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Horn (instrument)
Encyclopedia
The horn is a brass instrument
consisting of about 12 – of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player (or less frequently, a hornist).
Descended from the natural horn
, the instrument is often informally known as the French horn. However, this is technically incorrect since the instrument is not French in origin, but German. Therefore, the International Horn Society
has recommended since 1971 that the instrument be simply called the horn. French horn is still the most commonly used name for the instrument in the United States.
Horns have valves, operated with the left hand, to route the air into extra tubing to change the pitch. Most horns have lever-operated rotary valve
s, but some horns like the Vienna horn
use piston valve
s (similar to trumpet
valves). A horn without valves is known as a natural horn
, changing pitch along the natural harmonics of the instrument (similar to a bugle
), but with a wide range of notes due to the long tubing.
Three valves control the flow of air in the single horn, which is tuned to F or less commonly, B. The more common double horn has a fourth valve, usually operated by the thumb, which routes the air to one set of tubing tuned to F or the second set of tubing tuned to B. Triple horns with five valves are also made, tuned in F, B, and a descant
E or F.
, but has the widest usable range - approximately five octaves, depending on the ability of the player. To produce different notes on the horn, one must do many things - the four most important are pressing the valves, holding the appropriate amount of lip tension, blowing air into the instrument, and placing the hand in the bell. More lip tension and faster air produces higher notes. Less lip tension and slower air produces lower notes. The right hand, usually cupped at a "three o-clock" position in the bell, can lower the pitch, depending on how far into the bell the player puts it, by as much as a semitone
in the instrument's midrange. The horn plays in a higher portion of its overtone
series compared to most brass instruments. Its conical bore (as opposed to the cylindrical bore of the trumpet or trombone
) is largely responsible for its characteristic tone, often described as "mellow".
Today, music for the horn is typically written in F and sounds a perfect fifth lower than written. The limitations on the range of the instrument are primarily governed by the available valve combinations for the first four octaves of the overtone series and after that by the ability of the player to control the pitch through their air supply and embouchure. The typical written ranges for the horn start at either the F immediately below the bass clef or the C an octave below middle A.
The standard range starting from a low F is based on the characteristics of the single horn in F. However, there is a great deal of music written beyond this range on the assumption that players are using a double horn in F/B. This is the standard orchestral instrument and its valve combinations allow for the production of every chromatic tone from two octaves on either side of the horn's written middle-C (sounding F two octaves below the bass clef to F at the top of the treble clef). Although the upper range of the horn repertoire rarely exceeds high C (two octaves above the horn's middle C, sounding F at the top of the treble clef), skilled players can achieve yet higher pitches.
Also important to note is that many pieces from the Baroque to Romantic periods are written in keys other than F. This practice began in the early days of the horn before valves, when the composer would indicate the key the horn should be in (horn in D, horn in C, etc.) and the part would be notated as if it were in C. For a player with a valveless horn that is a help, showing where in the harmonic series a particular note is. A player with a modern instrument must provide the final transposition to the correct pitch. For example, a written C for horn in D must be transposed down a minor third and played as an A on F horn.
Early horns were less complex than modern horns, consisting of brass tubes with a slightly flared opening (the bell) wound around a few times. These early "hunting" horns were originally played on a hunt, often while mounted, and the sound they produced was called a recheat. Change of pitch was effected entirely by the lips (the horn not being equipped with valves until the 19th century). Without valves, only the notes within the harmonic series
are available. The horn was used, among other reasons, to call hounds on a hunt and created a sound most like a human voice, but carried much farther.
In orchestral settings, the horn (or, more often, pairs of horns) often invoked the idea of the hunt, or, beginning in the later baroque, determined the character of the key being played or represented nobility, royalty, or divinity.
Early horns were commonly pitched in B alto, A, A, G, F, E, E, D, C, and B basso. Since the only notes available were those on the harmonic series of one of those pitches, they had no ability to play in different keys. The remedy for this limitation was the use of crooks
, i.e. sections of tubing of differing length that, when inserted, altered the length of the instrument, and thus its pitch.
Orchestral horns are traditionally grouped into "high" horn and "low" horn pairs. Players specialize to negotiate the unusually wide range required of the instrument. Formerly, in certain situations, composers called for two pairs of horns in two different keys. For example, a composer might call for two horns in C and two in E for a piece in c minor, in order to gain harmonics of the relative major unavailable on the C horns. Eventually, two pairs of horns became the standard, and from this tradition of two independent pairs, each with its own "high" and "low" horn, came the modern convention of writing the 1st and 3rd parts above 2nd and 4th.
In the mid-18th century, horn players began to insert the right hand into the bell to change the length of the instrument, adjusting the tuning up to the distance between two adjacent harmonics depending on how much of the opening was covered. This technique, known as hand-stopping
, is generally credited to Anton Joseph Hampel
around 1750, and was refined and carried to much of Europe by the influential Giovanni Punto
. This offered more possibilities for playing notes not on the harmonic series. By the early classical period, the horn had become an instrument capable of much melodic playing. A notable example of this are the four Mozart Horn Concerti
and Concert Rondo (K. 412, 417, 477, 495, 371), wherein melodic chromatic tones are used, owing to the growing prevalence of hand-stopping and other newly emerging techniques.
Around 1815 the use of pistons (later rotary valves) was introduced, initially to overcome problems associated with changing crooks during a performance. Valves' unreliability, musical taste, and players' distrust, among other reasons, slowed their adoption into mainstream. Many traditional conservatories and players refused to use them at first, claiming that the valveless horn, or "natural horn
", was a better instrument. Some musicians, specializing in period instruments, still use a natural horn when playing in original performance styles, seeking to recapture the sound and tenor in which an older piece was written.
However, the use of valves opened up a great deal more flexibility in playing in different keys; in effect, the horn became an entirely different instrument, fully chromatic for the first time. Although, valves were originally used primarily as a means to play in different keys without crooks, not for harmonic playing. That is reflected in compositions for horns, which only began to include chromatic passages in the late 19th century. When valves were invented, generally, the French made smaller horns with piston valves and the Germans made larger horns with rotary valves. For more information on instrument valves see Brass Instrument Valves. It is the German horn that is erroneously referred to in the English language (and more commonly in the United States and Canada) as the French horn. There is not a clear consensus on the reason or reasons for this nomenclature, and, as there are conflicting proposals, more research is still necessary.
. Additionally, single F alto and B alto descants are used in the performance of some baroque horn concertos and F, B and F alto singles are occasionally used by jazz
performers.
Dennis Brain
's benchmark recordings of the Mozart Horn Concerti were made on a single B instrument by Gebr. Alexander
, now on display at the Royal Academy of Music
in London.
Despite the introduction of valves, the single F horn proved difficult for use in the highest range, where the partials grew closer and closer, making accuracy a great challenge. An early solution was simply to use a horn of higher pitch—usually B. The use of the F versus the B horn was a hotbed of debate between horn players of the late 19th century, until the German horn maker Ed. Kruspe produced a prototype of the "double horn" in 1897.
The double horn also combines two instruments into a single frame: the original horn in F, and a second, higher horn keyed in B. By using a fourth valve (usually operated by the thumb), the horn player can quickly switch from the deep, warm tones of the F horn to the higher, brighter tones of the B horn. The two sets of tones are commonly called "sides" of the horn. Using the fourth valve not only changes the basic length (and thus the harmonic series and pitch) of the instrument, it also causes the three main valves to use proportionate slide lengths.
In the USA, the two most common styles ("wraps") of double horns are named Kruspe and Knopf, after the first instrument makers who developed and standardized them. The Kruspe wrap locates the B change valve above the first valve, near the thumb. The Knopf wrap has the change valve behind the third valve, near the little finger (although the valve's trigger is still played with the thumb). In effect, the air flows in a completely different direction on the other model. Kruspe wrap horns tend to be larger in the bell throat than the Knopf type. Typically, Kruspe models are constructed from nickel silver
or German Silver, while Knopf type horns tend to be of yellow brass. Both models have their own strengths and weaknesses, and while the choice of instrument is very personal, an orchestral horn section is usually found to have either one or the other, owing to the differences in tone color, response, and projection of the two different styles.
In Europe the most popular horns are arguably those made by Gebr. Alexander, of Mainz (particularly the Alexander 103), and those made by Paxman
in London. In Germany and the Benelux countries, the Alex. 103 is extremely popular. These horns do not fit strictly into the Kruspe or Knopf camps, but have features of both. Alexander prefers the traditional medium bell size, which they have produced for many years, whereas Paxman do offer their models in a range of bell throat sizes. In the United States, the Conn 8D, a mass produced instrument based on the Kruspe design, has been extremely popular in many areas (New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Philadelphia). Since roughly the early 1990s, however, for reasons ranging from changing tastes to a general dislike of Conn's newer 8Ds, orchestras have been moving away from the popular Conn 8D. Knopf model horns (by Geyer, Karl Hill, Keith Berg, Steve Lewis, Dan Rauch, and Ricco-Kuhn) are used in other areas (San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Houston). The CF Schmidt double, with its unique piston change valve, is occasionally found in sections playing Geyer/Knopf model equipment.
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The natural horn
is the ancestor of the modern horn. It is essentially descended from hunting horns, with its pitch controlled by air speed, aperture (opening of the lips through which air passes) and the use of the right hand moving in and out of the bell. Today it is played as a period instrument
. The natural horn can only play from a single harmonic series at a time because there is only one length of tubing available to the horn player. It is however possible to alter the pitch by using a technique that involves partially muting the bell with the right hand, thus enabling the player to reach some notes that are not part of the instrument's natural harmonic series - of course this technique also affects the quality of the tone. The player has a choice of key through changing the length of tubing with crooks.
The Vienna horn
is a special horn used primarily in Vienna
, Austria
. Instead of using rotary valve
s or piston valve
s, it uses the Pumpenvalve (or Vienna Valve), which is a double-piston operating inside the valve slides, and usually situated on the opposite side of the corpus from the player's left hand, and operated by a long pushrod. Unlike the modern horn, which has grown considerably larger internally (for a bigger, broader, and louder tone), and considerably heavier (with the addition of valves and tubing in the case of the double horn) the Vienna horn very closely mimics the size and weight of the natural horn, (although the valves do add some weight, they are lighter than rotary valves) even using crooks in the front of the horn, between the mouthpiece and the instrument. Although instead of the full range of keys, Vienna horn players usually use an F crook and it is looked down upon to use others, though switching to an A or B crook for higher pitched music does happen on occasion. Vienna horns are often used with funnel shaped mouthpieces similar to those used on the natural horn, with very little (if any) backbore and a very thin rim. The Viennese horn requires very specialized technique and can be quite challenging to play, even for accomplished players of modern horns. The Vienna horn has a warmer, softer sound than the modern horn. Its pumpen-valves facilitate a continuous transition between notes (glissando
); conversely, a more precise operating of the valves is required to avoid notes that sound out of tune.
The second instrument is used in modern brass bands and marching bands, and is more accurately called a "marching mellophone" or mellophone. A derivative of the F alto horn
, it is keyed in F. It is shaped like a flugelhorn, with piston valves played with the right hand and a forward-pointing bell. These horns are generally considered better marching instruments than regular horns because their position is more stable on the mouth, they project better, and they weigh less. It is primarily used as the middle voice of drum and bugle corps
. Though they are usually played with a V-cup cornet-like mouthpiece, their range overlaps the common playing range of the horn. This mouthpiece switch makes the mellophone louder, less mellow, and more brassy and brilliant, making it more appropriate for marching bands. Often now with the use of converters, traditional conical horn mouthpieces are used to achieve the more mellow sound of a horn to make the marching band sound more like a symphonic band.
As they are pitched in F or G and their range overlaps that of the horn, mellophones can be used in place of the horn in brass and marching band settings. However, mellophones are sometimes unpopular with horn players because the mouthpiece change can be difficult and requires a different embouchure
. Mouthpiece adapters are available so that a horn mouthpiece can fit into the mellophone lead pipe, but this does not compensate for the many differences that a horn player must adapt to. The bore is generally cylindrical as opposed to the more conical horn; thus, the "feel" of the mellophone can be foreign to a horn player. Another unfamiliar aspect of the mellophone is that it is played with the right hand instead of the left. Intonation can also be an issue when playing the mellophone.
In orchestral concerts, regular concert horns are normally preferred to mellophones because of their tone, which blends better with woodwinds and strings, and their greater intonational subtlety—since the player can adjust the tuning by hand. For these reasons, mellophones are played more usually in marching bands and brass band ensembles, occasionally in jazz bands, and almost never in orchestral settings.
While horn players may be asked to play the mellophone, it is unlikely that the instrument was ever intended to be used as a substitute for the horn, mainly because of the fundamental differences described. As an instrument it compromises between the ability to sound like a horn, while being used like a trumpet or flugelhorn; a tradeoff that sacrifices acoustic properties for ergonomics.
family. Invented for Richard Wagner
specifically for his work Der Ring des Nibelungen
, it has since been written for by various other composers, including Bruckner, Stravinsky and Richard Strauss
. It uses a horn mouthpiece and is available as a single tuba in B or F, or, more recently, as a double tuba similar to the double horn. Its common range is similar to that of the euphonium
, but its possible range is the same as that of the horn, extending from low F, below the bass clef staff to high C above the treble staff when read in F. These low pedals are substantially easier to play on the Wagner tuba than on the horn.
, for example, used horns to signify the hunt, as in his Jagdsinfonie
(hunting symphony). Once the technique of hand-stopping
had been developed, allowing fully chromatic playing, composers began to write seriously for the horn. Telemann
wrote much for the horn, and it features prominently in the work of Handel
and in Bach
's Brandenburg Concerto no. 1. Gustav Mahler
made great use of the horn's uniquely haunting and distant sound in his symphonies, notably the famous Nachtmusik (serenade) section of his Symphony No. 7
.
Many composers have written works that have become favorites in the horn repertoire. These includes Poulenc
(Elegie) and Saint-Saëns
(Morceau de Concert for horn and orchestra, op. 94 and Romance, op. 36). Others, particularly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
, whose friend Joseph Leutgeb was a noted horn player, wrote extensively for the instrument, including concerti
and other solo works. Mozart's A Musical Joke
satirizes the limitations of contemporary horn playing, including the risk of selecting the wrong crook by mistake. By the end of the 18th Century the horn was sufficiently established as a solo instrument that the horn player Giovanni Punto
became an international celebrity, touring Europe
and inspiring works by composers as significant as Beethoven
.
The development of the valve horn was exploited by romantic composers such as Richard Strauss
, Bruckner
and Mahler. Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks contains one of the best known horn solos from this period, relying on the chromatic facility of the valved horn. Schumann
's Konzertstuck for Four Horns and Orchestra is a notable three-movement work.
Horn music in Britain had a renaissance in the mid-20th century when Dennis Brain inspired works such as Britten's
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
and other works from contemporary composers such as Michael Tippett
, who stretches horn ensemble playing to its technical limits in his Sonata for Four Horns. Peter Maxwell Davies
was commissioned by 50 amateur and professional UK horn players to write a horn piece to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brain's death.
Much of the horn repertoire is scored as featured parts for the orchestral players, especially the principal horn. It is common for leading horn players to move from principal positions in the great orchestras to distinguished solo careers, a path followed by Brain and many since.
Due to the heroic quality of the horn's sound, it is often used in film music. However, Bernard Herrmann
's
score for On Dangerous Ground
uses four horns (and anvils) during a chase sequence to suggest a wild state of mind.
and brass quintet
, and often appears in other configurations, such as Brahms' "Horn Trio
" for violin, horn and piano. Also, the horn can be used by itself in a horn ensemble or "horn choir." The horn choir is especially practical because the extended range of the horn provides the composer or arranger with more possibilities, registerally, sonically, contrapuntally, etc.
onwards commonly used four horns. Here, the 1st and 2nd horns played as a pair (1st horn being high, 2nd horn being low), and the 3rd and 4th horns played as another pair (3rd horn being high, 4th horn being low). Music written for the modern horn follows a similar pattern with 1st and 3rd horns being high and 2nd and 4th horns being low.
This configuration serves multiple purposes. It is easier to play high when the player to your right is playing low, and it is easier to play low if a high player is to your left. Pairing makes it easier to write for horns, as the 3rd and 4th horns can take over from the 1st & 2nd horns, or play contrasting material. When music was first written, it was for the natural horn
, which meant that the horns could only easily play certain notes. Because of this, the 1st and 2nd horns had to be in a different key from the 3rd and 4th horns so that more of the notes can be played. For example, if the piece is in C minor, the 1st and 2nd horns might be in C, the tonic major key, which could get most of the notes, and the 3rd and 4th horns might be in E, the relative major key, to fill in the gaps.
Most horn sections today also have an assistant who doubles the 1st horn part for selected passages, joining in loud parts, playing instead of the principal if there is a 1st horn solo approaching, or alternating with the principal if the part is tiring to play. Playing assistant is often underappreciated, but it is harder than it seems, and takes experience to do it well. Often the assistant is asked to play a passage after resting a long time. Also, he or she may be asked to enter in the middle of a passage, exactly matching the sound, articulation, and overall interpretation of the principal. The assistant is occasionally referred to as a "bumper".
Some pieces (like Rachmaninov's
Isle of the Dead
, Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem
, Holst's
The Planets
and Richard Strauss' Don Quixote
) have called for 6 horns, or as many as 20 horns, as found in Eine Alpinesinfonie, by Richard Strauss
. Here the pairing remains the same, with the odd horns being high parts and the even horns being low parts.
music. Notable exponents, however, include composer/arranger Gil Evans
who included the horn as an ensemble instrument from the 1940s, first in Claude Thornhill
's groups, and later with the pioneering cool jazz
nonet led by trumpeter Miles Davis
, and in many other projects that sometimes also featured Davis. Notable improvising horn players in jazz include Julius Watkins
, Willie Ruff
, John Graas
, David Amram
, John Clark
, Vincent Chancey
, Mark Taylor, Giovanni Hoffer, Arkady Shilkloper, Adam Unsworth, and Tom Varner
.
People who are more notable for their other achievements, but also play the horn, include actors Ewan McGregor
and David Ogden Stiers
, comedian and television host Jon Stewart
, The Who
bassist and singer John Entwistle
, and rapper and record producer B.o.B
.
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
consisting of about 12 – of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player (or less frequently, a hornist).
Descended from the natural horn
Natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the modern-day horn, and is differentiated by its lack of valves. It consists of a mouthpiece, some long coiled tubing, and a large flared bell. Pitch changes are made through a few different techniques:* Modulating the lip tension as...
, the instrument is often informally known as the French horn. However, this is technically incorrect since the instrument is not French in origin, but German. Therefore, the International Horn Society
International Horn Society
The International Horn Society is the primary international organization dedicated to players of the horn. It was founded in June 1970.It holds a symposium each year and publishes a journal, The Horn Call.-Formation:...
has recommended since 1971 that the instrument be simply called the horn. French horn is still the most commonly used name for the instrument in the United States.
Horns have valves, operated with the left hand, to route the air into extra tubing to change the pitch. Most horns have lever-operated rotary valve
Rotary valve
A rotary valve is a type of valve in which the rotation of a passage or passages in a transverse plug regulates the flow of liquid or gas through the attached pipes. The common stopcock is the simplest form of rotary valve...
s, but some horns like the Vienna horn
Vienna horn
The Vienna horn is a type of musical horn used primarily in Vienna, Austria, for playing orchestral or classical music. It is used throughout Vienna, including the Vienna Philharmonic and Wiener Staatsoper.-History and description:...
use piston valve
Piston valve
A piston valve is a device used to control the motion of a fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the linear motion of a piston within a chamber or cylinder.Examples of piston valves are:...
s (similar to trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
valves). A horn without valves is known as a natural horn
Natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the modern-day horn, and is differentiated by its lack of valves. It consists of a mouthpiece, some long coiled tubing, and a large flared bell. Pitch changes are made through a few different techniques:* Modulating the lip tension as...
, changing pitch along the natural harmonics of the instrument (similar to a bugle
Bugle (instrument)
The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure, since the bugle has no other mechanism for controlling pitch. Consequently, the bugle is limited to notes within the harmonic series...
), but with a wide range of notes due to the long tubing.
Three valves control the flow of air in the single horn, which is tuned to F or less commonly, B. The more common double horn has a fourth valve, usually operated by the thumb, which routes the air to one set of tubing tuned to F or the second set of tubing tuned to B. Triple horns with five valves are also made, tuned in F, B, and a descant
Descant
Descant or discant can refer to several different things in music, depending on the period in question; etymologically, the word means a voice above or removed from others....
E or F.
General characteristics
The horn is the third highest sounding instrument group in the brass family, below the cornet at second highest, with trumpet being the highest. Horns are mostly tuned in B or F, or a combination of those. In some traditions, novice players use a single horn in F, while others prefer the B horn. The F horn is used more commonly than the B horn, especially in school bands. Compared to the other brass instruments in the orchestra, it has a very different mouthpieceMouthpiece (brass)
On brass instruments the mouthpiece is the part of the instrument which is placed upon the player's lips. The purpose of the mouthpiece is a resonator, which passes vibration from the lips to the column of air contained within the instrument, giving rise to the standing wave pattern of vibration in...
, but has the widest usable range - approximately five octaves, depending on the ability of the player. To produce different notes on the horn, one must do many things - the four most important are pressing the valves, holding the appropriate amount of lip tension, blowing air into the instrument, and placing the hand in the bell. More lip tension and faster air produces higher notes. Less lip tension and slower air produces lower notes. The right hand, usually cupped at a "three o-clock" position in the bell, can lower the pitch, depending on how far into the bell the player puts it, by as much as a semitone
Semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....
in the instrument's midrange. The horn plays in a higher portion of its overtone
Overtone
An overtone is any frequency higher than the fundamental frequency of a sound. The fundamental and the overtones together are called partials. Harmonics are partials whose frequencies are whole number multiples of the fundamental These overlapping terms are variously used when discussing the...
series compared to most brass instruments. Its conical bore (as opposed to the cylindrical bore of the trumpet or trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
) is largely responsible for its characteristic tone, often described as "mellow".
Today, music for the horn is typically written in F and sounds a perfect fifth lower than written. The limitations on the range of the instrument are primarily governed by the available valve combinations for the first four octaves of the overtone series and after that by the ability of the player to control the pitch through their air supply and embouchure. The typical written ranges for the horn start at either the F immediately below the bass clef or the C an octave below middle A.
The standard range starting from a low F is based on the characteristics of the single horn in F. However, there is a great deal of music written beyond this range on the assumption that players are using a double horn in F/B. This is the standard orchestral instrument and its valve combinations allow for the production of every chromatic tone from two octaves on either side of the horn's written middle-C (sounding F two octaves below the bass clef to F at the top of the treble clef). Although the upper range of the horn repertoire rarely exceeds high C (two octaves above the horn's middle C, sounding F at the top of the treble clef), skilled players can achieve yet higher pitches.
Also important to note is that many pieces from the Baroque to Romantic periods are written in keys other than F. This practice began in the early days of the horn before valves, when the composer would indicate the key the horn should be in (horn in D, horn in C, etc.) and the part would be notated as if it were in C. For a player with a valveless horn that is a help, showing where in the harmonic series a particular note is. A player with a modern instrument must provide the final transposition to the correct pitch. For example, a written C for horn in D must be transposed down a minor third and played as an A on F horn.
History
Harmonic series (music)
Pitched musical instruments are often based on an approximate harmonic oscillator such as a string or a column of air, which oscillates at numerous frequencies simultaneously. At these resonant frequencies, waves travel in both directions along the string or air column, reinforcing and canceling...
are available. The horn was used, among other reasons, to call hounds on a hunt and created a sound most like a human voice, but carried much farther.
In orchestral settings, the horn (or, more often, pairs of horns) often invoked the idea of the hunt, or, beginning in the later baroque, determined the character of the key being played or represented nobility, royalty, or divinity.
Early horns were commonly pitched in B alto, A, A, G, F, E, E, D, C, and B basso. Since the only notes available were those on the harmonic series of one of those pitches, they had no ability to play in different keys. The remedy for this limitation was the use of crooks
Crook (music)
A crook, also sometimes called a shank, is an exchangeable segment of tubing in a natural horn which is used to change the length of the pipe, altering the fundamental pitch and harmonic series which the instrument can sound, and thus the key in which it plays.-Master crook and coupler...
, i.e. sections of tubing of differing length that, when inserted, altered the length of the instrument, and thus its pitch.
Orchestral horns are traditionally grouped into "high" horn and "low" horn pairs. Players specialize to negotiate the unusually wide range required of the instrument. Formerly, in certain situations, composers called for two pairs of horns in two different keys. For example, a composer might call for two horns in C and two in E for a piece in c minor, in order to gain harmonics of the relative major unavailable on the C horns. Eventually, two pairs of horns became the standard, and from this tradition of two independent pairs, each with its own "high" and "low" horn, came the modern convention of writing the 1st and 3rd parts above 2nd and 4th.
In the mid-18th century, horn players began to insert the right hand into the bell to change the length of the instrument, adjusting the tuning up to the distance between two adjacent harmonics depending on how much of the opening was covered. This technique, known as hand-stopping
Hand-stopping
Hand-stopping is a technique by which a natural horn can be made to produce notes outside of its normal harmonic series. By inserting the hand, cupped, into the bell, the player can reduce the pitch of a note by a semitone or more...
, is generally credited to Anton Joseph Hampel
Anton Joseph Hampel
Anton Joseph Hampel was a horn player who is generally credited with having developed, somewhere between 1750 and 1760, the technique of hand-stopping which allows natural horns to play fully chromatically...
around 1750, and was refined and carried to much of Europe by the influential Giovanni Punto
Giovanni Punto
Giovanni Punto was a Czech horn player and a pioneer of the hand-stopping technique which allows natural horns to play a greater number of notes.He was an international celebrity in the 18th and early 19th centuries, known in London,...
. This offered more possibilities for playing notes not on the harmonic series. By the early classical period, the horn had become an instrument capable of much melodic playing. A notable example of this are the four Mozart Horn Concerti
Horn Concertos (Mozart)
The four Horn Concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are a major part of most professional horn players' repertoire. The concertos were written for his friend Joseph Leutgeb , whom he had known since childhood...
and Concert Rondo (K. 412, 417, 477, 495, 371), wherein melodic chromatic tones are used, owing to the growing prevalence of hand-stopping and other newly emerging techniques.
Around 1815 the use of pistons (later rotary valves) was introduced, initially to overcome problems associated with changing crooks during a performance. Valves' unreliability, musical taste, and players' distrust, among other reasons, slowed their adoption into mainstream. Many traditional conservatories and players refused to use them at first, claiming that the valveless horn, or "natural horn
Natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the modern-day horn, and is differentiated by its lack of valves. It consists of a mouthpiece, some long coiled tubing, and a large flared bell. Pitch changes are made through a few different techniques:* Modulating the lip tension as...
", was a better instrument. Some musicians, specializing in period instruments, still use a natural horn when playing in original performance styles, seeking to recapture the sound and tenor in which an older piece was written.
However, the use of valves opened up a great deal more flexibility in playing in different keys; in effect, the horn became an entirely different instrument, fully chromatic for the first time. Although, valves were originally used primarily as a means to play in different keys without crooks, not for harmonic playing. That is reflected in compositions for horns, which only began to include chromatic passages in the late 19th century. When valves were invented, generally, the French made smaller horns with piston valves and the Germans made larger horns with rotary valves. For more information on instrument valves see Brass Instrument Valves. It is the German horn that is erroneously referred to in the English language (and more commonly in the United States and Canada) as the French horn. There is not a clear consensus on the reason or reasons for this nomenclature, and, as there are conflicting proposals, more research is still necessary.
Single horn
Single horns use a single set of tubes connected to the valves. This allows for simplicity of use and a much lighter weight. They are usually in the keys of F or B, although many F horns have longer slides to tune them to E, and almost all B horns have a valve to put them in the key of A. The problem with single horns is the inevitable choice between accuracy or tone - while the F horn has the "typical" horn sound, above third-space C accuracy is concern for the majority of players because, by its nature, one plays high in the horn's harmonic series where the overtones are closer together. This led to the development of the B horn, which, although easier to play accurately, has a less desirable sound in the mid and especially the low register where it is not able to play all of the notes. The solution has been the development of the double horn, which combines the two into one horn with a single lead pipe and bell. Both main types of single horns are still used today as student models because they are cheaper and lighter than double horns. In addition, the single B horns are sometimes used in solo and chamber performances and the single F survives orchestrally as the Vienna hornVienna horn
The Vienna horn is a type of musical horn used primarily in Vienna, Austria, for playing orchestral or classical music. It is used throughout Vienna, including the Vienna Philharmonic and Wiener Staatsoper.-History and description:...
. Additionally, single F alto and B alto descants are used in the performance of some baroque horn concertos and F, B and F alto singles are occasionally used by jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
performers.
Dennis Brain
Dennis Brain
Dennis Brain was a British virtuoso horn player and was largely credited for popularizing the horn as a solo classical instrument with the post-war British public...
's benchmark recordings of the Mozart Horn Concerti were made on a single B instrument by Gebr. Alexander
Gebr. Alexander
Gebr. Alexander, of Mainz, Germany, is a manufacturer of instruments, founded in 1782 by Franz Ambros Alexander and still in business today. The company claims to be the oldest musical instrument manufacturing company in Germany.-History:...
, now on display at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in London.
Double horn
The double horn also combines two instruments into a single frame: the original horn in F, and a second, higher horn keyed in B. By using a fourth valve (usually operated by the thumb), the horn player can quickly switch from the deep, warm tones of the F horn to the higher, brighter tones of the B horn. The two sets of tones are commonly called "sides" of the horn. Using the fourth valve not only changes the basic length (and thus the harmonic series and pitch) of the instrument, it also causes the three main valves to use proportionate slide lengths.
In the USA, the two most common styles ("wraps") of double horns are named Kruspe and Knopf, after the first instrument makers who developed and standardized them. The Kruspe wrap locates the B change valve above the first valve, near the thumb. The Knopf wrap has the change valve behind the third valve, near the little finger (although the valve's trigger is still played with the thumb). In effect, the air flows in a completely different direction on the other model. Kruspe wrap horns tend to be larger in the bell throat than the Knopf type. Typically, Kruspe models are constructed from nickel silver
Nickel silver
Nickel silver, also known as German silver, Argentann, new silver, nickel brass, albata,, or alpacca, is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver is named for its silvery appearance, but it contains no elemental silver...
or German Silver, while Knopf type horns tend to be of yellow brass. Both models have their own strengths and weaknesses, and while the choice of instrument is very personal, an orchestral horn section is usually found to have either one or the other, owing to the differences in tone color, response, and projection of the two different styles.
In Europe the most popular horns are arguably those made by Gebr. Alexander, of Mainz (particularly the Alexander 103), and those made by Paxman
Paxman Musical Instruments
Paxman Musical Instruments is a British manufacturer of horns. Paxman is the instrument of choice of a number of leading British players, including Michael Thompson...
in London. In Germany and the Benelux countries, the Alex. 103 is extremely popular. These horns do not fit strictly into the Kruspe or Knopf camps, but have features of both. Alexander prefers the traditional medium bell size, which they have produced for many years, whereas Paxman do offer their models in a range of bell throat sizes. In the United States, the Conn 8D, a mass produced instrument based on the Kruspe design, has been extremely popular in many areas (New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Philadelphia). Since roughly the early 1990s, however, for reasons ranging from changing tastes to a general dislike of Conn's newer 8Ds, orchestras have been moving away from the popular Conn 8D. Knopf model horns (by Geyer, Karl Hill, Keith Berg, Steve Lewis, Dan Rauch, and Ricco-Kuhn) are used in other areas (San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Houston). The CF Schmidt double, with its unique piston change valve, is occasionally found in sections playing Geyer/Knopf model equipment.
Compensating double horn
The first design of double horn did not have a separate set of slides pitched in F. Rather, the main key of the horn was B (the preference of German horn players) and it could be played in F by directing air through the B slides, an F extension, and another set of tiny slides. This "compensated" for the longer length of the F slides, producing a horn now called the "compensating double". It was, and still is, widely used by European horn players because of its light weight and ease of playing, especially in the high register.Triple horn
This relatively new design was created to afford the player even more security in the high register. It employs not only the F and B horns, but also a third, descant horn. This descant horn is usually pitched an octave above the F horn, though it can be alternatively pitched in E. It is activated through the use of a second thumb valve. The triple horn was met with considerable resistance when it first appeared. Horn players were reluctant to spend far more money for a triple horn than they would for a double horn, and a feeling that using a triple horn to help with the high register was "cheating" was rampant amongst prominent horn players. Also, the horns were much heavier than the average double horn. Players noted that their arms became fatigued much faster. Moreover, the combination of three different horns creates issues with sonority, because the piping shared among all three sides (that is, the lead pipe and bell) are mathematically disproportional to two or all three horn lengths. Horn makers have had to make concessions to "even out" the sound between all three, often to the loss of sound quality of each side or entire ranges of the instrument. However, advances in horn production are gradually eliminating these drawbacks, and the triple horn is gaining popularity. They are rarely available in anything lower than professional quality. Like double horns, triple horns can come in both full and compensating wraps. Today, they are found being played in many professional orchestras.Other modifications
The horn, although not large, is awkward in its shape and does not lend itself well to transport, especially transport on commercial airlines. To compensate, horn makers can make the bell detachable. This allows for smaller and more manageable horn cases. The player can attach the bell when performing. This also allows for different bells to be used on the same horn, somewhat alleviating the need for multiple horns for different styles.Natural horn
The natural horn
Natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the modern-day horn, and is differentiated by its lack of valves. It consists of a mouthpiece, some long coiled tubing, and a large flared bell. Pitch changes are made through a few different techniques:* Modulating the lip tension as...
is the ancestor of the modern horn. It is essentially descended from hunting horns, with its pitch controlled by air speed, aperture (opening of the lips through which air passes) and the use of the right hand moving in and out of the bell. Today it is played as a period instrument
Historically informed performance
Historically informed performance is an approach in the performance of music and theater. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the aesthetic criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived...
. The natural horn can only play from a single harmonic series at a time because there is only one length of tubing available to the horn player. It is however possible to alter the pitch by using a technique that involves partially muting the bell with the right hand, thus enabling the player to reach some notes that are not part of the instrument's natural harmonic series - of course this technique also affects the quality of the tone. The player has a choice of key through changing the length of tubing with crooks.
Vienna horn
The Vienna horn
Vienna horn
The Vienna horn is a type of musical horn used primarily in Vienna, Austria, for playing orchestral or classical music. It is used throughout Vienna, including the Vienna Philharmonic and Wiener Staatsoper.-History and description:...
is a special horn used primarily in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Instead of using rotary valve
Rotary valve
A rotary valve is a type of valve in which the rotation of a passage or passages in a transverse plug regulates the flow of liquid or gas through the attached pipes. The common stopcock is the simplest form of rotary valve...
s or piston valve
Piston valve
A piston valve is a device used to control the motion of a fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the linear motion of a piston within a chamber or cylinder.Examples of piston valves are:...
s, it uses the Pumpenvalve (or Vienna Valve), which is a double-piston operating inside the valve slides, and usually situated on the opposite side of the corpus from the player's left hand, and operated by a long pushrod. Unlike the modern horn, which has grown considerably larger internally (for a bigger, broader, and louder tone), and considerably heavier (with the addition of valves and tubing in the case of the double horn) the Vienna horn very closely mimics the size and weight of the natural horn, (although the valves do add some weight, they are lighter than rotary valves) even using crooks in the front of the horn, between the mouthpiece and the instrument. Although instead of the full range of keys, Vienna horn players usually use an F crook and it is looked down upon to use others, though switching to an A or B crook for higher pitched music does happen on occasion. Vienna horns are often used with funnel shaped mouthpieces similar to those used on the natural horn, with very little (if any) backbore and a very thin rim. The Viennese horn requires very specialized technique and can be quite challenging to play, even for accomplished players of modern horns. The Vienna horn has a warmer, softer sound than the modern horn. Its pumpen-valves facilitate a continuous transition between notes (glissando
Glissando
In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...
); conversely, a more precise operating of the valves is required to avoid notes that sound out of tune.
Mellophone
There are two instruments with the moniker "mellophone". The first is an instrument shaped somewhat like a horn in that it is wrapped in a circle. It has piston valves and is played with the right hand on the valves. Manufacturing sharply decreased in the middle of the twentieth century, and this mellophone (or mellophonium) is rarely seen today. Amati still makes circular mellophoniums.The second instrument is used in modern brass bands and marching bands, and is more accurately called a "marching mellophone" or mellophone. A derivative of the F alto horn
Alto horn
The alto horn is a brass instrument pitched in E...
, it is keyed in F. It is shaped like a flugelhorn, with piston valves played with the right hand and a forward-pointing bell. These horns are generally considered better marching instruments than regular horns because their position is more stable on the mouth, they project better, and they weigh less. It is primarily used as the middle voice of drum and bugle corps
Drum and bugle corps (modern)
A drum and bugle corps, also known as a drum corps, is a musical marching unit consisting of brass instruments, percussion instruments, and color guard. Typically operating as independent non-profit organizations, drum corps perform in competitions, parades, festivals, and other civic functions...
. Though they are usually played with a V-cup cornet-like mouthpiece, their range overlaps the common playing range of the horn. This mouthpiece switch makes the mellophone louder, less mellow, and more brassy and brilliant, making it more appropriate for marching bands. Often now with the use of converters, traditional conical horn mouthpieces are used to achieve the more mellow sound of a horn to make the marching band sound more like a symphonic band.
As they are pitched in F or G and their range overlaps that of the horn, mellophones can be used in place of the horn in brass and marching band settings. However, mellophones are sometimes unpopular with horn players because the mouthpiece change can be difficult and requires a different embouchure
Embouchure
The embouchure is the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of woodwind instruments or the mouthpiece of the brass instruments.The word is of French origin and is related to the root bouche , 'mouth'....
. Mouthpiece adapters are available so that a horn mouthpiece can fit into the mellophone lead pipe, but this does not compensate for the many differences that a horn player must adapt to. The bore is generally cylindrical as opposed to the more conical horn; thus, the "feel" of the mellophone can be foreign to a horn player. Another unfamiliar aspect of the mellophone is that it is played with the right hand instead of the left. Intonation can also be an issue when playing the mellophone.
In orchestral concerts, regular concert horns are normally preferred to mellophones because of their tone, which blends better with woodwinds and strings, and their greater intonational subtlety—since the player can adjust the tuning by hand. For these reasons, mellophones are played more usually in marching bands and brass band ensembles, occasionally in jazz bands, and almost never in orchestral settings.
While horn players may be asked to play the mellophone, it is unlikely that the instrument was ever intended to be used as a substitute for the horn, mainly because of the fundamental differences described. As an instrument it compromises between the ability to sound like a horn, while being used like a trumpet or flugelhorn; a tradeoff that sacrifices acoustic properties for ergonomics.
Marching horn
The marching horn is quite similar to the mellophone in shape and appearance, but is pitched in the key of B (the same as the B side of a regular double horn). It is also available in F alto (one octave above the F side of a regular double horn). The marching horn is also normally played with a horn mouthpiece (unlike the mellophone, which needs an adapter to fit the horn mouthpiece). These instruments are primarily used in marching bands. However, many college marching bands and drum corps use mellophones instead, which better balance the tone of the other brass instruments.Wagner tuba
The Wagner tuba is a rare brass instrument that is essentially a horn modified to have a larger bell throat and a vertical bell. Despite its name, it is generally not considered part of the tubaTuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
family. Invented for Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
specifically for his work Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
, it has since been written for by various other composers, including Bruckner, Stravinsky and Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
. It uses a horn mouthpiece and is available as a single tuba in B or F, or, more recently, as a double tuba similar to the double horn. Its common range is similar to that of the euphonium
Euphonium
The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced"...
, but its possible range is the same as that of the horn, extending from low F, below the bass clef staff to high C above the treble staff when read in F. These low pedals are substantially easier to play on the Wagner tuba than on the horn.
Orchestral
The horn is most often used as an orchestral instrument, with its singular tone being employed by composers to achieve specific effects. Leopold MozartLeopold Mozart
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...
, for example, used horns to signify the hunt, as in his Jagdsinfonie
Jagdsinfonie
The Jagdsinfonie or Sinfonia da Caccia for 4 horns and Strings is a work by Leopold Mozart in G major. It is scored for corni di caccia, or hunting horns, strings, gunshots, shouting and barking dogs, a naturalism not atypical of this composer.Movements:...
(hunting symphony). Once the technique of hand-stopping
Hand-stopping
Hand-stopping is a technique by which a natural horn can be made to produce notes outside of its normal harmonic series. By inserting the hand, cupped, into the bell, the player can reduce the pitch of a note by a semitone or more...
had been developed, allowing fully chromatic playing, composers began to write seriously for the horn. Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...
wrote much for the horn, and it features prominently in the work of Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
and in Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Brandenburg Concerto no. 1. Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
made great use of the horn's uniquely haunting and distant sound in his symphonies, notably the famous Nachtmusik (serenade) section of his Symphony No. 7
Symphony No. 7 (Mahler)
Gustav Mahler's Seventh Symphony was written in 1904-05, with repeated revisions to the scoring. It is sometimes referred to by the title Song of the Night , though this title was not Mahler's own and he disapproved of it. Although the symphony is often described as being in the key of 'E minor,'...
.
Many composers have written works that have become favorites in the horn repertoire. These includes Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
(Elegie) and Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
(Morceau de Concert for horn and orchestra, op. 94 and Romance, op. 36). Others, particularly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, whose friend Joseph Leutgeb was a noted horn player, wrote extensively for the instrument, including concerti
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
and other solo works. Mozart's A Musical Joke
A Musical Joke
A Musical Joke K. 522, is a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the composer entered it in his Verzeichnis aller meiner Werke on June 14, 1787...
satirizes the limitations of contemporary horn playing, including the risk of selecting the wrong crook by mistake. By the end of the 18th Century the horn was sufficiently established as a solo instrument that the horn player Giovanni Punto
Giovanni Punto
Giovanni Punto was a Czech horn player and a pioneer of the hand-stopping technique which allows natural horns to play a greater number of notes.He was an international celebrity in the 18th and early 19th centuries, known in London,...
became an international celebrity, touring Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and inspiring works by composers as significant as Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
.
The development of the valve horn was exploited by romantic composers such as Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, Bruckner
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
and Mahler. Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks contains one of the best known horn solos from this period, relying on the chromatic facility of the valved horn. Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
's Konzertstuck for Four Horns and Orchestra is a notable three-movement work.
Horn music in Britain had a renaissance in the mid-20th century when Dennis Brain inspired works such as Britten's
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
The Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings is a song cycle written in 1943 by the English composer Benjamin Britten, scored for tenor accompanied by a solo horn and a small string orchestra...
and other works from contemporary composers such as Michael Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
, who stretches horn ensemble playing to its technical limits in his Sonata for Four Horns. Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
was commissioned by 50 amateur and professional UK horn players to write a horn piece to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brain's death.
Much of the horn repertoire is scored as featured parts for the orchestral players, especially the principal horn. It is common for leading horn players to move from principal positions in the great orchestras to distinguished solo careers, a path followed by Brain and many since.
Due to the heroic quality of the horn's sound, it is often used in film music. However, Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
's
score for On Dangerous Ground
On Dangerous Ground
On Dangerous Ground is a film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and produced by John Houseman. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides based on the novel Mad with Much Heart, by Gerald Butler...
uses four horns (and anvils) during a chase sequence to suggest a wild state of mind.
Chamber music
There is an abundance of chamber music repertoire for horn. It is a standard member of the wind quintetWind quintet
A wind quintet, also sometimes known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players . The term also applies to a composition for such a group....
and brass quintet
Brass quintet
A brass quintet is a five-piece musical ensemble composed of brass instruments. The most common instrumentation is two trumpets or cornets, one horn, one trombone or euphonium/baritone horn, and one tuba or bass trombone....
, and often appears in other configurations, such as Brahms' "Horn Trio
Horn Trio (Brahms)
The Horn Trio in E flat major, Op. 40, by Johannes Brahms is a chamber piece in four movements written for natural horn, violin, and piano. Composed in 1865, the work commemorates the death of Brahms’ mother, Christiane, earlier that year. The work was first performed in Zurich on November 28,...
" for violin, horn and piano. Also, the horn can be used by itself in a horn ensemble or "horn choir." The horn choir is especially practical because the extended range of the horn provides the composer or arranger with more possibilities, registerally, sonically, contrapuntally, etc.
Orchestral horns
A classical orchestra usually contained two horns. Typically, the 1st horn played a high part and the 2nd horn played a low part. Composers from BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
onwards commonly used four horns. Here, the 1st and 2nd horns played as a pair (1st horn being high, 2nd horn being low), and the 3rd and 4th horns played as another pair (3rd horn being high, 4th horn being low). Music written for the modern horn follows a similar pattern with 1st and 3rd horns being high and 2nd and 4th horns being low.
This configuration serves multiple purposes. It is easier to play high when the player to your right is playing low, and it is easier to play low if a high player is to your left. Pairing makes it easier to write for horns, as the 3rd and 4th horns can take over from the 1st & 2nd horns, or play contrasting material. When music was first written, it was for the natural horn
Natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the modern-day horn, and is differentiated by its lack of valves. It consists of a mouthpiece, some long coiled tubing, and a large flared bell. Pitch changes are made through a few different techniques:* Modulating the lip tension as...
, which meant that the horns could only easily play certain notes. Because of this, the 1st and 2nd horns had to be in a different key from the 3rd and 4th horns so that more of the notes can be played. For example, if the piece is in C minor, the 1st and 2nd horns might be in C, the tonic major key, which could get most of the notes, and the 3rd and 4th horns might be in E, the relative major key, to fill in the gaps.
Most horn sections today also have an assistant who doubles the 1st horn part for selected passages, joining in loud parts, playing instead of the principal if there is a 1st horn solo approaching, or alternating with the principal if the part is tiring to play. Playing assistant is often underappreciated, but it is harder than it seems, and takes experience to do it well. Often the assistant is asked to play a passage after resting a long time. Also, he or she may be asked to enter in the middle of a passage, exactly matching the sound, articulation, and overall interpretation of the principal. The assistant is occasionally referred to as a "bumper".
Some pieces (like Rachmaninov's
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
Isle of the Dead
Isle of the Dead (Rachmaninoff)
Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, is a symphonic poem composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff was inspired by Arnold Böcklin's painting, Isle of the Dead, which he saw in Paris in 1907. He concluded the composition while staying in Dresden in 1908...
, Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem
Sinfonia da Requiem
Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20, for orchestra is a symphony written by Benjamin Britten in 1940 at the age of 26. It was one of several works commissioned from different composers by the Japanese Government to mark the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese Empire...
, Holst's
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
The Planets
The Planets
The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst...
and Richard Strauss' Don Quixote
Don Quixote (Strauss)
Don Quixote, Op. 35, is a composition by Richard Strauss for cello, viola and large orchestra. Subtitled Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters , the work is based on the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. Strauss composed this work in Munich in 1897...
) have called for 6 horns, or as many as 20 horns, as found in Eine Alpinesinfonie, by Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
. Here the pairing remains the same, with the odd horns being high parts and the even horns being low parts.
In jazz
The horn has been rarely used in jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
music. Notable exponents, however, include composer/arranger Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
who included the horn as an ensemble instrument from the 1940s, first in Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader...
's groups, and later with the pioneering cool jazz
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
nonet led by trumpeter Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, and in many other projects that sometimes also featured Davis. Notable improvising horn players in jazz include Julius Watkins
Julius Watkins
Julius Watkins was an American jazz musician, and one of the first jazz French horn players. He won the Down Beat critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for "miscellaneous instrument" with French horn named as the instrument....
, Willie Ruff
Willie Ruff
Willie Ruff is the hornist and bassist of the Mitchell-Ruff Duo and one of the founders of the W. C. Handy Music Festival. He was born in Florence, Alabama. The duo regularly performs and lectures all over the United States, Asia, Africa and Europe...
, John Graas
John Graas
John Graas was an American jazz French horn player, composer, and arranger. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, Graas had a short but busy career on the West Coast, known primarily as one of the first and best French horn players in jazz.Graas had classical training, including attendance at the Tanglewood...
, David Amram
David Amram
David Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston...
, John Clark
John Clark (musician)
John Clark is an American jazz horn player and composer.-Biography:John Clark was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Rochester, New York. His father was William H. Clark, a professor of German and dean of education at the University of Rochester, and his mother was Margaret Garmey. He and his four...
, Vincent Chancey
Vincent Chancey
Vincent Chancey is an American jazz hornist.Chancey, a French horn player, attended the Southern Illinois University School of Music and then studied under Julius Watkins in New York City...
, Mark Taylor, Giovanni Hoffer, Arkady Shilkloper, Adam Unsworth, and Tom Varner
Tom Varner
Tom Varner is an American jazz horn player and composer.Varner studied piano in his youth with Capitola Dickerson of Summit, New Jersey. He holds a B.M...
.
Notable horn players
- Hermann Baumann – 1964 winner of the ARD International Music CompetitionARD International Music CompetitionThe ARD International Music Competition is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is held once a year in Munich.-History:...
and former principal horn in various orchestras, including the Stuttgart Radio Symphony OrchestraStuttgart Radio Symphony OrchestraThe Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Stuttgart in Germany. The ensemble was founded in 1945 by American occupation authorities as the orchestra for Radio Stuttgart, under the name Sinfonieorchester von Radio Stuttgart...
. - Dennis BrainDennis BrainDennis Brain was a British virtuoso horn player and was largely credited for popularizing the horn as a solo classical instrument with the post-war British public...
– former principal horn of the Royal Philharmonic OrchestraRoyal Philharmonic OrchestraThe Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
and the PhilharmoniaPhilharmonia OrchestraThe Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
, with whom he and Herbert von KarajanHerbert von KarajanHerbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
made well-known recordings of MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's horn concertosHorn Concertos (Mozart)The four Horn Concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are a major part of most professional horn players' repertoire. The concertos were written for his friend Joseph Leutgeb , whom he had known since childhood...
. - John CerminaroJohn CerminaroJohn Paul Cerminaro, Jr. is an American horn player who is best known for his principal tenures with two notable American orchestras, the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic...
– current principal horn of the Seattle SymphonySeattle SymphonyThe Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra's season runs from September through July, and serves as the pit orchestra for most productions of the Seattle Opera in addition to its own concerts...
and former principal horn of the New York PhilharmonicNew York PhilharmonicThe New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
and the Los Angeles PhilharmonicLos Angeles PhilharmonicThe Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
. - Roger-Luc Chayer – Lyrical french horn France and Canada. Cannes Symphony (1989-1991), Nice Opera (1984-1991), Toulouse National Capitole Symphony (1992). Solo recordings.
- Dale ClevengerDale ClevengerDale Clevenger has been Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1966. Before joining the CSO, he was a member of Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony of the Air directed by Alfred Wallenstein. He was also principal horn of the Kansas City...
– current principal horn of the Chicago Symphony OrchestraChicago Symphony OrchestraThe Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
. - Vincent DeRosaVincent DeRosaVincent DeRosa is a Los Angeles studio musician who played horn for Hollywood soundtracks and other recordings from 1935-2008.-Early Life and Training:...
– former principal horn for a number of HollywoodHollywood, Los Angeles, CaliforniaHollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
studios and composers including John WilliamsJohn WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
. - Philip FarkasPhilip FarkasPhilip Farkas was principal hornist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for many years; he left in 1960 to join the music faculty at Indiana University Bloomington. He wrote The Art of French Horn Playing which is considered by many to be the seminal work for horn players...
– former principal horn of the Chicago Symphony OrchestraChicago Symphony OrchestraThe Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
, developer of the Holton Farkas horn and author of several books on horn and brass playing. - Douglas HillDouglas HillDouglas Arthur Hill was a Canadian science fiction author, editor and reviewer. He was born in Brandon, Manitoba, the son of a railroad engineer, and was raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. An avid science fiction reader from an early age, he studied English at the University of Saskatchewan...
– former principal horn of the Madison Symphony OrchestraMadison Symphony OrchestraThe Madison Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its conductor is John DeMain, who began his 14th season with the orchestra in the fall of 2007...
. notable teacher and composer - Philip MyersPhilip MyersPhilip Myers is a noted American horn player. Myers plays a F/B-flat/f alto Engelbert Schmid Triple Horn. He currently owns five horns, down from a high at one time of 17...
– principal horn of the New York PhilharmonicNew York PhilharmonicThe New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
since 1980. - Jeff NelsenJeff NelsenJeff Nelsen is a Canadian French horn player.- Biography :Hornist Jeff Nelsen was born to opera-singing pig-farming parents in Western Canada. He believes this duality contributes strongly to his unique career paths thus far. He is equally successful in both classical and contemporary genres and...
– Canadian BrassCanadian BrassThe Canadian Brass is a brass quintet founded by Dr. Charles Daellenbach and Gene Watts in 1970. In addition to maintaining a heavy international touring schedule, the Canadian Brass have recorded over 80 CDs and DVDs...
hornist since 2000 and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music horn faculty since 2006. - Giovanni PuntoGiovanni PuntoGiovanni Punto was a Czech horn player and a pioneer of the hand-stopping technique which allows natural horns to play a greater number of notes.He was an international celebrity in the 18th and early 19th centuries, known in London,...
– horn virtuoso and hand-stoppingHand-stoppingHand-stopping is a technique by which a natural horn can be made to produce notes outside of its normal harmonic series. By inserting the hand, cupped, into the bell, the player can reduce the pitch of a note by a semitone or more...
pioneer, after whom the International Horn SocietyInternational Horn SocietyThe International Horn Society is the primary international organization dedicated to players of the horn. It was founded in June 1970.It holds a symposium each year and publishes a journal, The Horn Call.-Formation:...
's annual horn playing award is named. He was also a violinist, concertmaster and composer. - David PyattDavid PyattDavid Pyatt is a horn player from England. In 1988, aged 14, he became the then youngest winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. In 1996 Gramophone Magazine announced David Pyatt as their Young Artist of the Year...
– winner of the BBC Young Musician of the YearBBC Young Musician of the YearThe BBC Young Musician of the Year is a televised national music competition. It is broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Four biennially, despite the name, and hosted by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
competition in 1988 and current principal horn of the London Symphony OrchestraLondon Symphony OrchestraThe London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
. - Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
– former principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony OrchestraCincinnati Symphony OrchestraAs the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...
and Metropolitan Opera OrchestraMetropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
and played with Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
. - Barry TuckwellBarry TuckwellBarry Emmanuel Tuckwell AC, OBE , is an Australian horn player who has spent most of his professional life in the United Kingdom and the United States.- Early life and education :...
– former principal horn of the London Symphony OrchestraLondon Symphony OrchestraThe London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
and author of several books on horn playing. - Radovan VlatkovićRadovan VlatkovicRadovan Vlatković is a Croatian born horn player. He is the former principal horn of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra . He left that post in 1990 to devote himself to a solo career and has recorded many of the major works for horn...
– 1983 winner of the ARD International Music CompetitionARD International Music CompetitionThe ARD International Music Competition is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is held once a year in Munich.-History:...
, former principal horn and soloist of the Berlin Radio Symphony OrchestraBerlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (East Berlin)The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at theKonzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie...
and professor at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg. - Stefan DohrStefan DohrStefan Dohr is a German horn player and currently the principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra . Apart from being a sought-after masterclass teacher, he teaches the horn at the Herbert von Karajan Academy.-Biography:Stefan Dohr studied with Prof. Wolfgang Wilhelmi at the Musikhochschule...
– current principal horn, Berlin Philharmonic OrchestraBerlin Philharmonic OrchestraThe Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...
People who are more notable for their other achievements, but also play the horn, include actors Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
and David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy...
, comedian and television host Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
bassist and singer John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...
, and rapper and record producer B.o.B
B.o.B
Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. , better known by his stage name B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle Records, Rebel Rock Entertainment, and Atlantic Records. His debut single "Nothin' on You" reached number one in both...
.
See also
- Brass instrument valveBrass instrument valveBrass instrument valves are valves used to change the length of tubing of a brass instrument allowing the player to reach the notes of various harmonic series. Each valve pressed diverts the air stream through additional tubing, individually or in conjunction with other valves...
- List of compositions for horn
- List of horn makers
- List of horn techniques
External links
- Homepage of the International Horn Society, one of the largest organizations of horn players in the world.
- British Horn Society, UK-based organisation for horn playing
- First steps of making a horn by hand (QuickTime Movie) at Finke Horns
- From mines to music: The venerable valve, by musicologist Edmund A. Bowles
- Horn maintenance at Paxman, compiled with the assistance of Simon de SouzaSimon de SouzaSimon de Souza is one of the most active and influential horn teachers in the United Kingdom. He teaches at the Birmingham Conservatoire , is horn tutor at Wells Cathedral School and the Purcell School and is also involved with the Junior departments of the Trinity College of Music and Royal...
- How to dismantle a valve at Finke Horns