The aim of the project Anches ('Reeds') is to rediscover the historical sound of double-reed instruments (oboes, musettes and their variants), which played a central role in French baroque music, through in-depth work on the reed itself—its history, its making, and its reconstruction.

While the pursuit of “historical sound” has been the driving force behind early music research since its beginnings, the sound world of baroque double-reed instruments (oboe, musette, bassoon) remains largely inaccessible. Despite their central role in 17th- and 18th-century music, these instruments present several challenges: their ambiguous position between popular and learned culture, and above all the fact that their timbre depends largely on the reed—cane mouthpieces of which very few historical examples have survived, with scarce documentary evidence on their construction.

To address these issues, the Anches project breaks down disciplinary boundaries by studying the double reed from the perspectives of musical philology, long-term organology, and ethnomusicology. The research will encompass all baroque double-reed instruments, hitherto studied separately, and extend beyond chronological limits to include their predecessors and direct descendants: so-called “traditional” instruments (folk oboes and bagpipes) in France and around the Mediterranean basin.

Historical research (analysis of treatises and other textual sources; documentation and study of surviving historical reeds) will be combined with fieldwork on living knowledge linked to reed-making, from harvesting cane to producing sound. Theoretical investigations will be paired with an operative dimension: reed-making and musical performance, in dialogue with craftsmen and musicians.

Ultimately, this enquiry into the history of musical sound as a broad cultural phenomenon will not only deepen knowledge of the double-reed family but also, for the first time, provide the tools to approach the parameters of their historical sound, enabling scientifically informed performance practices.

Project tasks

1. Survey and analysis of surviving reeds from baroque oboes, bassoons and musettes; creation of a database of extant historical reeds; compilation of a documentary corpus of historical sources on reeds and the sound of baroque double-reed instruments.
2. Ethnomusicological fieldwork on double-reed making for orally transmitted instruments related to baroque musettes and oboes, in order to document living know-how (reed selection, tools, techniques, gestures, etc.).
3. Development and construction of copies of historical reeds for baroque instruments, reed-making tools, and historical reed-making protocols, in collaboration with craftsmen integrated into the project team.
4. Dissemination and sharing of research findings with musicologists, musicians and instrument makers.

Project impact

Beyond the long-term availability of both tangible (reeds, tools, materials) and intangible (datasets, drawings of tools and reeds, protocols for cane selection and reed-making) outputs, the Anches project seeks to:

• Fill a major gap in the organological knowledge of double-reed aerophones through exhaustive description and analysis of historical reeds.
• Bridge the divide between music history and ethnomusicology—and, more broadly, between historical studies and fieldwork—by bringing these two approaches together towards a common research goal.
• Address the neglect with which reeds, rare and significant artefacts, have so far been preserved; prevent further loss or destruction of surviving historical reeds.
• Collect, through fieldwork, intangible heritage of gestures and techniques before they disappear.
• Establish an innovative model of cooperation and exchange between heritage conservation professionals and today’s instrument makers, fostering a deeper understanding of past know-how that gave rise to these artefacts.
• Enable contemporary craftsmen to ground their work on direct observation and analysis of historical artefacts; restore to these artefacts a practical function and meaning as documents that can inform modern craftsmanship.
• Raise collective awareness within the early music community of the scale of the work required to meet the standards of truly “historically informed” performance.
• Allow musicians, for the first time, to play exact copies of original instruments without alteration, thus enabling a sound that comes as close as possible to historical parameters.
• Provide a framework for reflection and knowledge-sharing that restores autonomy to performers in reed-making; prevent strain injuries and accidents linked to reeds that are too difficult to play.
• Counteract the erosion of musicians’ connection with natural materials and traditional craftsmanship.