Oboe (Fr. hautbois; Ger. hoboc, hochholz), a treble reed musical instrument, to which the bassoon may be said to be the bass. Its reed is double, like that of the bassoon and the chanter of the bagpipe, and consists of two thin blades of cane attached by silk thread to a short metal tube. A similar instrument may be traced from the earliest times from Egyptian and Greek sculpture and paintings; and the Kensington Museum contains many specimens from Arabia, China, India, Wallachia, &c. The modern instrument, however (shown in the figure), from successive improvements and additions bears little resemblance to its ancient prototype, and is one of the most complicated and intricate of wind-instruments. It is made variously of boxwood, ebony, cocoa-wood, and silver, having holes for the fingers and usually fifteen keys, besides two automatic octave keys to assist the higher notes. It is an octave instrument like the Flute (q.v.), and its usual compass is from B below the stave to F in alt, although several semitones higher can be produced.
For orchestral purposes it is pitched in the key of C, but in military bands a B instrument is sometimes used, and its music is written in the G clef.
The tone of the oboe is rich, and, from its great power in swelling and diminishing the sound, it is capable of every variety of expression. The oboe has the privilege of giving the pitch to the violin in the orchestra. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and nearly all the great composers make extensive use of the oboe in their compositions. The Oboe d'Amore and the Oboe di Caccia, oboes in the key of A and F or E respectively, are nearly obsolete. —Oboe is also the name of a treble stop on the organ, its bass being the bassoon. See 'Oboe,' in Grove's Dictionary.