Heckelphone / Bass Oboe Repertoire

Excerpt: Film scores using heckelphone (chronological)

by Peter Hurd; reorganized and amended by Holger Hoos, editor-in-chief since 2020

version 2 (1 February 2022)

This collection is based on the catalogue of musical works requiring heckelphone or bass oboe instrumentation assembled by Peter Hurd beginning in 1998. For this new edition, the original version of the repertoire list has been edited for accuracy, completeness and consistency, and it has been extended with a number of newly discovered pieces.

Some entries could not (yet) be rigorously verified for accuracy; these were included nonetheless, to provide leads for future investigation, but are marked clearly. Pieces were selected for inclusion based solely on the use of heckelphone, bass oboe or lupophone, without any attempt at assessing their artistic merit. Arrangements of pieces not originally intended for these instruments were included when there was clear evidence that they had found a significant audience.

We gratefully acknowledge contributions by Crawford Best, Ulrich Brokamp, Michael Finkelman, Francis Firth, Alain Girard, Thomas Hiniker, Robert Howe, Gunther Joppig, Georg Otto Klapproth, Mark Perchanok, Andrew Shreeves and Michael Sluman.

1930-1939

Steiner, Max (1888-1971): Gone with the Wind (film), 1939

Publisher: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Remarks: adapted from the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell; heckelphone part played by Don Christlieb on heckelphone #33, according to Howe & Hurd (2004)

Duration: 221min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.


1940-1949

Raksin, David (1912-2004): Laura (film), 1944

Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox

Remarks: heckelphone part played by Don Christlieb on heckelphone #33, according to Howe & Hurd (2004)

Duration: 88min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

Waxman, Franz (1906-1967): Objective Burma! (film), 1945

Publisher: Warner Brothers

Remarks: the original score (with arrangements by Leonid Raab) used heckelphone, while the 2005 Naxos re-recording (arranged by John Morgen) used bass oboe instead

Duration: 142min

Tags: heckelphone, bass oboe; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

Steiner, Max (1888-1971): The Woman in White (film), 1948

Publisher: Warner Brothers

Remarks: based on the 1860 novel by Wilkie Collins

Duration: 109

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here.

Kaper, Bronisław (1902-1983): Secret Garden (film, 1949  [??]this entry has not (yet) been verified

Publisher: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Remarks: based upon the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Duration: 89min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here.


1950-1959

Kaper, Bronisław (1902-1983): Green Mansions (film), 1959  [??]this entry has not (yet) been verified

Publisher: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Remarks: based upon the 1904 novel by William Henry Hudson

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here.


1960-1969

North, Alex (1910-1991): Spartacus (film), 1960

Publisher: Universal International

Remarks: orchestrations by Alex North, Maurice de Packh, Samuel Matlovsky, Arthur Morton, Edward B. Powell and David Tamkin

Duration: 39min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

Amram, David (1930-): The Manchurian Candidate (film), 1962

Publisher: MC Productions

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

North, Alex (1910-1991): The Agony and the Ecstasy (film), 1965

Publisher: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Duration: 138min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

North, Alex (1910-1991): The Devil's Brigade (film), 1968

Publisher: United Artists

Remarks: heckelphone played by Charles Gould

Duration: 130min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

Shankar, Ravi (1920-2012): Charly (film), 1968  [?]this entry is only partially verified

Publisher: Cinerama Releasing Corporation

Remarks: based on Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes; premiere on 28 June 1968 in Berlin, Germany

Duration: 106min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

Blyton, Carey (1932-2002): Before the Party (TV play), 1969

Remarks: adaption of a short story by Somerset Maugham; received the 1970 Drama Series Production Award of the Society of Film and Television Arts; featuring Aubrey Johnson on heckelphone

Duration: 19min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here.


1980-1989

Perry, William (1930-): The Mysterious Stranger (film), 1982

Publisher: PBS

Remarks: orchestrations by Richard Hayman and Elman Anderson

Duration: 1h28

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.


1990-1999

Elfman, Danny (1953-): Mars Attacks! (film), 1996

Publisher: Tim Burton Productions

Duration: 106min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

Arnold, David (1962-): Godzilla (film), 1998

Publisher: Columbia Pictures

Duration: 139min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.


2000-2009

Kamen, Michael (1948-2003): X-Men (film), 2000  [??]this entry has not (yet) been verified

Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox

Duration: 104min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.

Cody, Joshua: A Journey That Wasn't (film), 2005

Remarks: Filmed on 20 October 2005 in Central Park, New York City, NY (USA) as part of a public performance involving 40 musicians. The score calls for a standard string and percussion sections along with a woodwind section including heckelphone, tubax in E-flat, contra-alto clarinet, contra-bass clarinet and contrabassoon, along with an electric guitar, a sackbut and a theremin. The heckelphone part was played by Harry Searing on heckelphone #26.

Duration: 23min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here.

Gilberti, Adam (1981-): Soul Diaspora, 2009  [??]this entry has not (yet) been verified

Tags: heckelphone; film music


2010-2019

Farber, Andy (1969-): Star Trek Continues, Episode 5 (film) (“Divided We Stand”), 2015

Remarks: the heckelphone part was played by Harry Searing

Duration: 15min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here.

Mychael Danna (1958-): The Man Who Invented Christmas (film), 2017

Publisher: Elevation Pictures / Wildcard Distribution

Remarks: the soundtrack has been released as an album by Universal Music; heckelphone can be heard prominently in various parts, including "Humbug", "Scrooge Appears" and "The Second Ghost"

Duration: 104min

Tags: heckelphone; film music

Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.


To suggest additions or corrections to the repertoire list, please contact heckelphone@gmx.net.
All rights reserved by Peter Hurd and Holger H. Hoos, 2022.