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Horn
(Fr. cor, cor d’harmonie; cor à pistons [valve horn]; cor simple, cor à main [hand horn];
cor de chasse, huchet, trompe de chasse [hunting horn]. Ger. Horn; Ventilhorn [valve
horn]; Naturhorn [hand horn]; Hiefhorn, Hifthorn, Jagdhorn, Waldhorn [hunting horn].
It. corno; corno a macchina [valve horn]; corno a mano, corno naturale [hand horn];
corno da caccia, tromba da caccia [hunting horn]. Sp. trompa; trompa da caza
[hunting horn]).
A term that refers, in its broadest sense, to a variety of wind instruments usually of the lip-reed
class. A distinction often drawn between horns and trumpets is that the bore of a trumpet is
mainly cylindrical, that of a horn mainly conical. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system,
however, horns are considered to be within the family of trumpets (see AEROPHONE). Horns used
for signalling (and sounding perhaps only one note) have been fashioned from conches, animal
horns etc., as well as metal. Horns capable of playing many notes usually consist of a conical
brass (or other metal) tube in a curved, coiled or hooped shape. By virtue of its length and slender
proportions the horn can be made to sound a larger number of notes in its natural harmonic
series than can other brass instruments.
This article is concerned with the European orchestral horn, often referred to as the ‘french horn’,
probably in recognition of its country of origin, but nowadays the adjective is normally omitted. For
a discussion of non-European horns and further details relating to horns as members of the
trumpet family see TRUMPET, §§1–2.
See also ORGAN STOP.
1. General.
(i) Construction of the modern horn.
The modern horn comprises five parts: the body, bell, mouthpiece, mouthpipe and valve system.
The instrument may be made of brass alloy (copper and zinc in varying proportions) or nickel
silver (brass with a small amount of nickel), and consists mainly of a tube in the form of a circle.
The bore is slightly conical beginning at the hole for the mouthpiece, with a cylindrical central
section (the valve system) followed by a fairly pronounced dilation of the tubing terminating in the
wide flare of the bell, which reaches a diameter of about 30 cm. This profile influences the
intonation of the instrument’s natural harmonics, its timbre and the power of sound produced.
Since the second half of the 19th century, makers and players have tended to favour a wider bore
in order to obtain a more vigorous sound. The bell, which is held facing downwards and to the
back, is either fixed, or may be unscrewed for ease of transport. The player’s right hand is held
inside the bell to support the instrument, adjust the intonation, or to obtain particular timbral
effects.
The mouthpiece is generally made out of a single piece of metal (or sometimes another material,
such as plastic). It is in the form of an inverse cone, with the cavity (‘cup’) sometimes slightly
concave, tapering down to a narrow opening (‘throat’; between 3·1 and 5·1 mm) out of which
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comes an inversely conical tube (‘backbore’) which is inserted in to the mouthpipe (for illustration
see MOUTHPIECE). In some cases the modern mouthpiece has a rim that can be screwed on or
else pressed in by means of rubber packing, which means that its lower part can be replaced and
the dimensions of the internal cavity varied without necessitating a change in the rim favoured by
the performer. The horn mouthpiece produces a softer and more mellow tone than the shallow,
cup-shaped trumpet mouthpiece, which favours a brilliant tone. The mouthpipe constitutes the
initial part of the tubing, and connects to a section with a slightly conical bore (the conicity varies
depending on the model of instrument); this section usually includes the general tuning-slide (a
piece of U-shaped tubing with two tenon connections, or, more rarely, one tenon and the other
mortise). This in turn connects to the valve system, which fills up the area inside the circular body
of the instrument and comprises the valves with their corresponding removable loops (the ‘valve
loops’); the valves are worked by the player’s left hand. The whole tubing in this part of the
instrument, unlike the remainder, has a cylindrical bore.
The valves may be of various types (see VALVE (I)), but in the modern horn it is normal to use
rotary valves, more rarely pistons and rarer still double pistons (such as are found in the ‘Vienna’
horn). The normal purpose of these devices is to lengthen (in exceptional cases, to shorten), the
tubing of the horn. Modern horns generally have four valves, although there can be as many as
six. ‘Single’ horns, which have three valves, are pitched in B or F; on ‘double’ horns the fourth
valve transforms the instrument from one pitch to another. Most of the notes within the compass
of the double horn are common to several series, which gives the performer a liberal choice of
alternative fingerings. The usual range of the horn is from B ′ to f″ (with some further notes
available in the upper and lower registers). On shorter horns (above F) notes above the 12th
partial sound with difficulty, but the fundamental (1st partial) is more easily obtainable than on the
longer horns. (For illustration of the series of partials available on natural and three-valve brass
instruments, see VALVE (I), ex.1 and ex.2.)
(ii) The double horn.
Of the several varieties of valve horn in use, the most common is the double horn in F/B with four
valves. This is the model normally employed in the orchestra, and the one which players
customarily use when they first begin to learn the instrument. The double horn has two
independent sections of tubing of different lengths, one in F and the other a 4th higher in B
(referred to respectively as ‘F horn’ and ‘B horn’), in the central part of the body containing the
valves. With the use of the thumb valve it is possible to select either of the two sections (on many
models depressing the thumb key brings on the B section and releasing it causes the switch
back to F). The B horn is the one most used by modern horn players (to the extent that the
section in F has become almost an unused accessory), although the horn was traditionally
pitched in F. Increasing demands on players’ technical and artistic abilities have led many to
adopt the B tubing as an acceptable compromise between security and precision of intonation
(which is more easily obtainable with the shorter tube length) and beauty of sound. The B horn is
approximately 270 cm in length (based on the modern pitch of a′ = 440), and the F horn measures
approximately 369 cm.
Depressing the first of the three finger valves lowers the instrument by a tone, the second by a
semitone and the third lowers the horn by one and a half tones. However, while with the
application of the individual valves the column of air is correctly lengthened, when two or more
valves are combined the overall length of tubing engaged is shorter than required (whether the
horn is in B or F) and the intonation consequently sharpens. The most problematic
combinations are the first and third valves and (even more so) all three together; these
combinations are so sharp on the F horn that in practice they are only used to obtain C and B′
(notes that can be corrected by lip technique). On the B horn these fingerings can be completely
avoided since the notes they obtain can be played more accurately in alternative positions on the
F horn. From the many alternative fingerings available to the player, two principal systems have
emerged: the first employs the B horn for most of the range, making use of the F horn for the
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missing notes in the low register (B′–F) or else to pitch more accurately those notes which on
certain instruments can be particularly out of tune (e.g. b or c′); in the second the B horn is used
from G ′ to B ′ (in practice, the notes obtainable with the various combinations of valves starting
from the fundamental B ′), the F horn from B′ to c′, and the B horn for the remainder of the range
(Table 1).
Various other double-horn systems have been devised, each of which have some specific
advantages. Before the conventional type became established there was considerable
experimentation with ‘compensating systems’. On one such type the F set of (which attempt to
‘compensate’ for the intonation problems inherent in the valve combinations) is ‘dependent’ on
the B set: when the player uses the B section the air passes through the B valve loops only,
but the F horn uses the B valve loops in addition to its own set in order to correct the intonation.
This system uses a smaller amount of tubing and therefore the instrument is lighter and cheaper;
however, since the air has to follow a more tortuous route the sound obtained is much less
satisfactory, and the instrument is consequently less popular with professional players.
In the wake of the double horn, to help with playing high-lying parts typical of the Baroque and
some Classical repertory, the horn in B /F alto (an octave above the normal F) was developed,
probably by Kalison in Milan in 1955 and soon after experimented with by German makers such
as Alexander (Mainz) and Helmut Finke (Herford). This instrument is constructed on the same
principle as the conventional double horn, but often with an extra valve in the B section to lower
the range of the instrument by three-quarters of a tone to correct the intonation of hand-stopped
notes (see §1(iii) below) which would otherwise sound sharp. Other models were devised
according to the preferences of particular players. There are, for example, double horns in B /B
soprano and F/F alto, as well as the triple horn in F/B /F alto (see §3(ii) below) which, though
heavier than the others, works more effectively and has been quite popular with professional
players. There have been further attempts to improve performance of the instrument in the more
awkward keys. One of these was the ‘omnitonic’ horn (see §2(i) below and fig.10 below) invented
by Hermann Prager in 1918 and built by Knopf of Markneukirchen (mostly between 1933 and
1937), based on a complicated mechanism of six ascending and descending valves which made
the instrument very heavy (see Morley-Pegge, 1973, pp.66–8). Another model was patented by
Paul Geyer of Schwerin in 1924: this has an additional semitone valve which allows the basic
tuning to be lowered from B to A and from F to E, and has had a certain amount of success. This
instrument is useful both for playing difficult passages in sharp keys as well as for
‘compensating’ on the B horn for the otherwise sharp intonation of stopped notes.
(iii) Types of single horn.
Long before the modern double horn became established, the instrument that was widely used
by professional players was pitched in a single key, either F, or, later, B . The single course of
tubing made it very light and easy to handle and, because the tubing was less twisted and there
was a well-balanced relationship between its diameter and the expansion of the bell, a good
sound was easier to produce. The single horn, particularly the version in B , therefore survived for
a long time, even after the establishment of the double horn. One problem with the single horn is
the tendency for the pitch of hand-stopped notes to rise because of the effective shortening of the
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Trompe (hunting horn), 1604
(Stadsmuseum Hof van
Busleyden, Mechelen)
tubing that results. While on the horn in F the pitch rises by a semitone, on the B instrument this
shortening is quite excessive, and a correcting valve to lower the pitch by three-quarters of a tone
is required. Eventually some makers preferred to add a further section of tubing (and the
corresponding valve) to the B instrument, to obtain the partials of a horn in F.
Of the various types of single horn that were widely used in the past, the most common type of F
horn from the second half of the 19th century until the 1920s was the ‘German’ horn. This had a
slide-crook which also served as a master tuning-slide, a particularly broad bell, a strictly conical
mouthpiece with a flat-edged rim and a bore which measured up to 11·5 mm in the cylindrical
valve section (thus wider than all other models).
The ‘Vienna’ horn is essentially a type of natural orchestral horn with characteristic double-piston
Vienna valves of the type developed by Josef Kail and Joseph Riedl in 1823 (see VALVE (I)); with
some improvements patented in 1830 by Leopold Uhlmann, it is still used, uniquely, by the
Vienna PO. It has a much larger bell with a greater flare than average, but the bore is reduced to
an average of about 10·7 mm; the instrument still uses detachable crooks, which have been
abandoned on all other valve horns. The F crook is completely conical, while the B one is a
simple short tube which, once inserted, necessitates replacing the slides of the valves with other,
shorter ones.
The French preferred a model which preserved the characteristic structure of the natural
(valveless) horn that had been built from the 18th century onwards by Raoux of Paris. It has
crooks at the mouthpipe, and a piston machine which can sometimes be replaced with a simple
slide to transform it into a genuine hand horn. Another characteristic feature is the ‘ascending
third valve’ (invented by Halary (iii) in about 1847) which in normal position allows the air to pass
through the corresponding slide, but when depressed cuts out the slide so as to raise the pitch of
the instrument by a tone. The bore varies from 10·8 to 11 mm; the tone is clear and balanced, but
rather sour in the bass register, in the region of the 3rd partial. This instrument faithfully reflects
the characteristics of the cor solo (see §2(iii) below), and was often played with hand-horn
technique (the pistons then serving exclusively to alter the basic pitch); the famous solo in Ravel’s
Pavane pour une infante défunte (1910) was intended for this usage. The same model, but with a
normal third valve lowering the pitch by three semitones was particularly widely used in Britain up
until the 1930s.
The various innovations made to help horn players tackle particularly high-lying pieces led
instrument makers to construct valve horns in higher keys than normal. At the end of the 19th
century the horn player F.A. Gumbert [Gumpert] used a horn in F alto for Siegfried’s horn call
(Wagner’s Ring) and subsequently horns in G alto (some with an additional slide in F) and B
soprano were also made. In addition, a curious model (probably invented by the firm of Riedl in
Vienna) was particularly widespread in Italy and Austria during the 19th century. This instrument
had the valves turned round 180° (i.e. ranged close to the bell) so that they could be worked by the
right hand, which made it quite impossible for the player to place a hand inside the bell. Single
horns in E (or sometimes in F) with a right-hand action and the bell on the left are still widely
found in bands. They replicate the normal fingering of all the other brass band instruments and
are generally given to the youngest recruits.
2. History to c1800.
(i) Development of the natural horn.
The many types of horn used in Europe prior to the emergence in
17th-century France of the broad circle, or hooped, horn (on which
future developments of the orchestral horn were based) are
illustrated in Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle of 1636–7. Two of
these models had a dominant role in the subsequent history of the
instrument: the trompe, a hunting horn made in a crescent shape
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with a single coil in the tubing, used throughout Europe, and the cor à plusieurs tours, being much
longer and close-coiled in spiral form. The trompe, which is also illustrated in Jacques du
Fouilloux’s treatise La vénerie (?1561) and Praetorius’s Theatrum instrumentorum (1620, pl.xxii),
was described by Mersenne as the horn most commonly used for hunting (it was later replaced
by the hooped horn in France), although there seem to be only two examples extant, one dating
from the first half of the 17th century, now in the Historisches Museum, Dresden, the other dating
from 1604 (now in Mechelen, fig.1; there is a copy in the Museum of Musical Instruments,
Brussels Conservatory). Mersenne declared (clearly referring to France) that the spiral model was
little used. However, there is evidence of such a model in Virdung (Musica getutscht, Basle, 1511)
and other documentation referring to the region around upper Saxony and northern Bohemia
where the instrument was associated with the trumpet repertory heard in the courts. Iconographic
sources for the spiral horn, again with reference to hunting, include engravings by Wenceslaus
Hollar (1607–77; for illustration see Morley-Pegge, 1973, pl.I, 2) and The Bath of Diana by
Hendrick van Balen (c1574/5–1632). Among the surviving examples of horns, the oldest is by
Valentin Springer and dates from about 1570 (see Heyde, 1986, pl.86); another was made in
Dresden before 1668 (Heyde, 1986, pl.87), and there is a third by Haas, dating from 1688
(formerly in the Trompetenmuseum, Bad Säckingen, no.21401).
The spiral horn raises a difficult question of terminology. This instrument was sometimes
referred to as a ‘horn’ (‘Jeger horn’, Virdung, 1511), sometimes a ‘trumpet’ (‘Jägertrommet’,
PraetoriousTM, pl.viii), and sometimes either, indiscriminately. Although Mersenne termed the
spiral model a cor and the single-coil one a trompe, he was not always careful to differentiate
between the two, seeming to use cor in a more generic sense than trompe. Notwithstanding,
therefore, the lively modern debate among some scholars as to which category, horn or trumpet,
some surviving examples of the helical instrument belong, there was no clear distinction between
the two at the time. Nevertheless, according to modern criteria, the spiral instruments should
generally be classified as horns (see Tarr, 1988, p.8). Praetorius himself maintained that ‘some
trumpets built like post horns, that is coiled like a serpent, do not give the same sort of sound as
a trumpet’ (PraetoriusSM, ii, p.33).
Both the trompe and the spiral horn seem to have played fundamental, though different roles in
the adoption during the first half of the 17th century of hunting signals with more elaborate
melodic lines than used previously. In France, for example, the signal for the sighting of the stag
given by Du Fouilloux and Mersenne consisted of three short notes followed by one long one; by
1705 Philidor could notate signals with melodic fragments based on the notes of a major chord
(see SIGNAL (I), §2). This may have been the result of the introduction of the trompe which, due to
its longer tubing, was able to sound the fifth partial (i.e. the 3rd of the chord). In Germany and
Bohemia it seems that the tradition of horn signals developed in a similar way, but was
influenced by the repertory of court trumpeters. Typically, the French hunting signals utilized triple
time (particularly suited to the trot of a horse), while in Germany and Bohemia the pace was
faster, and, most importantly, the signals given in duple time, similar to that of contemporary
trumpet repertory.
Mersenne gave some advice about the formation of a hunting horn ensemble, plainly referring to
the use of older forms of horn:
"If hunters wish to have the pleasure of playing together in four or more parts
with their horns, it is fairly easy, as long as they are able to play the right notes,
and adjust the length and breadth of their trompes observing the same ratios as
organ pipes: for example, if the largest horn is six feet long, it will play a 5th
lower against the one which is 4 feet long. I write elsewhere that their breadth
must be in the ratio of 3:2. And if one adds a third horn, three foot in length, it will
play a 4th above the second, so that the three will make a perfect trio, and play
the three main notes of the first mode: and it will be easy to add three or four
others to them to play the other chords."
Partly on the basis of this valuable piece of documentation, it is necessary to reconsider some
deeply-held convictions on the earliest music for natural horn, whereby a role is mistakenly
attributed to Italy which in fact it did not play. Firstly, the presence of a horn in Michelangelo
Rossi’s Erminia sul Giordano of 1633 has to be ruled out, since the score makes reference only
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to a ‘chorus of hunters’, with no explicit quotation of identifiable hunting signals (see Fitzpatrick,
1970, p.5). On the other hand, the term ‘chiamata alla caccia’ in Cavalli’s Le nozze di Teti e di
Peleo (1639) might indeed be a reference to a group of horns (see CHIAMATA), although, given the
date of composition, it cannot be assumed that hooped horns were used. The piece is written for
strings rather than horns, although it obviously mimics music for a hunting horn ensemble of the
type described by Mersenne but with the parts written in the lower octave to make them suit the
string tessitura. Only one iconographic source supports a possible tradition of hooped horns in
early 17th-century Italy, the anonymous Figure con strumenti musicali e boscarecci (attributed to
Giovanni Battista Bracelli, fl 1616–50; see Heinitz, 1929, pl.III, 1); this seems rather suspect, not
least as it shows a close affinity with the bizarre illustrations by the famous French engraver
Jacques Callot (1592–1635). Otherwise the only models of which there is evidence in Italy seem
in fact to have been semicircular (made of animal horn or metal), or of the trompe type.
Some odd representations of hooped horns which appear in some very old iconographic sources
are worthy of mention. One example is carved on a choir stall at Worcester Cathedral, dating from
the end of the 14th century, and another is depicted in the Grüninger edition of Virgil (Strasbourg,
1502). While it is difficult to arrive at a totally convincing explanation for them, it is likely that they
sprang from the artist’s imagination, or else that they were influenced by the iconography of the
circular Roman cornu (such influence is obvious, for example, in Giulio Romano’s frescoes of
1524–35 in the Palazzo del Te, Mantua).
The first fully circular horns (trompes de chasse) were probably used in a comédie-ballet by Lully,
La Princesse d’Elide, given at Versailles in 1664. The score contains an Air des valets des chiens
et des chasseurs avec Cors de chasse, while the libretto makes explicit reference both to cors and
trompes de chasses; the appearance of the new instrument on this occasion, however, is also
documented by an engraving by Israël Silvestre, Les plaisirs de l’Isle enchantée, ou les festes et
divertissemens du Roy à Versailles (published c1676), which portrays a scene from the comedy,
and is probably the earliest iconographic representation of true hooped horns. Another important
source of documentation is provided by Cardinal Flavio Chigi, papal legate at the court of France,
who in the same year, 1664, again at Versailles, attended a curée (feeding some of the prey to the
hounds to the sound of instruments) during which his attention was caught by ‘alcune trombe
ritorte’ (‘some bent trumpets’; Lionnet, 1996). Also at Versailles, in the Salon de Diane, the
hooped horn appeared on some hunting trophies carved between the end of the 1670s and 1682,
while the earliest surviving example of the instrument is the one made by Hieronimus Starck of
Nuremberg in 1667 (now in the Musikhistorisk Museum, Copenhagen). A hooped model was
also built by Crétien of Paris from 1680 onwards. This had a broad body comprising one and a
half coils of tubing (227 cm long, 48 cm in diameter), with a bore of 12 mm, a mouthpiece
soldered to a long, removable shank and a bell of 14·5 cm reinforced with a covering decorated
with designs typical of the Louis XIV period (D’Anterroches, 1992). Given this origin, the
description ‘French horn’ should not be considered one of the many ‘fantasies’ in the terminology
of musical instruments, but rather as an explicit and appropriate reference to its country of origin.
An instrument dating from 1689 attributed to Michel Koch of Dresden is an example of a later
development (now in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum, University of Leipzig). The mouthpipe is
soldered to the body and strengthened by a crosspiece, as is the bell (which is a good 21 cm in
diameter); thus the instrument is more solid and suitable for hunting on horseback. A similar
model, but with two coils of tubing, was still being used in 1710 by Augustus the Strong, king of
Poland. From 1723 onwards, however, a model invented by the Marquis Marc-Antoine de
Dampierre, the commander of Louis XV’s hunters, was in widespread use. It had one and a half
coils, and its dimensions were enormous (405 cm in length, with a diameter of 72 cm). On the
occasion of the birth of the Dauphin in 1729, Dampierre, in collaboration with the instrument
maker Le Brun, created a new model, described as ‘à la Dauphine’, with two and a half coils of
tubing (450 cm in length and 54 cm in diameter). This instrument was more manageable, and it
remained in use for about 100 years, up until the appearance of the trompe d’Orléans at the turn
of the 19th century with three and a half coils (about 40 cm in diameter) which is still in use
(Marolles, 1930). These models have a repertory of signals, which are first documented in a
collection assembled by A.D. Philidor in 1705 under the title Tous les appels de trompe pour la
chasse (F-V 1163).
That the instrument which appeared at Versailles was completely new is clearly demonstrated by
the fact that it was unknown in German-speaking countries, until its discovery by the Bohemian
Count Franz Anton Sporck (1662–1738), who first heard it when he went to Paris in 1680. He was
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so fascinated by the new horn that he left behind two of his servants (Wenzel Sweda and Peter
Röllig) to learn the technique of the instrument and bring it back to Prague and the rest of
Bohemia. However, bearing in mind that Sporck came from an area where the spirial horn was
much used, and that he was surrounded by representations of horns and apparently also by horn
players who took part in the hunt, he might have had another reason to consider the French
model to be new. It is possible that during his visit to France he also encountered some
unfamiliar way of playing it, and this might be the French style described above, traditionally in
triple time. The existence of two parallel musical traditions, one French and the other Saxon and
Bohemian, is borne out by the most famous horn works of the early 18th century, Vivaldi’s
concertos and Bach’s First Brandenburg Concerto. These works, in which the triple rythms of the
French style are juxtaposed with the duple time that was more common, east of the Rhine, have a
further bearing on the subsequent history of the instrument, in that the pitch of F was adopted.
(ii) Ensemble and orchestral use.
In addition to Cavalli’s Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo cited above, an imitation by string instruments
of a hunting ensemble is found in Lully’s Isis (1677). It appears that a hunting ensemble was
introduced into the orchestra in a performance of a ballet by J.H. Schmelzer, given in Linz for the
name-day of Emperor Leopold I on 15 November 1680; according to the libretto (the music is
lost), on that occasion an intrada was played by violins and hunting horns together (see
Fitzpatrick, 1970, p.8). Similar evidence is found in the libretto of Georg Bronner’s opera Echo und
Narcissus (1693), the music of which is also lost (see McCredie, 1964, p.193). In all likelihood the
presence of a horn ensemble in the orchestra may be ascertained in the score of Agostino
Steffani’s opera I trionfi del fato (Hanover, 1695) which calls for four trompes; here the term clearly
indicates trompes de chasse (and not trumpets), as is borne out by the notation (similar to that of
contemporary French scores) and the fact that many French musicians were then to be found in
the court orchestra in Hanover.
Although the horn was still linked to the hunting tradition, it began to be used as a concertante
instrument in ensembles by the end of the 17th century. A short, anonymous Sonata da caccia
con un cornu dating from before 1680 and preserved in Kroměříž (Meyer, 1956) belongs to this
repertory; the horn plays signal motives in a concertante relationship with two violins, two violas
and basso continuo. Such a piece, which uses the 3rd to the 12th partials, must have been
played by an 8′ spiral horn, since the hooped type was not known in the area before 1680, the year
of Sporck’s visit to France. The two trombae breves called for in a Sonata venatoria dating from
1684 by the Moravian composer P.J. Vejvanovský are perhaps again to be understood as spiral
horns, but at that date the term could also refer to the hooped instrument. A more reliable piece of
evidence for the use of the fully hooped horn is in a Concerto à 4 in B by Johann Beer (1655–
1700) for corne de chasse, posthorn, two violins and basso continuo. The surviving parts were
transcribed by a later copyist (probably Peter Johann Fick) and the horn part is written in treble clef
with one flat, for a transposing instrument in F playing a 5th lower than written (thereby in the
‘classical’ notation; see §4 below). C.A. Badia’s Diana rappacificata, performed in Vienna in 1700,
includes a hunting fanfare where two horns in F play music in triple time which displays features
typical of music for horn ensemble and also contains melodic phrases characteristic of the later
solo horn idiom (Haller, 1970, p.176). However, did the horn did not officially enter the orchestra of
the imperial court in Vienna until 1712 (Köchel, 1867, p.80), a date which seems surprisingly late
considering that the Leichamschneider brothers had acquired a considerable reputation in
Vienna as horn makers a good ten years earlier, and that the small electoral and princely courts
of northern Germany had taken the instrument permanently into their orchestras before 1706.
This may be explained by the fact that there were no substantial modifications to the make-up of
the imperial chapel during the final years of the reign of the elderly Joseph I, but as soon as
Charles VI, a music and hunting enthusiast (like Sporck), ascended to the throne, changes were
instituted.
Examples of the use of the horn in northern Germany include Reinhard Keiser’s Die römische
Unruhe, performed in Hamburg in 1705, where the instrument is used both in a concertante
manner and as an integral part of the orchestra (Haller, loc. cit.). Further east, in Szczecin, horns
also appeared in two cantatas by F.G. Klingenberg, one dating from 1704 (now lost), the other,
Die aus dem Markt nach Pommern wandernde Liebe, composed in 1705. In Lübeck, also in
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1705, Buxtehude used horns in his cantata Templum honoris, in which players from Hamburg
took part, while in 1708 the Berlin court composer A.R. Stricker employed them in his opera
Alexanders und Roxanens Heirat. In any case, by 1713 the instrument had become well-enough
established that Johann Mattheson was able to declare in Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre (p.267)
that ‘the lovely, majestic hunting horns have now become very fashionable’. The fact that many
horn players were taken on by the leading musical chapels further confirms the instrument’s
increasing diffusion throughout the German-speaking area. Following J.T. Zeddelmayer’s
appointment to Weissenfels in 1706, other players were engaged in Wolfenbüttel (1710),
Dresden (1710), Düsseldorf (1711), Stuttgart (1715) and Darmstadt (1718). Dresden in particular
was an important centre of horn playing throughout the 18th century; notable performers
employed there included the Schindler brothers (from 1723 to 1733 and 1737 respectively), J.G.
Knechtel (from 1733 or 1734 until about 1756), A.J. Hampel (from 1737 until about 1768) and Carl
Haudek (1747–96).
The first occurrence in France of a part written specifically for the hooped instrument is likely to
have been in the divertissement La chasse du cerf by J.-B. Morin, performed at Fontainebleau in
1708. An early example of the horn in a concertante role in an Italian score is found in Francesco
Gasparini’s L’oracolo del fato (Vienna, 1719), which calls for two ‘trombe da caccia’, while one of
the first appearances of the horn in London must have been when German (possibly Bohemian)
players appeared at Chelsea College in 1704. It seems that Handel did not adopt the horn on a
permanent basis before 1720.
The official adoption of the horn into the Viennese court orchestra makes it possible to trace the
route by which the instrument quickly came to take a permanent place in the most fashionable
operatic repertory of the day, that of the Neapolitan school; here it assumed its characteristic
‘harmonic’ role which subsequently became habitual in orchestral use of the instrument.
Between 1707 and 1719 the Neapolitan viceroyalty, then dominated by the Austrians, was
represented by Count Johann Wenzel von Gallas, a member of a Bohemian family with a strong
musical tradition. The family supported a sizable orchestra from which, in all probability, the count
selected a core of players to take to Naples. There, on 28 August 1713, during the celebrations for
the birthday of Empress Elizabeth Christina, there was a performance of the serenata Il genio
austriaco: Il Sole, Flora, Zefiro, Partenope e Sebeto, on a text by l’abbé G. Papis, with music by
Alessandro Scarlatti: ‘there were countless harmonious instruments, timpani, trumpets, hunting
horns, as well as flutes and all sorts of strings and organ, and a great number of singers in the
chorus’ (D.A. Parrino, quoted in Prota-Giurleo, 1952, p.89). A few months later, on 19 November,
Lotti’s opera Porsenna was performed at the Teatro S Bartolomeo for the name day of the
empress, ‘adapted and directed’ by Scarlatti; from that point onward, Scarlatti gave the horn a
permanent place in almost all his operas. In view of this, the declaration in Heinrich Domnich’s
Méthode (1807, p.iii) that Scarlatti and Lotti were the very composers responsible for the
introduction of the horn into the orchestra in Italy seems to be strongly supported by the evidence.
According to Domnich, their principal pupils, Hasse (whose first Italian opera, Tigrane, was
performed in Naples in 1729) and Domenico Alberti respectively, imitated and continued their
teachers’ use of the horn. The Neapolitan school appropriated the instrument on a permanent
basis, and it regularly appears in the scores of Durante, Porpora, Vinci, Feo, Leo and Pergolesi
from at least 1720 onwards.
A terminological peculiarity of Neapolitan scores is the adoption of the name ‘tromba da caccia’,
an Italianization of the French trompe de chasse. This term distinguished the horn from the
simple folded ‘tromba’ or trumpet, referred to elsewhere in Italy as ‘tromba diritta’ or ‘tromba
lunga’ (the Italian language had not adopted the diminutive form ‘trombetta’ as was the case in
the other principal European countries). The presence of a ‘trombon da caccia’ in two Vivaldi
scores (the opera Orlando finto pazzo, 1714, and his Concerto in F for violin, 2 ‘trombon da
caccia’, 2 oboes and bassoon, RV574) probably stems from this same terminological tradition: the
instrument was therefore a hooped horn. Further documentation of the reception of this model in
Italy is provided by Filippo Bonanni who, in his Gabinetto armonico (1722), as well as referring to
the still-common ‘Corno per la Caccia’ as being similar to an animal horn, mentioned an ‘Altro
Corno da Caccia’ made of metal with a small central coil, adopted ‘by Hunters and by
Messengers’, and lastly a hooped ‘Corno raddoppiato’ (‘doubled horn’) which was ‘much larger
and more resonant’ and made ‘a terrific sound, overpowering the other instruments’.
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(a) Helical horn, c1572
(Historisches Museum, Dresden);
(b) triple-coil horn…
(iii) Crooks and hand technique.
The crucial aspects of the evolution of a truly orchestral horn and its playing technique were the
adoption of a more compact and manageable shape, and the introduction of crooks. Crooks were
introduced in Austria as early as the beginning of the 18th century and were in common use by
the 1740s. They consist of a piece of tubing turned back on itself and inserted at the mouthpipe or
along the pipework, thus adding to the overall length of the instrument and effecting a change of
pitch. The introduction of crooks represented substantial transformation of the horn’s actual
sound. Their use involved a considerable variation in tone colour from key to key, as the overall
proportions of the tubing differed according to the crook. This variation was especially noticeable
on the crooks at each end of the range (B and C bass; A, B and C alto), the tone being very
different from that obtainable in the central keys (D, E , E, F, G). As far as is known, the earliest
surviving example of a horn with crooks dates from 1721, and was made by Michael
Leichnamschneider (for illustration see Fitzpatrick, 1970, fig.IVa). When crooks were inserted in
the mouthpipe, players were obliged to change the way they held the instrument, so that the
crooks did not fall out. The left hand, which in hunting on horseback had been used to hold the
reins, now had to hold the crooks and the instrument securely, while the right hand could grasp a
side of the bell, and not the body of the horn as had previously been the case.
The earliest surviving sets of crooks belong to English-made horns
and include two conical ‘master crooks’, to which cylindrical
‘couplers’ of various sizes were added to obtain the lowest pitches
(see fig.2c). While on one hand this early system produced a
considerable saving in the difficult construction of conical crooks, on
the other it had the drawback of making the instrument heavier and
quite awkward to hold when more than one coupler had to be used
together. Couplers were abandoned after 1750 with the introduction
of a complete series of nine or more crooks inserted in the mouthpipe, one for each key starting
from B or C alto. Another important invention, dating from 1753 at the latest and known as the
Inventionshorn, was conceived by the famous horn player A.J. Hampel with the help of the
instrument maker Johann Georg Werner of Dresden. This model has the distinctive features of a
fixed mouthpipe and series of sliding crooks of cylindrical bore which are inserted into the body of
the instrument to lower the pitch from E downwards, while from F upwards it is necessary to
insert a new mouthpipe which also acts as a crook. The earliest surviving example of the
Inventionshorn is by Johann Gottfried Haltenhof (1776, now in the Musée de la Musique, Paris).
The most famous model of horn with sliding crooks, however, was the cor solo, invented by
Raoux in Paris in about 1780 and adopted by many soloists in France. It was distinguished by the
use of only five crooks (those most commonly used in solo compositions), G (a simple bend), F,
E, E , and D.
In the mid-18th century, as crooked horns became increasingly common in orchestras, notes
alien to the harmonic series began to appear in some scores, e.g. Durante’s Abigaile (Rome,
1736; see Fitzpatrick, 1970, p.65). These notes probably required some use of the hand inside
the bell, a technique which was made more easy by the reduced dimensions of the body of the
instrument and the increased aperture of the bell. Before that time, according to Dauprat’s
Méthode (1824), horn parts were played in the same manner as the contemporary hunting
instrument (probably with the ‘natural’ intonation of the 11th and 13th partials), held in one hand
with the bell turned upwards. He also maintained that as late as 1800, in some theatres in Milan,
the players (probably including the virtuoso Luigi Belloli) used to hold the bell upwards to play
forte. This points to the survival of a much older technique and seems to confirm the many
pictures showing the horn held in such a position even if some of them may be exaggerated for
artistic or pictorial reasons. In any case, Dauprat himself observed that some horn players were
resistant to the direction to play with the ‘pavillon en l’air’, because the position rendered the
quality of attack and intonation less reliable.
The first complete description of the use of hand technique is found in the Essai d’instruction à
l’usage de ceux qui composent pour la clarinette et le cor by Valentin Roeser (1764) who wrote:
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"The notes I have marked … are too high, but they can be played in tune by
placing the hand in the bell of the horn …. There are a further four or five notes
which can be played on the horn by using the hand. But care must be taken if
one wishes to use them."
In practice, Roeser was referring to an elementary technique of playing using the hand, aimed as
much towards tuning the sharp partials as to lowering of a semitone with a larger occlusion. In
this technique the hand is inserted into the bell (the horn being held with the bell turned
downwards, in the now customary position) with the fingers resting on the part furthest from the
player’s body, and slightly curled round. By bringing in the thumb to form a sort of ‘spoon’, the
player can close the bell as much as is necessary to lower each harmonic by a semitone, thus
obtaining a new series of pitches, but with a muffled tone. Another aspect of this technique is the
complete closure of the bell, which results in an even duller and more ‘metallic’ timbre and
obtains a further series of notes (but only from the 4th partial), one semitone higher than the
natural ones. However, for some partials which have a tendency to sound particularly flat, it is
necessary to open the hand completely, i.e. by stretching the palm towards the inside. This
technique is required for b ′ (the 7th partial), f ″ (11th) and a″ (13th) – both also possible with a
closed hand – and finally b ″ (14th). The combination of these hand techniques mean that a
chromatic scale can be played in a good part of the range, while a proper positioning of the hand
gives a more well-blended tone. It seems that hand technique was at first used only by some
virtuosos and it is impossible yet to establish with any certainty the place where it first took root.
Domnich (1807) credited Hampel with its invention, but his testimony does not seem completely
reliable (see Hiebert, HBSJ, 1992), although it is likely that Hampel was one of the first to use it
when he played second horn in the Dresden orchestra, passing it on to his pupils, including
Giovanni Punto. Another, older technique survived into the 18th century, having been known to
Praetorius (1619). Known as ‘falsetto’ technique, it involved relaxing the lips to obtain an artificial
lowering of the lowest partials.
During the whole hand-horn period there was a particularly marked distinction between the roles
of ‘first’ and ‘second’ horn, referred to as cor alto and cor basse respectively. It was customary for
the cor alto to specialize in playing only the top register (generally from the 5th to the 16th and
sometimes up to the 24th partials), thanks to an embouchure derived from trumpet technique
which helped with playing high notes. In contrast, the cor basse specialized in playing the low
register which, because of the greater distance between the available harmonics, necessarily
implied better development of hand technique and ‘falsetto’. It is evident from various methods
published by the Paris Conservatoire, which call for different mouthpieces and embouchures for
the two categories, that players began to specialize early on in their careers, during their
apprentice years. The mouthpiece required for cor alto playing was short and narrow, and the
embouchure similar to that of the trumpet, with one-third of the mouthpiece resting on the upper
lip and two-thirds on the lower; for cor basse the mouthpiece was broad and deep and leaned
two-thirds on the upper lip and one-third on the lower. This division of roles has remained in use
in the modern orchestra, where two distinct registers are normally assigned to pairs of players.
Hand technique evolved into a distinctive horn idiom which saw as desirable the varied timbre
which results from the alternation of open and stopped notes, giving rise to all the ‘classic’
repertory for the instrument, from Mozart’s and Haydn’s concertos to the works by Beethoven
(Horn Sonata in F) and Weber (Concertino in E minor op.45), and also the many solo horn
passages in the orchestral and operatic repertory (e.g. the overtures to Weber’s Oberon and Der
Freischütz; see ex.1). The technique clearly left a considerable mark on later writing for the horn,
so much so that Brahms’s orchestral parts continued to be composed with the hand horn in
mind, despite the fact that by the time they were written the instrument was fully mechanized. It is
known that he hoped that his Trio op.40 would be played in such a way. Hand technique
continued to be taught in the early years of study up until the 1920s and later in the 20th century it
experienced a considerable revival in period instrument performances.
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Ex.1
There is evidence that more unusual or unfamiliar timbres, produced by means of special
techniques or mechanisms, were exploited as early as the mid-18th century. Hampel’s insertion
of a wad of cotton in the bell, to obtain a particular dampening effect preferable to that with the
mute, is documented in Domnich’s Méthode (p.iv). This technique must already have been in use
for some time, since Vivaldi asked for it in his Concerto for viola d’amore, 2 oboes, 2 horns and
bassoon RV97. The two horn parts in Beethoven's Rondino WOO25 (1743) calls for mutes to be
inserted into the bell (for further details about horn mutes, see MUTE, §2.
3. History from c1800.
(i) Keyed and omnitonic horns.
One of the various attempts to make the horn chromatic involved the addition of keys similar to
those already in use on woodwind instruments. An instrument, known as an ‘Amor-Schall’,
whose bell was covered by a hemispherical (d'amore) bell pierced with holes, invented in the
second half of the 18th century by Ferdinand Kölbel, a horn player at the Russian court, was
thought to be of such a type. In 1995, however, a pen and ink sketch of the instrument was found
which shows that it was rather a kind of omnitonic valve horn (see Koshelev, 1998, pp.52–5, and
Tarr, forthcoming). Much later, in 1822, the horn player Benedetto Bergonzi of Cremona added
four keys to the natural horn, taking his lead from the KEYED BUGLE. These experiments were not
developed any further and no example of either has survived.
The invention of ‘omnitonic’ horns probably arose from the desire to have all the crooks
accessible at the same time and to be able to select them instantaneously. In these horns all the
crooks were actually incorporated into the instrument, with a special device to enable the player to
choose the one required. Although their success was rather limited (in the meantime valves had
been invented, and these produced an almost identical result though incurring less expense and
overall weight) a vast number of models were designed and built. The earliest was made by J.-B.
Dupont (Paris, c1815), comprising eight independent tubes, each with its own mouthpipe into
which the mouthpiece was inserted to obtain a different series of partials. In May 1818 Dupont
obtained a patent for a second, more advanced model in which a single mouthpipe served for all
the crooks and a long notched slide could be moved to select the desired key. A more
conventional and efficient model was patented in 1824 by Charles Sax of Brussels, which was
based on the Inventionshorn but placed all the crooks on a slide. There was a host of other
experiments with omnitonic horns, almost all developed by French makers, with some
exceptions, such as Embach in the Netherlands, Pelitti in Italy and Kruspe in Germany.
(ii) Valve horns.
(For further discussion and illustration of the valve types discussed here, see VALVE (I)). The
earliest documentation of the invention of a horn with valves (apart from a rudimentary valve
device applied to a ‘horn’ by the Irishman Charles Clagget in 1788 – this was probably actually a
trumpet) is a letter dated 6 December 1814 from Heinrich Stölzel addressed to King Friedrich
Wilhelm II of Prussia, in which he requests recognition of his horn with two tubular piston valves
which he had demonstrated by July 1814. However, Friedrich Blühmel claimed to have had the
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idea first (in 1811–12) – though his invention was a box valve (a piston valve of square section) –
thus setting in motion a long-lasting battle which came to an end only with the issuing of a joint
Prussian patent in April 1818 for a box valve (see Heyde, 1987, pp.14–21). Stölzel quickly paid off
his competitor and thereafter was able to exploit the patent alone. In 1819 a third valve was added
to the horn by C.F. Sattler, who in 1820–21 also experimented with a double-piston valve; the latter
device, with various improvements, was particularly successful in Germany and Austria (after
having been improved in 1830 by Leopold Uhlmann it became known as the ‘Vienna valve’).
In Italy in 1822 Luigi Pini invented a horn with two double rotating cylinders, set in motion by
indented wheels worked by long rods, an example of which has survived (Museo Civico
Medievale, Bologna, no.1847). A large number of experimental valves, both rotary and piston,
were later invented for the horn. Important early examples of the rotary valve include one invented
by Blühmel in 1828 and, in particular, one devised by J.F. Riedl in 1835 which, with a few
improvements, is essentially the type still in use today. Horns have also been made with piston
valves such as Wieprecht’s ‘Berlin’ valve (1833) and the ‘Périnet’ valve (1838), named after its
inventor, which was subsequently successfully applied to all types of brass instrument.
There is no doubt that there were band players, especially in Germany, who adopted the valve
horn immediately after it was invented, using it chromatically in the manner still current today.
Some soloists were also quick to take up the new model for concert use, but orchestral horn
players, even if aware of the advantages of the invention, were slow to accept the new horn
unconditionally, since hand technique and its associated variety of timbre was universally much in
demand and much appreciated. The adoption of the valve horn involved not only the elimination of
such differences in timbre, but also a drastic reduction of the keys in which the instrument was
pitched, leaving almost only the horn in F (and later in B ) with its characteristically dark, resonant
tone colour. This meant that all the existing repertory when performed on this standardized model
became tonally uniform. The transformation seems to have been encouraged by a general
search for tonal uniformity which was then taking root, particularly in German-speaking areas and
in Italy. There was great criticism of the increasing indifference to the old distinctions of tone
colour. F.L. Schubert (NZM, 1865) suggested that conductors ought not to be tolerating players’
neglect of the hand horn. Perhaps for similar reasons Henri Kling, in his Populäre
Instrumentationslehre (c1882), recommended the use of a G crook for the third movement of
Mozart’s Symphony in G minor K550, without which, he felt, the special timbre of the passage was
lost.
The earliest example of solo use of the new valved model is probably G.A. Schneider’s
Concertino für drei Waldhörner und ein Chromatisches Horn (first performed in Berlin in 1818),
while its first known undisputed appearance in the orchestra was in Halévy’s opera La juive
(1835). As early as 1823 Spontini sent a large number of valved instruments from Berlin to Paris,
some of which were destined for Dauprat (see Kastner, 1848, p.192). It seems that there were
two hybrid techniques for playing the valve horn: one in which valves were used instead of crooks,
playing in all other respects as if on a hand horn, and the other with an intermittent use of closed
notes. Both these techniques were employed by Wagner: examples appear respectively in Rienzi
(1842) and in Tristan und Isolde (1865) respectively. The second technique called for the adoption
of new symbols (‘+’, countermanded by ‘o’; see ex.2) to indicate the notes which were to be handstopped
(Fr. sons bouchés; Ger. gestopft; It. chiuso). These were probably devised by Wagner and
his horn player in Dresden, J.R. Lewy. This technique seems to validate the adoption of F as the
principal pitch for valve horns, as it is more comfortable and efficient than B when hand
technique and valves are used in combination.
Ex.2
A clear advantage the valve horn has over the hand horn is the ability to play a chromatic scale
satisfactorily in the low register. Orchestral horn players therefore eventually moved over to the
new instrument, an indication of this being the publication of numerous methods for valve horn
alone, the earliest being by J.E. Meifred (Paris, 1840) and Antonio Tosoroni (Florence, c1846). In
Austria, Joseph Farbach (whose method dates from about 1860) declared himself vehemently
against the uneven effect of the ‘old habit of suffocating the harmonics by means of the hand’. In
contrast with other countries, in France the hand horn continued to be learned and used into the
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20th century, with the exception of the period when Meifred taught valve horn at the Paris
Conservatoire from 1833 to 1864. The French also continued to play instruments with both valves
and crooks long after their use had ceased elsewhere. The French preference for the hand horn
is evident even in 20th-century pieces, such as Dukas’ famous Villanelle (1906).
The invention of the double horn is attributed to the 19th-century German maker Fritz Kruspe of
Erfurt. It was designed in collaboration with a nephew of the horn player F.A. Gumbert and first
introduced in Markneukirchen in 1897. However, similar experiments had already been carried
out in France by the maker Pierre Louis Gautrot from 1858 onwards. His ‘système équitonique’
(patented in 1864) was originally conceived as a compensating system, but in effect worked on
the same principle as that of the double horn. It consisted of three valves, each with a double set
of additional tubing – a primary set tuned normally and a shorter auxiliary set whose length was
added to that of the primary set by depressing a fourth valve. Although intended chiefly to correct
the intonation of the lowest notes of the euphonium and the bombardon, the system was also
applied to the horn, where it made possible the use of an E or an F crook without having to reset
the valve-slides after changing from one crook to the other. The object attained was not in this
case worth the extra weight and cost, but the instrument was in essence a double horn. In 1912
D.J. Blaikley patented a piston-valve double horn in F/B almost identical with the Gautrot 1864
layout, but it met with little favour among players. It nevertheless served in a measure as
inspiration for the double horn in F/B built on the ascending third-valve principle by the French
firm Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy, in collaboration with the horn player Louis Vuillermoz (c1928).
In the second half of the 20th century, the designs of the London horn player Richard Merewether,
in collaboration with the firm of Paxman, gave rise to various other combinations of double and
triple horns, which have been increasingly adopted in many countries, along with the standard
double horn in F/B and single horns in B (A) introduced tapered lengths into the circuits carrying
the valves and enabled double horns in B (A)/F alto, F/F alto and even B (A)/B soprano to be
built, with both horns in each combination of a quality that bears comparison with good single
instruments (‘B (A)’ denotes that the horn is equipped with an additional valve that allows the
instrument to be put into A; see §1(ii) above). For triple horns in F/B /F alto and F/B /B soprano
the same system adds a descant horn to the regular F/B double horn without harmful acoustical
compromise. The ascending third valve, still popular in France, may be employed in the longer
parts of these horns, with the F alto carrying the usual three-semitone descent remaining the
more useful device.
4. Notation and transposition.
Before a single system of notation, which may be usefully termed ‘classical’ notation, had
emerged which was adopted by almost all composers, several systems had been used. The
‘French’ notation, such as is found in Steffani’s I trionfi del fato (1695), utilized the old soprano,
alto, tenor and bass clefs, with sometimes the treble clef for the highest part. This system was not
widely used, and by 1729 J.-J. Mouret was already using the ‘classical’ notation in the second of
his Suites de symphonies. The ‘Saxon’ notation (treble clef, with the notes written an octave higher
than sounding pitch) was the principal system found in the early history of the horn in the
orchestra. The use of this system meant that the most frequently used partials (from the 4th to the
12th) remained as far as possible within the staff; in addition, this was the same notation as was
then used by the trumpet. The favoured keys of the horn in this period, F (apparently the most
frequent) and D, were differentiated by their respective key signatures. There is evidence that
‘Saxon’ notation was used for a certain time in Dresden and the surrounding area (the region
where some of the earliest music for the horn is found). The same notation was adopted by
Vivaldi in Orlando finto pazzo (1714), the earliest surviving work in which he calls for the horn
(‘trombon da caccia’); he subsequently adopted notation at pitch for the instrument (still in treble
clef).
The earliest ‘Neapolitan’ notation was in bass clef with the notes written an octave below
sounding pitch, possibly because it was felt to be more suited to the baritone register of the
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instrument, or perhaps to distinguish it from the corresponding treble clef notation used by the
trumpet. The ‘Saxon’ and early ‘Neapolitan’ systems were perfectly functional as long as the horn
remained tied to a single basic key, but decidedly inadequate (and inconvenient) in the era of
crooks. However, in a group of Neapolitan scores dating from 1753 to 1763 (GB-Lbl) the C clef
(particularly the alto clef) is used as well as the bass and treble clefs (see Carse, 1925, p.115). In
this system, the harmonic series was indicated with a single series of positions on the staff, but
was transposed to different keys by use of clefs. Thus the C major triad, C–E–G, could be read
and played as D–F –A when preceded by the alto clef; the bass clef gave E–G –B, the mezzosoprano
clef, F–A–C, and so on (the distinction between keys with sharps or flats was
established by altering the key signatures).
The ‘classical’ system, which with few exceptions has remained in use from the early 18th
century, is based on the use of the treble clef (with rare interpolations of the bass clef), with no key
signature whatsoever, and indicates the various partials of the natural series on C. These last are
transposed according to indications to the player as to which key of instrument to use, or else
which crook to insert. The player thinks of the part in terms of absolute pitches in the harmonic
series on C, while the sounds produced correspond to those set by the key of the instrument or by
the crook in use. If the player performs the sequence C–E–G with the D crook (‘horn in D’) the
sounds produced will be D–F –A, with the E crook, E –G–B , and so on. The earliest example
of this notation which has so far come to light is found in Badia’s Diana rappacificata (Vienna,
1700); this seems to confirm the Viennese origin of horn crooks, which made such notation
necessary (see §2(iii) above). The next known example is that found in Keiser’s opera Diana
(Hamburg, 1712), showing that this functional method of notation soon became known and used
over a wide geographical area.
For the lower part of the range the bass clef is used with the notes sounding an octave higher
than written (e.g. in Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel ; ex.3). The origins of such a notational incongruity
merit some clarification. The earliest explanation, but at the same time possibly also the most
contrived, is that given in Dauprat’s Méthode (1824, p.30). He declared that the bass clef was to
be taken as a point of arrival in the bass of the whole descending system of keys which could be
obtained with the different clefs in use, corresponding to the various crooks adopted; it was
therefore not to be understood as a normal continuation downwards of the treble clef, but as the
lowest clef of the entire tonal system (thus giving rise to the gap of an octave). Despite such an
adroit interpretation, it is much more likely that this method of notation derives from the need to
avoid any possible confusion with the use of the bass clef in the Neapolitan system (see Haller,
1970, p.277). In essence, then, this feature (which is also found in Italian notation for english horn
and other middle- to low-pitched wind instruments) is a survival of Neapolitan bass-clef notation.
When the third harmonic became playable with the use of valves this notation was rendered
ambiguous, and so the lowest notes also began to be written in the treble clef, despite the fact
that this involved the use of many ledger lines. Many authoritative voices have argued in favour of a
bass clef corresponding to the treble (without the octave gap) ever since the time of Domnich’s
Méthode (1807, pp.6–7). Nevertheless, the classical system has survived to our own day, together
with the transposed writing for the horn in F. Some 20th-century composers have adopted writing
at pitch, eliminating the need for transposition once and for all. This would have had greater
success were it not for the fact that almost all the standard repertory which involves the horn was
originally written (and often published) in ‘classical’ notation.
Ex.3
5. Repertory.
Although the repertory for the horn as a solo instrument is not extensive, it includes some fine
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compositions. 18th-century concertos for horn and orchestra include those by Telemann,
Christoph Förster, Michael and Joseph Haydn, Leopold and W.A. Mozart and Carl Stamitz, in
addition to Vivaldi’s concertos for two horns and Bach’s First Brandenburg Concerto. The horn
also featured in chamber music, most notably Mozart’s Quintets in E K407/386c (horn, violin, two
violas and cello) and K452 (piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn), Beethoven’s Quintet op.16
for piano and wind, his Sextet op.81b for two horns and strings and his Septet op.20, and
Schubert’s Octet D803. There are also sets of duets by Mozart (K487/496a), Punto, Rossini and
Schubert, among others. Beethoven’s Horn Sonata in F op.17 was composed for Punto, while
Weber was perhaps the first to explore the Romantic potential of the instrument in the overtures to
Oberon and Der Freischütz, and his Concertino; the latter work contains an early use of the
phenomenon of multiphonics. The association of the instrument with hunting is reflected in
Rossini’s Rendez-vous de chasse for four ‘corni da caccia’ and orchestra (1828). Other early
19th-century compositions for solo horn and orchestra were written by Cherubini and Danzi.
The influential French 19th-century teacher and performer L.F. Dauprat composed extensively for
the horn, as did his pupil J.F. Gallay. Between them they produced a number of concertos and
works for solo horn with piano accompaniment, as well as chamber music for horns alone, and
for horns in combination with other instruments. A significant solo work for the valve horn was
Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro for horn and piano op.70 (1849); the composer’s equally
interesting Concertstück for four horns and orchestra dates from the same year. Other
compositions for solo horn and orchestra from the second half of the 19th-century include those
by Mercadunte and Franz Strauss, as well as the First Concerto (1882–3) of Richard Strauss,
whose Second Horn Concerto is a much later work (1942), and Saint-Saëns's Romance op.36
(1874) and Morceau de concert op.94 (1887). Rimsky-Korsakov's Nocturne (c1888) is for a
quartet of horns. Some examples of works for solo horn with piano accompaniment are Rossini's
Prélude, thème et variations (1857), Saint-Saëns’s Romance op.67 (1885), the Romance by
Skryabin (1890), and Glazunov’s Rêeverie (1890). The horn was also successfully combined with
the violin and piano in J.L. Dussek’s Notturno concertante op.68 (1809) and Brahms’s Trio op.40
(1865). Schubert’s song Auf dem Strom D943 (1828) includes an obbligato horn part, as does
Richard Strauss’s Ein Alphorn hör’ ich schallen (1876).
The horn was quite well served by 20th-century composers. Hindemith wrote a sonata for horn
and piano, and both he and Michael Tippett wrote sonatas for four horns. The playing of Dennis
Brain inspired several fine works, including a concerto by Hindemith and two vocal works by
Britten with horn obbligato, Canticle III (‘Still falls the rain’) and the Serenade op.31. Among
younger composers Thea Musgrave made striking solo use of the horn in her Night Music (1969)
and Horn Concerto (1971). Other works for solo horn include H.E. Apostel’s Sonatina op.39b
(1964), Malcolm Arnold’s Fantasy op.88 (1966), Sea Eagle by Peter Maxwell Davies (1982),
Hermann Baumann’s Elegia (1984), The Dying Deer by Alun Francis (1989) and Oliver
Knussen’s Horn Concerto (1994). Poulenc’s chamber works include three pieces incorporating
the horn: the Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone (1922, rev. 1945), a Sextet for wind quintet
and piano (1932–9) and the Elégie for horn and piano (1957). There are also trios for horn, violin
and piano by Lennox Berkeley (op.44, 1953) and Ligeti (1982).
Late Romantic and 20th-century horn parts increasingly explored a whole range of tone colours.
Special effects include echoes (indicated by a cross within a circle; obtained by playing a stopped
note pianissimo), glissandos, flutter-tonguing, cuivrés (loud, brassy notes), and so on. A common
way of altering the sound is by using mutes. Those usually required in orchestral practice are
conical (‘straight’), and made from cardboard, fibre or synthetic materials, being closed at the
wider end. These are non-transposing devices (i.e. they do not affect the pitch); other types of
mute have the same effect as hand-muting (partially closing the bell with the hand), which raises
the pitch a semitone (for which the player must compensate with the valves).
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