Excerpt: Compositions for Piccolo Heckelphone
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.
Andreyev, Samuel (1981-): Moving, 2005-2006
Publisher: Edition Impronta
Remarks: for piccolo heckelphone, viola and piano; revised 2015 for musette, viola and piano
Duration: 9min
Tags: piccolo heckelphone; chamber music
Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.
Hamel, Micha (1970-): Snow White, op. 34, 2004-2007
Publisher: Donemus
Remarks: tragic operetta, after the novel 'Snow White' by Donald Barthelme; premiere on 19 January 2008 in Enschede, Netherlands
Duration: 150min
Tags: heckelphone, piccolo heckelphone; orchestra
Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.
Hespos, Hans Joachim (1938-): Fahl-Brüchig, 1971
Publisher: Verlag Neue Musik (NM1887)
Remarks: for piccolo heckelphone, basset horn and cello
Duration: 6min
Tags: piccolo heckelphone; chamber music
Additional information can be found here.
Hespos, Hans Joachim (1938-): O: Kammermusik für Orchester, 1976
Publisher: Verlag Neue Musik (NM2134)
Remarks: for orchestra
Duration: 21min
Tags: piccolo heckelphone; orchestra
Additional information can be found here.
Monteverdi, Claudio (1567-1643): L'Orfeo (adaptation by Carl Orff), 1923
Remarks: opera in three acts; first version with parts for two "soprano heckelphones" to substitute for the cornetts used in the original version; premiere on 17 April 1925 in Mannheim, Germany
Duration: 60min
Tags: piccolo heckelphone; opera, multiple
Additional information can be found here.
Schorno, Daniel (1963-): garden of dream / folie à deux, 2006
Remarks: 'pocket opera' after the novel 'Folie à deux' by Rebecca Brown; for oboe, electronic piccolo heckelphone, soprano and sound objects; premiere on 28 July 2006 in Stuttgart, Germany, by STEIM with Ernest Rombaut (piccolo heckelphone)
Tags: piccolo heckelphone; opera
Additional information can be found here.
Vogt, Hans (1911-1992): Antiphonen (Fassung für 5 Oboeninstrumente), 1975
Publisher: Bote & Bock
Remarks: for piccolo heckelphone/musette, oboe, oboe d’amore, cor anglais, heckelphone and organ; commissioned by Georg Meerwein; premiere on 2 October 1979
Tags: heckelphone, piccolo heckelphone; chamber music
Additional information can be found here.