I have given the original date of composition, though I have slightly revised the piece to remove schoolboy embarrassments. I discovered it the other day, and it recalled so vividly my fascination with the lower and middle octave timbres of the oboe - an instrument that I had recently started learning, having been lent a lovely rosewood Loree by my school - that I found myself playing it. I think it has some validity; so here, for what it is worth, it is.