Englischhorn

As Printed on a Score

The German label for the cor anglais, also printed Englisches Horn (Mahler) or Englisch Horn, abbreviated Engl. H., Engl. Hr. or E.H. It is written in treble clef a perfect fifth above the sound. An oboist usually doubles, so the change appears in the oboe staff. In a timpani part, “in E. H.” means tune to E and B (German H), not English horn.

Abbreviations: E.H., Engl. Hr., Engl. Hrn., Engl. H.

Also spelled: Englisch Horn, Englisch-Horn, Englisches Horn

How Composers Use It

German Romantic scores use the cor anglais as the dark voice of the oboe section, often played by the third oboist: Wagner gave it the shepherd’s long lament in Act III of Tristan und Isolde, and Mahler and Strauss use it for melancholy or pastoral color. Write it in F, a fifth above sounding, from written B3, and plan the doubling oboist’s changes as carefully as the notes.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, third movement (Scherzo), oboe staff (“Drei Hoboen.”), m. 201: “Hoboe 3 nimmt Englisches Horn.” — the third oboist switches to cor anglais.

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