The Heckelphon

The Heckelphon which resembles the oboe in its construction but is, however, twice as large, stands in C and is notated in the violin clef, however, it sounds one octave deeper. Its deepest tone is the notated a, that sounds like an A.

Because of its strongly conical bore and the spherical sound bell the Heckelphon has a rich sonorous but also pleasing tone.

The sound, flourishing and rich of harmonious tones as well as baritone-masculine sounds, which gives creates the impression of listening to a human voice, is soft and charming at the same time.

The idea to create this instrument was initiated by Richard Wagner, who suggested at the occasion of a visit of Wilhelm Heckel in 1879: ".... A sound factor of the kind of double reed instruments was missing, which was one octave lower than the oboe; the instrument should combine the character of the oboe with the soft, however, powerful sound of the Alpenhorn....."


Many years passed until the first Heckelphon was presented to the public in 1904 in the "Villa Wahnfried" of Bayreuth. Until this moment the attempts to create a oboe in the baritone register were not crowned with too much success. Because of the enlargement of the diapason and the spherical sound bell of the Heckelphon an instrument was created that was suitable for the use in the orchestra with respect to its sound, intonation and expressiveness.

The standard version comprises a full conservatory finger position system with trills for F#/G#,C#/D#,c²/d²,h/c# and as/b as well as rubber rollers on C and Es for the right small finger.

Three "S"-bocals of different length facilitate the individual tuning of the instrument.