Instrument
Oboe sheet music
8,013 titles in the index · page 1 of 167
Oboe repertoire is dominated by the Baroque and Classical periods, which means most of what you want is out of copyright and legitimately free. What is not free is a good modern edition, and for this instrument the difference shows up in one specific place: breathing.
The listing below covers unaccompanied oboe, oboe with piano, concerti, chamber parts and study material.
Bohuslav Martinů - Nonet
- Flute
- Oboe
- violin
Couperin: Le Bavolet Flottant
- Oboe
Rameau: Les Tendres Plaintes
- Oboe
Dandrieu: Les Fifres
- Oboe
Damas: Complainte et Air de Danse
- Oboe
Pierne: Serenade
- Oboe
Faure: Berceuse
- Oboe
All And Some
- Piano
- Oboe
- violin
Balm In Gilead
- Piano
- Oboe
- violin
Sing Praise To God Who Reigns Above
- Piano
- Oboe
- violin
Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus
- Piano
- Oboe
- violin
Deep River
- Piano
- Cello
- Oboe
Go Down, Moses
- Piano
- Cello
- Oboe
Double Concerto
- Harp
- Oboe
- percussion
Slides
- Cello
- Flute
- Oboe
Strawchain
- Flute
- Oboe
- Bassoon
Credo
- Oboe
- Tenor
- Trombone
Fantasy Waltz
- Oboe
- Tuba
For Miles
- Cello
- Oboe
- violin
March
- Cello
- Flute
- Oboe
The Canary
- Oboe
A New Dance
- Oboe
Edward A. MacDowell - From Uncle Remus [Joplin, Scott]
- Piano
- Oboe
Ariel
- Oboe
Almost Fandango
- Oboe
Bavarian Forest
- Oboe
Novellette
- Oboe
Paso Double
- Oboe
Reflections
- Oboe
Valse Piquante
- Oboe
Laura's Lament
- Oboe
- Clarinet
- Saxophone
Powder Snow
- Flute
- Oboe
- Clarinet
Rock Steady
- Oboe
- Clarinet
- Saxophone
Soft Song
- Oboe
- Clarinet
- Saxophone
Wheels Within Wheels
- Flute
- Oboe
- Bassoon
Trio
- Oboe
Dance For A Gnome
- Piano
- Oboe
Soliloquy
- Oboe
Impromptu No.1
- Flute
- Oboe
Fantasy Quartet
- Oboe
- violin
- Viola
Trio No.1 In C
- Oboe
- violin
Devant la Cathedrale
- Flute
- Oboe
- Clarinet
Ronde Villageoise
- Flute
- Oboe
- Clarinet
Seguedille
- Flute
- Oboe
- Clarinet
Six Heine Songs
- Oboe
Der Asra
- Oboe
From 'Die Heimkehr'
- Oboe
Lumpentum
- Oboe
Buying guide
What to know before you buy
Breath marks and why editions differ
The oboe uses very little air at high pressure, so phrasing decisions are dictated as much by when you can breathe as by the music. A good performing edition marks breaths; a scholarly one leaves the page clean and expects you to decide. Neither is wrong, but a beginner working alone from an unmarked urtext is being handed a harder problem than they realise.
Free public-domain scans are typically nineteenth-century performing editions, which do mark breaths — often according to a style of playing that has since changed considerably.
Oboe, oboe d'amore and cor anglais
Three related instruments appear in the same catalogue. The oboe is in C and reads at concert pitch. The cor anglais (English horn) is in F and its parts are written a fifth higher than they sound. The oboe d'amore is in A. Bach in particular wrote for all three, and an edition that does not state which will cost you a rehearsal to discover.
Common questions
- Is oboe music written at concert pitch?
- The oboe itself is in C and reads at concert pitch. The cor anglais and oboe d'amore are transposing instruments — check which one an edition is written for before buying.
- Do I need an edition with breath marks?
- If you are working alone, they help considerably — oboe phrasing is constrained by breathing in a way most instruments are not. If you have a teacher, use whichever edition they use.
- Is there much free oboe music?
- A great deal. The Baroque and Classical repertoire — Albinoni, Marcello, Handel, Mozart — is out of copyright, and the standard study books with it.