Cromorne

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Cromorne is a French instrument that has caused musicologists some confusion. The instrument dates back to the early Baroque period in France, and because of its name has often been mistaken for the crumhorn, spelled "Krummhorn" in German. The crumhorn is a capped double-reed instrument usually shaped like a "J" and possesses a rather small range of a ninth or so. It was a common Renaissance woodwind instrument often played on consorts of crumhorns. However, it was apparently little used in France, and was called "tournebout" by French writers.

According to musicologist and specialist Bruce Haynes, who has been a leader of research in this field, the French redesigned the instrument we call "shawm" in English. In France, the shawm and the oboe were both called "hautbois," and were considered part of the same family: the oboe was developed from the shawm to meet the changing needs of the French court orchestras. It appears that the "protomorphic" hautboy was developed between 1640-1664 and was first used by Lully. By 1670 it appears that the Hotteterres and Philidors had developed the Baroque 3-key oboe as we know it.

However, the French developers only created three kinds of oboes: the oboe in C, the haute-contre oboe in A (pitched like the oboe d'amore), and the taille de hautbois in F (like the modern English horn). It seems that there was also a family of double reed, oboe-like instruments created during the early 17th century: the cromornes. There was a court ensemble in France called the "cromornes et Trompettes marines," and it seems that the cromorne was constructed in several different sizes from soprano to bass, although by the time the new Baroque oboes were developed, they probably began to replace the perhaps less-refined cromornes playing the upper parts. As there was no true "bass oboe" at the time, however, lower pitched cromornes, especially the basse de cromorne, continued to be used. The bassoon took some time to be "remodelled" for use in the new French orchestra, and it appears that for some time during the 1600s and early 1700s the bass cromorne was used as the bass oboe. Andre Danican Philidor was a player of this instrument, which appeared in the works of Lully and Charpentier.

During the 1700s, it seems that some cromornes were still built, and the instruments we have from this period called "Kontrabass-Oboe" (contrabass oboe) in German were in fact modified, high Baroque bass cromornes. They were probably used in the some of the numerous oboe bands that existed at the time. However, research has yet to turn up a larger body of facts about this instrument. In appearance, it looked like a long, straight oboe with a bocal and finger-extension keys with characteristic wooden "rings" around the bore to mount these keys. It was understood by the middle of the 18th century that the cromorne, or "basson de hautbois," was played until the "basson" was perfected and used instead.

Some holdover instruments influenced by the cromorne's design may include the basse de musette used in Protestant Switzerland. Interestingly enough, these instruments became an influence on Heckel as he gathered ideas for his Heckelphone, a wide-bore type of baritone oboe in C sounding one (not two, like the basse de cromorne) octave lower than the oboe, that has been called for by a variety of 20th century composers including Strauss, Copland, and Hindemith. This instrument is still manufactured by Heckel in Germany.

There is also a common organ stop called "cromorne." It is a reed stop usually at 8' pitch. It has been suggested that the stop, which tends to sound like an unrefined clarinet or bagpipe, was originally intended to resemble the sound of the actual French cromorne.

See Bruce Haynes' book The Eloquent Oboe for more historical background, illustrations, and information on this instrument.