Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Horn PDF
Horn PDF
1) The extreme possible range of the horn (and those of cor alto and cor basso)
2) Transpositions
● The old natural horn has no valves, and thus relies completely on the overtone
series of the horn. The pedal note is unstable, and partials above the 12th
weren’t used very often before Beethoven. Even though they had access to
valve horns, composers like Wagner and Brahms often used natural horns for
their characteristic sound. Horn players could play notes outside of the overtone
series by stopping the horn with their hand to raise the pitch. The modern valve
horn has access to all chromatic pitches in each partial of the instrument without
needing to stop the horn with the hand and altering the tone color.
● Limitations: Less agile than a trumpet. Wide leaps and fast runs are particularly
difficult.
woodwinds, and can often have a comical effect. Tremolos larger than a 2nd are
very difficult.
● Glissandi: A loud “ripping” noise, sounds best in higher registers because the
● Cuivre: A very brassy sound, the performer increases lip tension, breath, and
● Bells up: Instead of the horn facing backwards an the performer holding their
hand loosely in the bell, the performers take their hand out and face the bell
Listening:
really liked the effect of a full horn section playing muted and staccato. The
result was piercing and buzzy, like any muted brass, but with a very large
● EXAMPLE 10-16. Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel, Overture, mm. 1–8: This
example makes it clear that the horns mellow tone color, expressive qualities,
and extreme range makes a chorale using only Horns in F very effective and
beautiful.
● EXAMPLE 10-10. R. Strauss, Till Eulenspiegel, mm. 6–12: I really like this
passage because of how idiomatic it is. It takes advantage of all of the horn’s
best qualities and versatility, and shows off the whole range of the instrument in a
manner that allows the performer to focus on the shape of the line more than