Hautbois

As Printed on a Score

Hautbois (unchanged in the plural) labels the oboe staff in French scores, abbreviated Htb., Hb. or Hautb. It is written at sounding pitch in treble clef. Bach’s own scores also often say Hautbois for the oboe, and Hautbois d’amour is the oboe d’amore.

Abbreviations: Htb., Hb., Hautb.

How Composers Use It

The light, focused, flexible French oboe tone shaped how French composers wrote for it: pastoral solos, quick staccato wit, and long cantilenas over strings; Berlioz’s Scène aux champs sets an onstage cor anglais in dialogue with an offstage oboe. Write it at pitch from B-flat3, keep phrases breathable, and use it for melody that must be heard at modest dynamics.

Example

Ravel, Boléro: the oboe staff of the score is labelled with the abbreviation “Hautb.”

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