Oboe, C
Date1784
Place MadeDresden, Saxony, Germany, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedOn bell: [Crossed swords to represent kingdom of Saxony] / GRUNDMANN / DRESDEN / 1784On first joint: [Crossed swords to represent kingdom of Saxony] / GRUNDMANN / 2
Markingsnone
DescriptionGrundmann was a prolific maker of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and flutes, and his instruments were highly praised for their tone and response. He was especially renowned for his oboes, which he often dated. When this boxwood and ivory example was made in 1784, it was two-keyed instrument. Ten additional keys were added, probably during the second quarter of the 19th century, and the original keys were also replaced at that time. The profile of this instrument, with its onion-shaped top baluster, sharply hooked center baluster, and bell with complex double flare, matches oboe type D2 as defined by oboist and scholar, Bruce Haynes, who characterizes this model as the “classical hautboy” featured in works of art from ca. 1770-1828.
DimensionsLength: 560 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1986 from Marco Tiella, Rovereto, Italy, who bought it in Genoa, about 1955.
Published ReferencesGeoffrey Burgess and Bruce Haynes, The Oboe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004).
Phillip T. Young, “Inventory of Instruments: J. H. Eichentopf, Poerschman, Sattler, A & H. Grenser, Grundmann,” Galpin Society Journal, XXXI (May 1978): 100-134.
Phillip T. Young, 4900 Historical Woodwind Instruments: an Inventory of 200 Makers in International Collections, London: Tony Bingham, 1993, pp. 114.
André P. Larson. Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848. With essay by John Koster. Exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003. Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003. Page 42.
According to note by André P. Larson, the photograph in Bruce Haynes, “Mozart and the Oboe,” Early Music 20:1 (February 1992): 7-29 which is captioned “Oboe by Jacob Friedrich Grundmann, dated 1784 (Vermillion, SD, Shrine to Music Museum, no. 3996), was supplied to the author by Cecil Adkins but is not in fact the Museum’s no. 3996.
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1986
Object number03996
On View
Not on view
