Natural horn
Natural horn is a general term for brass instruments that are blown according to the principle of the upholstered pipe and have neither finger holes , keys , valves or a telescopic slide like the trombone . On a natural horn, only natural tones can be blown without the aid of other techniques . The distinction between natural horn and natural trumpet with the same sound-forming properties is largely arbitrary and depends on shape and material. Shorter, curved brass instruments or brass instruments made from animal horns are more likely to be called “natural horns”, whereas longer straight, cylindrical or conical tubes made of metal, wood or bark are more likely to be called “natural trumpets”.
Design
Natural horns are traditionally made from different materials. Originally the horn substance or wooden tubes can also be found typical brass instruments made of brass or other copper alloys . Horny substance can be made somewhat flexible by warming it up; this can also change its shape within certain limits.
Wooden natural trumpets are hollowed out using various techniques. The basic external shape is usually retained.
The horn, as a typical circularly wound brass instrument, arose from the need to make the required tube length more practical and transportable, and it quickly found its way into the orchestra. The baroque natural horns, in which pure natural tones are played without a hand in the cup , become invention horns from classical music onwards , in which the hand in the cup enables a chromatic scale from the c '. The differences to the valve horn in sound are on the one hand due to the slimmer design with thinner walls, narrower scale and different bell, on the other hand to the need to use stuffed and muffled tones, which can all be blown open on the valve horn, but the natural horn was very popular at the time Give sound variety.
Style of play
The natural tones are created by the approach with the lips (see brass instrument ). In order to be able to play the notes in between, the hand is inserted more or less far into the bell (see stopper ). As a result, tones are either stuffed (one semitone higher) or muffled (up to about one and a half semitones lower), whereby of course a very different timbre is created, which is only used with the more modern valve horn if explicitly stated.
Usage today
Like the natural trumpet, the natural horn was replaced by the further developed valve version from the middle of the 19th century. The valve horn has the advantage that the pitch is available chromatically over the full range and is sound technically uniform. The switch to the valve horn was mainly driven by fast and large modulations and new harmonics, which is why Richard Wagner , for example , in contrast to traditionalists like Johannes Brahms , quickly switched to the valve horn.
Nevertheless, in the course of historical performance practice in the last few decades, the use of the natural instrument has slowly reappeared, as there are slight sound differences between the natural and valve instruments. The prerequisite for this is a perfect mastery of the hand and playing techniques, as demonstrated, for example, in the recordings of natural horn player Stephan Katte .
The natural horn was taught in Paris for the longest time, namely until 1903, which is reflected in the use of the natural horn by many romantic French composers. The graduates had to show all important playing techniques (valve horn, natural horn, metallic stopper, echo, muffling, etc.) in the final examination. In 1906 Paul Dukas composed the piece Villanelle for the final exams at the Paris Conservatory , which requires both natural and valve horn.
Maurice Ravel appreciated the sound of the natural horn and wrote e.g. B. the orchestral version of the piece Pavane pour une infante défunte for two natural horns in G.
Related instruments
Depending on the sense of use, the instruments are blown individually ( solo ), in unison or several voices in groups. Different applications of one and the same instrument are also possible.
Typical natural horns are:
- the alphorn
- the historic valveless Corno da caccia , from which the Inventionshorn in baroque music originated
- the parforce horn for parforce hunting and the resulting Fürst-Pless horn
- the lure
- the Middewinterhorn
- the post horn
- the Russian horns played together with only one note of different pitch
- the watchman's horn (see night watchman ), fire horn as a typical signaling instrument
The didgeridoo is usually only played with the deepest natural tones using a special blowing technique. A rare style of playing, which is mainly known from Siberia and Chile, is practiced by the sucked trumpets , which can consist of the same materials as natural horns. The player forms the sound with his lips by sucking in air.
See also
- Horn , also French horn, a brass instrument with valves
- Snail horn
- Shofar
- Phalaphala
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pavane pour une infante défunte on IMSLP , accessed February 8, 2018