NATURAL BRASS INSTRUMENTS

The brass simply worked on the principle of overblowing the harmonic series. The
operative acoustical principle is the following: the longer the tube, the lower the pitch of
the fundamental, and vice versa. Thus, an eight-foot-long tube, which is theoretically
capable of producing the low C, produces the following harmonic series:

THE NATURAL HORN

The basic horn was an eight-foot-long tube with a fundamental of C and its overtone
series. The following crooks, which changed the fundamental and the series, were the
most popular during the 18th c. and early part of the 19th c.:

Horn in: Sounding (Transposition):

Bb alto a major 2nd lower than notated
A a minor 3rd lower than notated
Ab a major 3rd lower than notated
G a perfect 4th lower than notated
F a perfect 5th lower than notated
E a minor 6th lower than notated
Eb a major 6th lower than notated
D a minor 7th lower than notated
C at pitch if marked C alto;
one octave lower than notated if marked C basso
Bb basso a major 9th lower than notated

Notice that all horns transpose downwards, also that the words “alto” and “basso”
appear. There were also other crooks and their transpositions less frequently used, such
as the A basso, G basso, even B basso (Brahms, Symphony No.1). Of the alto crooks some
rare transpositions, such as horn in F# (Haydn, Farewell Symphony) and horn in Db
(Bizet, Carmen), appear.

Range of the Natural Horn:

The fundamental was usually not playable, so the player had eleven good notes available
to him out of the possible sixteen. The notes with crosses over them were very badly out
of tune and had to be adjusted by the hand in the bell if flat, and with the embouchure if
sharp (=> hand horn term).
From Beethoven on, higher partials than the 12 th were more commonly used. Even when
composers such as Brahms and Wagner had access to valve horns, they continued to
score for the natural horn.
Since the beginning of the orchestral horn playing, the practice of segregating the horns
into firsts (high horn) and seconds (low horn) has been followed. Towards the latter part
of the 18th c. the range limitations of each of these horns was temporarily fixed:
- Cor alto (1st horn): c' – c'''
 - Cor basso (2nd horn): G – b
THE NATURAL TRUMPET

The range of the natural trumpet presents problems similar to the natural horn ranges.
After the clarino playing disappeared, the Classical composers seldom if ever wrote higher
than the 12th  partial. For all practical purposes, the first two partials of the harmonic series
were unplayable in all but the F trumpet, and even there the pitch was quite uncertain. The 7 th
partial was always very flat, while the 11 th  partial really lies between F and F#. Since no
“right hand in the bell” can be accomplished on the trumpet, all of the pitch corrections
depended on the player’s skill in manipulating his lips.
The C Trumpet is nontransposing and sounds  as written.  There  are  no alto­basso
designations in the crooks for the natural trumpet, but the four of the most popular of these
instruments transpose up while three transpose down.

Trumpet in: Sounding (Transposition):

F a perfect fourth up
E a major third up
Eb a minor third up
D a major second up
C sounds as written
B a minor second down
Bb a major second down
A a minor third down

As far as we know, these were the only trumpet crooks that in use.
It is interesting to note that the natural horn was used in the orchestra of the Classical
and early Romantic periods much more frequently than the natural trumpet, probably due to
the horn’s less piercing, mellower quality even in its high registers.