Oboists, both as performing artists and educators, can rarely avoid the prospect of auditioning for an orchestra position. Therefore, it is wise to have a thorough knowledge of the most frequently asked oboe and English horn solos from the orchestral repertoire. Since this survey was also conducted in 1975, the changing trends, if any exist, in oboe audition repertoire over a period of ten years will be shown. Reference will be taken from Dr. James C. Prodan's article "A Survey: Oboe Auditions."[1]
Initially, a list of orchestras in the United States, and their addresses, needed to be obtained. With cooperation from the American Symphony Orchestra League a formal listing of major orchestras was obtained.[2] After a period of three months the audition requirements from a total of forty-four orchestras had been acquired. This will be compared to the fourteen orchestras that responded in 1975. These include:
Austin
Alabama
Atlanta
Boston
Buffalo
Charlotte
Cincinnati
Denver
Detroit
Florida Philharmonic
Florida Symphony Orchestra
Fort Worth
Grand Rapids
Hartford
Honolulu
Houston
Hudson
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Long Beach
Louisville
Milwaukee
Minnesota
Nashville
New Haven
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Oakland
Oregon
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Richmond
St. Louis
San Antonio
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Springfield
Syracuse
Toledo
Utah
Wichita
Six of the listed orchestras required sightreading as part of the audition process. Many of the orchestras required the oboist to prepare a solo composition as well.
Solo of choice....7
Handel Concerto in G....1
Haydn Concerto....1
Hindemith Concerto....1
Marcello Concerto....2
Mozart Concerto....3
Strauss Concerto....2
Telemann Sonata No. 4....1
The audition requirements for oboe are listed below. The left
column lists the frequency for orchestral works requested in 1985
auditions. The right column lists the frequency of orchestral
works requested for 1975 auditions.
Bach through Debussy
Dukas through Mozart
Below is listed the frequency of orchestral compositions requested at auditions for English horn in 1985. There is no comparison due to the unavailability of 1975 English horn audition information.
There was only one orchestra that required a prepared English horn solo. The requested composition was the Hindemith Sonata for English horn and piano.
After comparing the audition requirements, it has been concluded that there has been no significant changes in oboe audition requirements during the past decade. The works that remain the most frequently asked are: (in order of frequency)
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
Ravel Tombeau de Couperin
Rossini Scala di Seta Overture
Strauss Don Juan
Brahms Concerto, violin
Brahms Symphony No. I
Brahms Symphony No. 2
Debussy La Mer
Beethoven Symphony No. 7
About the writer...
Brent Register is presently completing the Doctor of Musical
Arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
He holds the Bachelor of Music Education from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro and the Master of Music from the
Manhattan School of Music, where he concentrated on English horn
performance with Thomas Stacy. He is English hornist of the Greensboro
Symphony and oboist with the Greensboro Symphony Woodwind Quintet.
NOTES
1. Dr. James
C. Prodan, "The Oboe Audition: A Survey," Woodwind
World - Brass and Percussion, July-August 1978, pp. 16-17.
2.
Scott Kralik c/o American Symphony Orchestra League; 633 E
Street N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20004
