" by Samuel Andreyev; and "Ar-Loth" (1967) by Paolo Renosto. Other contemporary works for the instrument are "Scherzo Furioso" by William Blezard, "Tasmanian Ants" by Ian Keith Harris, "Iberian Improvisations" and "Bailables" by Leonard Salzedo, and "Variations on a Sicilian Shepherd Tune" by Clive Strutt. Two concerti have been written featuring the piccolo oboe in addition to the other four members of the oboe family, these works being David Stock's Oborama (second movement, "Crisp, Bright") and James Stephenson's "Rituals and Dances", both written for Alex Klein.
Hautbois musette en bois de rose 1834. Provenance Royaume-uni. Collection privée Dominique Enon.
Lutralutra, Editor/Bearbeiter User:Gisbert K · I, Lutralutra · Photographie effectuée en accord avec le propriétaire.
Illustration of musette tablature, from Borjon de Scellery's "Traité de la musette"
User:Niels Grundtvig Nielsen · Niels Grundtvig Nielsen
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Piccolo oboe, revision 1374574638 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Connections
Knowledge graph
Connections
Each connection was recorded deliberately, with the basis for it kept on the internal record.
Broader subject
1- transposing instrumentTerminology
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Collectables
20,755 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Pic-PicOrganisation
- piccoloTerminology
- piccolo bassTerminology
- piccolo heckelphoneTerminology
- piccolo tromboneTerminology
- piccolo trumpetTerminology
- Pichon et ParatOrganisation
- pickleballTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with piccolo oboe?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.