oboe da caccia

[Melvinutino]

an alto oboe; precursor of the English horn

[Tayyaba]

The oboe da caccia (pronounced [ˈɔːboe da (k)ˈkattʃa]; literally hunting oboe in Italian), also sometimes referred to as an oboe da silva, is a double reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family, pitched a fifth below the oboe and used primarily in the Baroque period of European classical music. It has a curved tube, and in the case of instruments by Eichentopf (and modern copies of same), a brass bell, unusual for an oboe.
Its range is close to that of the cor anglais—that is, from the F below middle C (notated C4 but sounding F3) to the D above the treble staff (notated D6 but sounding G5). The oboe da caccia is thus a transposing instrument in F. The notated range is identical to that of the soprano baroque oboe, and with a good reed, all registers speak very easily. Johann Sebastian Bach tended to favor the middle and lowest registers, however, perhaps because they are the most characteristic ones for this instrument.