• Instrumentation: oboe & piano
• Composer: MACFARREN, Sir George Alexander (1813 - 1887)
• Difficulty Level: intermediate - advanced [ UK grade 6 -8]
• Duration: cca. 2:45"
• Genre: English Romantic (1860)
• 979070-8082-95-8

The oboe solo, opening Act III of the opera Robin Hood (1860) by G.A. Macfarren, makes a good stand-alone item for a concert or competition. It is beautiful and poignant with two contrasting sections in the style of a recitative and aria. Preluding the scene in which Robin Hood is to be executed, the oboe sings Maid Marion's lament True love, true love in my heart, treasured deep for thee I cherish and from me it will not part, though the world itself should perish. The oboe part includes a top F but an alternative note is offered for the less advanced or nervous performer.

SAMPLE:

Sir George Alexander Macfarren, the English Mendelssohn, was an English academic and composer, famous in his day and knighted by Queen Victoria for his services to music. He was also Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Professor of Music at Cambridge University, and a friend of Mendelssohn, with whom he shared a similar compositional style.