Natural Horn

Natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the

predecessor to the modern-day (French) horn (differentiated by
Natural horn
its lack of valves). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth
century the natural horn evolved as a separation from the
trumpet by widening the bell and lengthening the tubes.[1] It
consists of a mouthpiece, long coiled tubing, and a large flared
bell. This instrument was used extensively until the emergence
of the valved horn in the early 19th century.
Contents
Hand stopping technique
Repertoire
Natural horn and the modern horn Natural horn in the V&A Museum,
London
See also
Classification Brass
References
instrument
External links
Hornbostel–Sachs 423.1
classification
Hand stopping technique
The natural horn has several gaps in its harmonic range. To play chromatically, in addition to crooking the
instrument into the right key, two additional techniques are required: bending and hand-stopping. Bending
a note is achieved by modifying the embouchure to raise or lower the pitch fractionally, and compensates
for the slightly out-of-pitch "wolf tones" which all brass instruments have. Hand-stopping is a technique
whereby the player can modify the pitch of a note by up to a semitone (or sometimes slightly more) by
inserting a cupped hand into the bell. Both techniques change the timbre as well as the pitch.
It is commonly thought that hand technique emerged during the first half of the eighteenth century at the
Dresden court with the horn player Anton Hampel. Domnich (1807) cited Hampel as the inventor of this
technique and recounted the "invention" in which Hampel, trying to emulate oboist colleagues who used
cotton plugs to "mute" their instruments, tried the same with his horn and was "surprised to find that the
pitch of his instrument rose by a semitone. In a flash of inspiration he realised that by alternately inserting
and withdrawing the cotton plug he could cover without a break every diatonic and chromatic scale."[2]
Pitch changes are made through a few techniques:
Modulating the lip tension as done with modern brass instruments. This allows for notes in
the harmonic series to be played.
Changing the length of the instrument by switching the crooks. This is a rather slow process.
Before the advent of the modern valved horn, many ideas were attempted to speed up the
process of changing the key of the instrument. Crooks were in common use by 1740.[3]
Changing the position of the hand in the bell; this is called hand-stopping. The effect is a
pitch that lowers the harmonic, but dampens the sound.
Repertoire
The repertoire for horn includes many pieces that were originally
written with the natural horn in mind. Until the development of the
modern horn in the early to mid-19th century, Western music
employed the natural horn and its natural brass brethren. Substantial
contributors to the horn repertoire include Handel, Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven, Telemann, Weber, Brahms and many others.
The chromatic abilities of recently developed brass instruments,

however, opened new possibilities for composers of the Romantic
era, and fit with the artistic currents of the time. By the end of the
19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, almost all
music was written for the modern valved horn.
However, the natural horn still found its way into the works of
A natural horn in heraldry, crest of
some composers. Brahms did not care for the valved horn and
Gerardus Rubens.
wrote for natural horn.[4] Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Tenor,
Horn and Strings, though written for the modern horn, makes
notable use of the F harmonic series and has been recorded at least
once on a natural horn.
György Ligeti's Hamburg Concerto makes a great use of the

natural horn and of natural sounds on the modern horn in the solo
part and requires four natural horns in the orchestra.
Natural horn and the modern horn

Below lists natural horn keys with their corresponding fingering on
the modern horn. If a piece of music says the key on the left you
can press the key combination on the right on the modern double
"Cor Solo" (natural horn) – Raoux,
horn to get the correct tube length. This is useful for simulating
Paris, 1797
natural horn when playing older compositions.
B♭ alto – T0
A – T2
A♭ – T1
G – T12
G♭/F♯ – T23
F – open
E–2
E♭ – 1
D – 12
D♭ – 23
C – 13
B basso – 123 (generally very sharp; pull tuning slide and/or valve slides out somewhat)
B♭ basso – not possible on F horn, unless you pull all
the valve slides and tuning slide out as far as they will go
(without detaching) and then use the 123 fingering. Even
then, the intonation may still be sharp, and a greater
degree of hand in the horn bell can be needed.
See also
Alphorn
Natural trumpet
References
1. Hiebert, Thomas (October 1997). "The horn in the
Baroque and Classical periods" (https://www.cambridge. Playing horn at Palace Temple.
org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-brass-instrume Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India
nts/horn-in-the-baroque-and-classical-periods/F8847BF
DBA924EE27CAD82937FB60038). The Cambridge
Companion to Brass Instruments. The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments.
pp. 103–114. doi:10.1017/ccol9780521563437.010 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fccol978052
1563437.010). ISBN 9780521565226. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
2. Humphries, John "The Early Horn" (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
3. Meucci, Renato; Rocchetti, Gabriele (2001). "Horn | Grove Music" (http://www.oxfordmusicon
line.com/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-000001335
3). www.oxfordmusiconline.com. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.13353 (https://doi.
org/10.1093%2Fgmo%2F9781561592630.article.13353). Retrieved 2019-03-28.
4. Moore, K. C. "The persistence of the natural horn in the romantic period" (http://www.moorem
usic.org.uk/nathorn/nathorn.htm). Retrieved 2008-07-20.
External links
The Cyber Horn Museum (http://www.hornplanet.com/hornpage/museum/index.html)
Ericson, John. The Natural Horn (http://www.public.asu.edu/~jqerics/play-natural-horn.html).
Seraphinoff, Richard. Natural Horns (http://www.seraphinoff.com/).
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Natural horn

The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the

Pitch changes are made through a few techniques:

The chromatic abilities of recently developed brass instruments,

György Ligeti's Hamburg Concerto makes a great use of the

Natural horn and the modern horn

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Natural_horn&oldid=1068590589"

This page was last edited on 29 January 2022, at 08:24 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

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