, Research Paper
In Prehistoric times, the bell was pointed forwards above the head. It was
used to make a lot of noise in battle. It could only produce one or two
notes. Around the 1600s, shells and animal horns used for signalling,
particularly in hunting. These were gradually replaced by metal instruments
which were made longer in order to get more notes to give more
complicated signals. As they increased in length, they were coiled up to
make them easier to handle and to use on horseback. They called them cor
de chasse, trompe de chasse, corno da caccia, jagdhorn or parforce horn.
They were only used outdoors. In 1963, they began to use horns indoors
for special effects in an opera by Rossi. They were used separately from the
rest of the orchestra because of tuning problems and because they were
played very crudely. In between 1640 – 1700 Horns were gradually
accepted into the orchestra, but were still usually only for special effects
and often used on their own. Many aristocrats engage horn players in order
to keep up with French fashion and send their servants away to learn how
to play the “French horn”. In 1690 they began to make horns in Austria
and Bohemia specially for playing in orchestras. It was called a Waldhorn,
to distinguish it from a hunting horn. It is wider and has a more mellow
sound. In 1720, crooks were developed for horns to put them into
different keys. Before this, horns were made in different keys in one piece,
so a set of complete instruments was needed to cover all the keys used. For
lower keys, 2 systems were used – either several shorter crooks were added
to each other to make up the extra length of tubing or one long length of
tubing was coiled up. The second system was easier for the player but more
expensive as one crook was needed for each key. Around 1740, hand
stopping was “invented” by Hampel, allowing scales and chromatic notes to
be played over nearly the whole range of the instrument. Hampel did not
invent hand stopping but perfected a technique that had been used before
by many brass players to correct out of tune harmonics. Horn players
divided into two types – Corno secondo (who were expert in the use of hand
stopping in the lower register and in big leaps where the harmonics are
further apart) and Corno primo (who were expert in the high register where
there is not much need for hand stopping). Each type of player used a
different mouthpiece (large cup-shaped for corni secondi and small and
shallow for corni primi). From 1790 – 1870 Omnitonic horns developed,
incorporating crooks for all keys in one instrument, usually with some
sliding mechanism to select the appropriate crook. There were problems
with the mechanisms and with air leakage and these instruments do not
seem to have had any real influence on the way composers wrote. In 1830 ,
composers still wrote basically for natural horns, but increasingly added
notes only available on horns with one or more valves. In 1830 valves were
invented. In 1832 rotary valves were developed. In1898 the first double
horn in F and Bb was built. This was developed to give the characteristic
warm tone in the middle register and safety in the high register needed for
the increasingly difficult parts.As with most new developments, there was
some resistance to using double horns as the sound on the Bb side was
reckoned to be inferior. From 1900 – 1945 narrow bore “French”
instruments gradually replaced by wider bore “German” models to give
more weight of sound in the orchestra (trombones and tubas also develop
along the same lines). In 1960 the triple horn in F/Bb/F alto developed.