Vox humana

Vox humana (Lat.: human voice), 1. in 18th-c. England a straight form of tenor oboe (see: taille des hautbois) made in 2 sections, without bell, terminating in a slight flare, with its double reed carried on a crook. The pitch was that of the tenor oboe (15, 89); 2. organ stop of regal pipes of Fr. invention, with short resonators covered by a lid. Mersenne gives the oldest known scale, a non-progressive one with a diam. of 27 mm. for all resonators. Gottfried Silbermann seems to have…