Its appearance differs from the oboe in that the instrument is notably longer, the reed is attached to a slightly curved metal tube called the bocal, or crook, and the bell has a bulbous shape ("Liebesfuß").

In late-18th- and early-19th-century Italy, where the instrument was often played by bassoonists instead of oboists, it was notated in the bass clef an octave below sounding pitch (as found in Rossini's Overture to William Tell).

[7] Examples of works requiring this note (while acknowledging its exceptional nature) include Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder, Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Heitor Villa-Lobos's Chôros No.

Antonín Dvořák, in his Scherzo capriccioso, even writes for the cor anglais down to low A, though it seems unlikely that such an extension ever existed.

[8] Reeds used to play the cor anglais are similar to those used for an oboe, consisting of a piece of cane folded in two.

Instruments are usually made from African blackwood (aka Grenadilla), although some makers offer instruments in a choice of alternative woods as well, such as cocobolo (Howarth) or violet wood (Lorée), which are said to alter the voice of the cor anglais slightly, producing a more mellow sound.

The instrument originated in Silesia about 1720 when a bulb bell was fitted to a curved oboe da caccia-type body by the Weigel family of Breslau.

[10] The earliest known orchestral part specifically for the instrument is in the Vienna version of Niccolò Jommelli's opera Ezio dating from 1749,[11] where it was given the Italian name corno inglese.

Many cor anglais parts were specially written for him by Stengel, Süssmayr, Paer, Winter, Weigl, Eberl, Eybler, Salieri, Hummel, Schacht and Fisher.

Due to the earlier bowed or angular forms it took, the suggestion has been made that anglais might be a corruption of Middle French anglé (angular, or bent at an angle, angulaire in modern French),[16] but this has been rejected on grounds that there is no evidence of the term cor anglé before it was offered as a possible origin of anglais in the late 19th century.

Oboe D'amore in movement 3 and Bass Oboe in movement 4) † Though concertante in nature, these are just orchestral works featuring extensive solos, with the player seated within the orchestra Better known chamber music for English horn includes: The English horn's timbre makes it well suited to the performance of expressive, melancholic solos in orchestral works (including film scores) as well as operas.