Historical
outline of individual instruments
Brass
French horn
17th century
- The orchestral horn
developed from the 17th century broad circle (or hooped) horn. Precursors
of the broad circle (or hooped) horn include the trompe (a hunting
horn) and the cor à plusieurs tours (spiral horn).
- In 1664, the first fully
circular horns were probably performed in Versailles for a work
written by Lully.
- Starting in 1680, hooped
horns were built in Paris - hence the name “French horn”.
By this time the horn was already a familiar instrument in England.
- Originally associated
with hunting calls, horns appeared in instrumental music by the
end of the 17th century. In the early days when hunters played the
horn, the left hand held onto the reigns of a horse. By the 17th
century, the left hand supported the instrument and kept the crooks
in place. The right hand held onto the side of the bell and not
the body of the horn, which had been the earlier custom.
18th century
- Musicians played natural
horns (no valves) during the 18th and 19th centuries and used "crooks"
to lengthen the instrument’s tubing, which allowed players
to access the harmonic series in different keys. With the introduction
of crooks, first in Austria, horn playing in orchestras developed.
During the early 18th century, the horn had been regularly a part
of orchestras in the courts of northern Germany. By the mid-18th
century horns were commonplace in orchestras. During the latter
18th century, orchestras commonly included a pair of horns with
crooks.
- Early horn players
were probably also trumpet players.
- Throughout the 18th
century, Dresden was a center for horn playing.
- The first performance
in London with the hooped horn occurred in 1704. In other countries,
first performances with the hooped horn occurred in 1708 in France,
and 1719 in Italy.
- Scarlatti, who had horns
in almost all of his operas, influenced the inclusion of horns into
a typical orchestra.
- Hand technique developed
during this time. In pieces that called for notes outside of the
harmonic series, musicians placed the hand inside the bell to alter
pitch. It is unknown exactly where the development of hand technique
took place. Before the technique became commonplace, horn players
used to hold the instrument so that the bell faced upwards. Even
as late as 1800 in Milan, some players held the bell upwards to
play forte (loud).
- During the development
of hand technique, the roles of the “first” and “second”
horn (cor alto and cor basse) became more distinct. The cor alto
typically played only the top register, generally from the 5th to
16th partial and sometimes to the 24th partial. The cor basse played
in the lower register, which demanded better hand technique and
“falsetto” because of more distance between the harmonics.
The mouthpiece for cor alto was short and narrow, and the embouchure
resembled what was required for trumpet playing. The cor basse mouthpiece
was broad and deep. These roles have continued into the modern orchestra.
19th century
- During the 19th century,
musicians started playing horns with valves, which enabled the horns
to play chromatic notes. In 1814, the earliest documentation of
a horn with valves appeared in a letter from Heinrich Stölzel
to King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. This horn had two tubular
piston valves.
- There was a dispute
over who had the idea of valves first: Friedrich Blühmel or
Stölzel. Friedrich Blühmel claimed that he had the idea
back in 1811-1812. However, his invention was actually a box valve.
The dispute was settled with a joint Prussian patent in 1818 for
a box valve. Stölzel eventually paid off his competitor and
enjoyed the rights of the patent himself.
- In 1819, C.F. Sattler
added a third valve.
- During the 1820’s
and 1830’s, a number of experiments took place with valves.
In 1820-1821, Sattler experimented with a double-piston valve. With
further improvements, his invention became popular in Germany and
Austria. Later in 1830, Leopold Uhlmann made improvements to Sattler’s
valve, and it became known as the “Vienna valve”. In
1835, J.F. Riedl invented a rotary valve.
- Band players in Germany,
as well as some soloists, started playing horns with valves immediately.
It was, however, orchestral musicians who were slow in adapting
to the valve horn, which was partly due to the popularity of hand
technique and the variety of tone colors that hand stopping could
provide.
- The first known appearance
of the valve horn in the orchestra occurred in 1835 (in Halévy’s
opera La juive of 1835).
- There was a significant
shift towards uniformity in tone color as valve horns became more
common. Valves reduced timbral variations on the instrument, and
reduced the number of horns needed in different keys. This musical
aesthetic became desirable in German-speaking areas and Italy. There
were, of course, those who criticized the disappearing differences
in tone color. In any case, valves allowed musicians to play chromatically.
Method books on horn playing with valves started to appear in the
1840’s.
- In France, the hand
horn continued to be taught and played into the 20th century, with
one exception between 1833 and 1864 because of a teacher at the
Paris Conservatoire.
- In 1897, the double
horn was first introduced in Markneukirchen.
20th century
- The double horn is
the standard horn in use today. In essence, the instrument has two
complete horns (one in the key of F, and one in Bb), joined together.
With an additional valve, the player may switch from one "side"
of the instrument to the other to faciltitate good intonation.
- Hand technique was taught
up to the 1920’s, and was revived later during the 20th century
as some ensembles explored historically informed performances of
earlier repertoire.
Orchestra-History
Early
History • Classical
period • Romantic
period • 20th
century to present
Repertoire
Classical
period • Romantic period
• 20th century to present
|
