The idea of the heckelphone, introduced in 1904, goes back to Richard Wagner, who in 1879, during a visit to Wilhelm Heckel, longed for an instrument that sounded an octave lower than the oboe, and at the same time possessed the soft and powerful sound of the Alpenhorn.
The was due, in particular, to its bore length and spherical bell, also called love foot, the heckelphone produces a sonorous tone, while retaining its soft and lovely sound