The term “hautboistes” can by no means be translated as “oboists” or “oboe players”, since besides the mastery of various oboes and bassoons, skills on many other instruments were expected of them. The repertoire of the hautboistes ensembles included a wealth of diverse kinds of Gebrauchsmusik. They played dance music, marched in funeral processions, joined with the town musicians in cantata church services, and played whenever music was required at official events. A representative selection of such music, featuring compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann, is offered on this CD.

The members of the ensemble les hautboïstes de prusse, founded in 1996 by Georg Corall, endeavour to bring out the tonal and technical characteristics of historical oboe instruments. Double reeds scraped in the historical manner are in many ways more flexible and versatile in terms of timbre and dynamics than their modern versions. The ensemble has performed at the Göttingen Handel Festival, the Music Festival Potsdam Sanssouci, the Hohenloher Kultursommer, as well as at festivals in the USA and Australia, and has collaborated with other ensembles on a number of CD and radio recordings.

les hautboïstes de prusse:
- Georg Corall (baroque oboe, oboe d’amore)
- Eva Grießhaber (baroque oboe, oboe d’amore)
- Britta Hinrichs (taille de hautbois)
- Nikolaus M Broda (baroque bassoon)
- Stephan Katte (natural horn)
- Fabio Forgiarini (natural horn)