Orchestral woodwind instrument , a large oboe pitched a 5th below the ordinary oboe.
It has a bent metal crook, to hold the double reed, and a bulbous bell. It is a transposing instrument (its music written in a different tone than it actually sounds) in F. It is neither English nor a horn; in its original name, cor anglais , cor ("horn") referred to its original hornlike curved shape, but the source of anglais ("English") is a mystery. It has remained a basically orchestral instrument since its first appearance с 1750.