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See also:HORN (See also:Lat. See also:cornu; corresponding terms being Fr. See also:cor, trompe; Ger. Horn; Ital. corno) , a class of See also:wind See also:instruments primarily derived from natural See also:animal horns (see above), and having the See also:common characteristics of a conical See also:bore and the See also:absence of lateral holes . The word " See also:horn " when used by See also:modern See also:English musicians always refers to the See also:French horn . Modern horns may be divided into three classes: (1) the See also:short horns with wide bore, such as the bugles (q.v.) and the See also:post-horn . (2) The saxhorns (q.v.), a See also:family of hybrid instruments designed by Adolphe See also:Sax, and resulting from the See also:adaptation of valves and of a See also:cup-shaped See also:mouthpiece to instruments of the calibre of the See also:bugle . The Flugelhorn family is the See also:German See also:equivalent of the saxhorns . The natural See also:scale of instruments of this class comprises the See also:harmonic from the second to the eighth only . (3) The French horn (Fr. See also:cor de See also:chasse or trompe de chasse, cor a pistons; Ger . Waldhorn, Ventilhorn; Ital. corno or corns di caccia), one of the most valuable and difficult wind instruments of the See also:orchestra, having a very slender conical See also:tube See also:wound See also:round in coils upon itself . It consists of four See also:principal parts—the See also:body, the crooks, the slide and the mouthpiece . See also:object: (1) See also:pitch; (2) range or scale of available notes; (3) quality of See also:tone or timbre; (4) dynamic variation, or See also:Acoustics. crescendo and diminuendo . The pitch of the horn, as of other wind instruments, depends almost exclusively on the length of the See also:air-See also:column set in vibration, and remains practically uninfluenced by the See also:diameter of the bore . In the See also:case of conical tubes in which the difference in diameter at the two extremities, mouthpiece and See also:bell, is very See also:great, as in the horn, the pitch of the tube will be slightly higher than its theoretical length would See also:warrant.' When, for instance, three tube,* of the same length are sounded—No. i, conical diverging; No .
2,
1 See See also:Michael See also:Praetorius, De organographia (See also:Wolfenbuttel, 1618), tab, viii., where crooks for lowering the See also: 3 . Victor Mahillon' adds that the See also:rate of vibration in such conical tubes as the horn is slightly less than the rate of vibration in See also:ambient air; therefore, as the rate of vibration (i.e. the number of vibrations per second) varies in the inverse ratio with the length of the tube, it follows that the See also:practical length of the horn is slightly less than the theoretical, the difference for the horn in By normal pitch amounting to 13.9 cm . (approximately See also:J2 in.) . The tube of the horn behaves as an open See also:pipe . E . F . F . Chladni2 states that the mouthpiece end is to be considered as open in all wind instruments (excepting See also:reed instruments), even when, as in horns and trumpets, it would seem to be closed by the lips . Victor Mahillon, although apparently holding the opposite view, and considering as closed the tubes of all wind instruments played by means of reeds, whether single or See also:double, or by the lips acting as reeds, gives a new and practical explanation of the phenomenon.' The result is the same in both cases, for the closed pipe of trunco-conical bore, whose diameter at the bell is at least four times greater than the diameter at the mouthpiece, behaves in the same manner, when set in vibration by a reed, as an open pipe, and gives the consecutive scale of harmonics.' In See also:order to produce See also:sound from the horn, the performer, stretching his lips across the See also:funnel-shaped mouthpiece from rim to rim, blows into the cavity . The lips, vibrating as the breath passes through the See also:aperture between them, communicate pulsations or See also:series of intermittent shocks to the thin stream of air, known as the exciting current, which, issuing from them, strikes the column of air in the tube, already in a See also:state of stationary vibration.' The effect of this series of shocks, without which there can be no sound, upon the column of air confined within the walls of the tube is to produce sound-waves, travelling longitudinally through the tube . Each sound-See also:wave consists of two See also:half-lengths, one in which the air has been compressed or condensed by the impulse or push, the second in which, the push being spent, the air again dilates or becomes rarefied . In an open pipe, the wave-length is theoretically equal to the length of the tube . The pitch of the See also:note depends on the frequency per second with which each vibration or See also:complete sound-wave reaches the See also:drum of the See also:ear . The longer the wave the lower the frequency . The velocity of the wave is See also:independent of its length, being solely conditioned by the rate of vibration of the particles composing the conveying See also:medium: while one individual particle performs one complete vibration, the wave advances one wave-length.' The rate of particle vibration or frequency is therefore inversely proportional to the corresponding wave-length ? Sound-waves generated by the same exciting current travel with the same velocity whatever their length, the difference being the frequency number and therefore the pitch of the note . As See also:long as the per-former blows with normal force, the same length of tube produces the same wave-length and therefore the same frequency and pitch . By " blowing with normal force " is understood the proper relative proportions to be maintained between the wind-pressure and the See also:lip-tension—a ratio which is found instinctively by the performer but was only suspected by the older writers.' If the shocks or vibrations initiated by the lips through the medium of the exciting current be sharper owing to the increased tension of the lips, and at the same See also:time succeed each other with greater velocity, the wave-length breaks up, and two, three or more proportionally shorter ' Les Instruments de musique au musee du See also:Conservatoire royal de musique de Bruxelles, " Instruments a vent," ii.," Le Cor, son histoire, sa theorie, sa construction " (Brussels and See also:London, 1907), p . 28 . 2 Die Akustik (Leipzig, 1802), p . 86, § 72 . Op. cit. p . 13, § 20, and p . 15, §§ 24 and 25 .
This apparent discrepancy between an See also:early and a modern authority on the acoustics of wind instruments is easily explained
.
Chladni, when speaking of open and closed pipes, refers to the See also:standard cylindrical and rectangular See also:organ-pipes
.
Mahillon, on the other See also:hand, draws a distinction in favour of the conical pipe, demonstrating in a practical manner how, given a certain calibre, the conical pipe must overblow the harmonics of the open pipe, whatever the method of producing the sound
.
' See Gottfried Weber, loc. cit
.
' See See also:Ernst Heinrich and Wilhelm Weber, Wellenlehre (Leipzig; 1825), p
.
519, § 281, and A See also:Text-See also:Book of Physics, See also:part. ii., " Sound,' by J
.
H
.
Poynting and J
.
J
.
See also:Thomson (London, 1906), pp
.
1o4 and 105
.
' See See also:Sedley See also: 21 . 2 Id. pp . 23-25 . ' See Gottfried \Veber, op. cit., pp . 39-41, and Ernst 11. and Wilhelm Weber, op. cit. p . 522, end of § 285.complete waves See also:form instead of one, and See also:traverse the pipe within the same space of time, producing sounds proportionally higher by an See also:octave, a twelfth, &c., according to the See also:character of the initiatory disturbance . We may therefore add this proposition: the rate of vibration of atube varies as the number of segments into which the vibrating column of air within it is divided . In order to obtain the fundamental, the performer's lips must be loose and the 'wind-pressure See also:gentle but steady, so that the exciting current may issue forth in a broad, slow stream . To set in vibration a column of air some i6 or 17 ft. long is a,feat of extreme difficulty; that is why it is quite exceptional to find a horn-player who can sound the fundamental on the See also:low C or BY basso horns . In the organ, where even a 32 ft. tone is obtained, the wind-pressure and the lip-opening See also:con-trolling the exciting current are mechanically regulated for each length of pipe—only one note being required from each . In order, therefore, to induce the column of air within the tube to break up and vibrate in See also:aliquot parts, the exciting current must be compressed into an ever finer, tenser and more incisive stream . There is in fact a certain minimum pressure for each degree of tension of the lips below which no harmonic can be produced . It is often stated that the harmonics are obtained by increasing the tension of the lips and a crescendo by increasing the pressure of the breath.' Victor Mahillon10 accounts for the harmonics by increased wind-pressure only . It is evident that the greater the tension of the lips, the greater the force of wind required to set them vibrating; therefore the force and velocity of the air must vary with the tension of the lips in order to produce a steady or musical sound . D . J . Blaikley considers that the ratio of increase in lips and breath follows that of the harmonic series . The tension of the lips has the effect of reducing the width of the slit or aperture between them and the width of the exciting current . While increasing its See also:density the See also:energy of the wind must, therefore, either expend itself in increasing the rate of vibration, or frequency of the pulses, which influences the pitch of the note; or else in increasing the extent of excursion or See also:amplitude of the vibrations, which influences the dynamic force of the sound or loudness.11 If the aperture be narrowed without providing a proportional increase of wind-pressure, the harmonic over-tone may be heard, but either the intonation will suffer or the in-tensity of the tone will be reduced, because the force required to set the tenser membrane in vibration is insufficient to give the vibrations the requisite amplitude as well as the frequency . If the force expended be excessive, i.e. more than the maximum required to ensure the increased frequency proportional to the increased tension, the superfluous energy must expend itself in increasing the amplitude of the vibrations so that a note of a greater degree of loudness as well as of higher pitch will be produced . The converse is equally true; the lower the pitch of the note the slower the pulses or vibrations and therefore the looser the lip and the gentler the force of current required to set them vibrating . To draw a parallel from organ-pipes: as long as even wind-pressure is maintained, the mouthpiece being fixed proportional to the length of tube, the pipe gives out one note of unvarying dynamic intensity; increase the pressure of the wind and harmonics are heard, but it is impossible to obtain a crescendo unless the mouthpiece be dispensed with and a See also:free reed (q.v.) adapted . Reference has already been made above to the difficulty of obtaining the fundamental on tubes of great length and narrow bore like the horn . The useful See also:compass of the horn, therefore, begins with the note that an open pipe half its length would give; the Germans See also:term instruments of such small calibre half instruments, and those of wide calibre, such as bugles and tubas, whole instruments,12 since in them the whole of the length of the tube is available in practice . The harmonic series of the horn, or the open notes obtainable without using valves or crooks, is written as for the See also:alto horn in C of 8 ft. tone, which forms the standard of notation . Notes written in the See also:bass clef are generally, for some unexplained See also:reason, placed an octave lower than the real sounds . Written and sounded . Written . Sounded . -_ 4 5 6 7 S 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ' See A . Ganot, Elementary See also:Treatise on Physics, translated 6'y E . See also:Atkinson (16th ed., London, 1902), p . 266, § 282, " In the horn different notes are produced by altering the distance of the lips." Such a vague and misleading statement is worse than useless . See also Poynting and Thomson, op. cit. p . 113 . " Le Cor," p . 22; p . 11, § 18; pp . 6 and 7, § 8 . " The phraseology alone is here borrowed from Sedley Taylor, (op. cit. p . 55), who does not enter into the practical application of the theory he expounds so clearly . 12 See Dr Emil Schafhautl's See also:article on musical See also:instrument', § iv. of Bericht der Beurtheilungs See also:Commission-bei der Allg . Deutschen Industrie Ausstellung, 1854 (See also:Munich, 1855), pp . 169-17o; also F . Zammuher,lcp. cit . All the crooks, a See also:list of the principal of which is appended, therefore French horns are made with either two or three valves . To the necessarily give real sounds lower than the above series according to first See also:valve is attached sufficient length of tubing to lower the pitch their individual length. of the instrument a tone, so that any note played upon the horn in F Table of Principal Crooks now in Use.' Key of Actual Sounds of Range of Useful Harmonics . Length of Transposes to Crook .
Crook in
Inches
.
Bb alto 2nd to loth 16 See also:major 2nd lower
__~ _
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 io
Aq - 2nd to loth 22 s
—= aL = See also:minor 3rd
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A5 --
.
--_t— 2nd to loth 29e major 3rd „
3= =
_=
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Io
G 0--°=-- 2nd to 12th 361 perfect
,4th
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12
F 2nd to 16th 52; perfect 5th
--
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10II 12 13 14 15 16
-- znd to 16th 61 minor 6th
• 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16
Eb _ — 2nd to 16th 701 major 6th ,; „
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16
ll_ y 0_ — 2nd to 16th $o minor 7th
-at 2 5 6
12 13 14
3 4 7 8 9 10 II 15 16
C basso 1~-_ _~
.
~ 3rd to 16th 10I Else'
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 i6
Bb basso -~,t' — 3rd to 16th 125 major 9th
f
_ _ I 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
The practical aggregate compass of the natural horns from Bb basso at the service of composers therefore ranges (actual sounds) s
from
fz~
By means of hand-stopping, i.e. the practice of thrusting the hand into the bell in order to lower the sound by a tone or a semitone, or I,y the adaptation of valves to the horn, this compass may be rendered See also:chromatic almost throughout the range
.
The principle of the valve as applied to wind instruments differs entirely from that of keys
.
The latter necessitate lateral holes bored through the tube, and when the keys are raised the vibrating column of air within the tube and the ambient air without are set in communication, with the result that the vibrating column is shortened and the pitch of the note raised
.
The valve See also:system consists of valves or pistons attached to additional lengths of tubing, the effect of which is invariably to lower the pitch, except in the case of valve systems specified as " ascending " tried by See also: V . Mahillon, " Le cor " (p . 32), gives a table of the lengths of crooks in metres . 2 See also:Robert Eitner, editor of the Monatshefte See also:fur Musikwissenschaft, published therein an article in 1881, p . 41 seq., " Wer See also:hat die Ventil-while the first valve is depressed takes effect a tone lower, or as though the horn were in Eb . The second valve opens a passage into a shorter length of tubing sufficient to lower the pitch of the instrument a semitone, as though the instrument were for the time being in E . The third valve similarly lowers the pitch a tone and a half . It will thus be seen that the principle applied in the crook and the valve is in the main the same, but the practical value of the valve is immeasurably See also:superior . Thanks to the valve system the performer is able to have the extra lengths of tubing necessary to give the horn a chromatic compass permanently incorporated with the instrument, and at will to connect one or a See also:combination of these lengths with the main tube of the instrument during any See also:interval of time, however short . The three devices, crooks, valves and slides, are in fact all based upon the same principle, that of providing additional length of tubing in order to deepen the pitch of the whole instrument at will and to transpose it into a different key . Valves and slides, being instantaneous in operation, give to the instrument a chromatic compass, whereas crooks merely enable the performer to See also:play in many keys upon one instrument instead of requiring a different instrument for each key . The slide is the See also:oldest of these devices, and probably suggested the crook as a substitute on instruments of conical bore such as the horn . The invention of the valve, although a substantial improvement, trompete erfunden,” in which, after referring to the Klappenwaldhorn and Trompete (keyed horn and trumpet) made by Weidinger and played in public in 18o2 and 1813 respectively, he goes on to state that Schilling in his See also:Lexicon makes the comical See also:mistake of looking upon the Klappentrompete (keyed trumpet) and Ventiltrompete ((valve trumpet) as different instruments . He accordingly sets matters right, as he thinks, by according to Weidinger the See also:honour of the invention of valves, hitherto wrongfully attributed to Stolzel; and in the Quellenlexikon (1904) he leaves out Stelzel's name, and names Weidinger as the inventor of the Klappen or Ventil, referring readers for further particulars to his article, just quoted, in the Monatshefte . — or with 3 valves ._-_to= -- from was found to fall short of perfection in its operation on the tubes of wind instruments so soon as the possibility of using the.three valves in combination to produce six different positions or series of harmonics was realized, and for the following reason . In order to deepen the pitch one tone by means of valve 1, a length of tubing exactly proportional to the length of the main tube must be thrown into communication with the latter . If, in addition to valve 1, valve 3 be depressed, a further drop in pitch of 11 tone should be effected; but as the length of tubing added by depressing valve 3 is calculated in proportion to the main tube, and the latter has already been lengthened by depressing valve 1, therefore the additional length supplied by opening valve 3 is now too short to produce a drop of a minor third strictly in tune, and all notes played while valves i and 3 are depressed will be too See also:sharp . Means of compensating slight errors in intonation are provided in the U-shaped slides mentioned above . The timbre of the natural horn is mellow, sonorous and See also:rich in harmonics; it is quite distinctive and bears but little resemblance to that of the other members of the See also:brass wind . Ii listening to its sustained notes one receives the impression of the tone being breathed out as by a See also:voice, whereas the trumpet and trombone produce the effect of a rapid series of concussions, and in the See also:tuba and See also:cornet the concussions, although still striking, are softened as by See also:padding . The timbre of the hand-stopped notes is veiled and suggestive of See also:mystery; so characteristic is the timbre that passages in the Rhein-See also:gold heard when the magic See also:power of the Tarnhelm reveals itself sound meaningless if the weird chords are played by means of the valves instead of by hand-stopping . The timbre of the See also:piston notes is more resonant than that of the open no-as, partaking a little of the character of the trombone, which is probably due to the fact that the strictly conical bore of the natural horn has been replaced by a mixed cylindrical and conical as ii. trumpet and trombone . The form of the mouthpiece (q.v.) at the point where it joins the main bore of the tube must also exercise a certain See also:influence on the form of vibration, which it See also:helps to modify in See also:conjunction with the conformation of each individual horn-player's lip . In the horn the cup of the mouthpiece is shaped like a funnel, the bore converging insensibly into the narrow end of the main conical bore without break or sharp edges as in the mouthpieces, more properly known as cup-shaped, of trumpet and See also:bombardon . The brilliant sonorousness and roundness of the timbre of the horn are due to the strength and predominance of the partial tones up to the 7th or 8th . The prevalence of the higher harmonics from the loth to the 16th, in which the partial tones See also:lie very See also:close together, determines the harsh quality of the trumpet timbre, which may be easily imitated on the horn by forcing the sound See also:production and using a trumpet mouthpiece, and by raising the bell, an effect which is indicated by composers by the words " Raise the Bells."' The origin of the horn must be sought in remote prehistoric times, when, by breaking off the tip of a short animal horn, one or at best two notes, powerful, rough, unsteady, only See also:History. barely approximating to definite musical sounds, were obtained . This was undoubtedly the archetype of the modern families of brass wind instruments, and from it evolved the trumpet, the bugle and the tuba no less than the horn . The common characteristics which See also:link together these widely different modern families of instruments are: (1) the more or less pronounced conical bore, and (2) the See also:property possessed in a greater or lesser degree of producing the natural sounds by what has been termed overblowing the harmonic overtones . If we follow the See also:evolution of the animal horn throughout the centuries, the ultimate development leads us not to the French horn but to the bugle and tuba . Before See also:civilization had dawned in classic See also:Greece, See also:Egypt, See also:Assyria and the Semitic races were using wind instruments of See also:wood and See also:metal which had See also:left the See also:primitive See also:ram or bugle horn far behind . Even in See also:northern See also:Europe, during the See also:Bronze See also:age (c. moo B.c.), prehistoric See also:man had evolved for himself the prototype of the See also:Roman See also:cornu, a bronze horn of wide conical bore, See also:bent in the shape of a G . One of these instruments, known among the modern Scandinavian races as luurs or lurs, found in the See also:peat beds of See also:Denmark and now preserved in the Museum of Northern Antiquities in See also:Copenhagen, has a length of 1.91 M . (about 6 ft . 4 in.) . The U-shaped mouthpiece See also:joint is neatly joined to the See also:remainder of the See also:crescent-tube by means of a bronze See also:ring; the bell, which must have rested on the See also:shoulder, consists merely of a See also:flat rim set round the end of the tube . There is therefore no graceful See also:curve in the bell as in the French horn .
An exact facsimile of this prehistoric horn has been made by Victor Mahillon of Brussels, who finds that it was in the key of Eb and easily produces the first eight harmonics of that key
.
It stands, therefore,
1 See See also:Hector See also:Berlioz, A Treatise on Modern See also:Instrumentation and Orchestration, translated by See also:Mary Cowden See also:
The See also:lituus, or See also:cavalry trumpet of the Romans, consisted of a cylindrical tube, to which was attached a bent horn or conical bell, the whole in the shape of a J
.
The long, straight Roman tuba was similar to the large, bent cornu so far as bore and capabilities were concerned, but more unwieldy
.
All these wind instruments seem to have been used during the classic Greek and Roman periods merely to sound fanfares, and therefore, in spite of the high degree of perfection to which they attained as instruments, they scarcely possess any claim to be considered within the domain of music
.
They were signalling instruments, mainly used in See also:war, in hunting and in state or civic ceremonial
.
See also:Vegetius (A.D
.
386) describes these instruments, and gives detailed instructions for the See also:special traditional uses of tuba, buccina and cornu in the military See also:camp: " Semivocalia sunt, quae per tubam, See also:aut cornua, aut buccinam dantur
.
Tuba quae directa est appellatur buccina, quae in semet ipsam aereo circulo flectitur
.
Cornu quod ex uris agrestibus, argento nexum, temperatum arte, et spiritu, quem canentis flatus emiftit auditur.4 It will be seen that Vegetius demands a skilled horn-player
.
These service instruments may all be identified in the celebrated bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column' (fig
.
1) and of the Triumphal See also:arch of See also:Augustus at See also:Susa.6
Interesting See also:evidence of a collegium cornicinum (gild of horn-players) is furnished by an See also:altar See also: 388, No . 1156, where an See also:illustration is given . See also Dr See also:August Hammerich (French See also:translation by E . See also:Beauvais), " tJber altnordische Luren " in Vierteljahrschrift fur Musik-Wissenschaft X . (1894) . 'See Major J . H . L . See also:Archer, The British See also:Army Records (London, 1888), pp . 402, &C . 4 De re militari, iii . 5 (See also:Basel, 1532) . The successive See also:editions and See also:translations of this classic, both See also:manuscript and printed, throughout the middle ages afford useful evidence of the evolution of these three wind instruments . ' See Wilhelm Froehner, La Colonne Trajane d'aprks le surmoulage execute a See also:Rome en 1861–1862 (See also:Paris, 1872–1874) . On-pl . 51 is a cornu framing the See also:head of a cornicen or horn-player . See also the See also:fine plates in See also:Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traiansaule (See also:Berlin, 1896, &c.) . c Ermanno Ferrero, L'Arc d'Auguste a Suse (See also:Segusio, 9-8 B.c.) (See also:Turin, 1901) . 7 See the mouthpiece on the Pompeian buccinas preserved in the museum at See also:Naples, reproduced in the article BUCCINA . The museums of the conservatoires of Paris and Brussels and the Collection Kraus in See also:Florence possess facsimiles of these instruments; see Victor Mahillon, See also:Catalogue, vol. ii. p . 3o . Cf. also the pair of bronze See also:Etruscan cornua, No . 2734 in the department of Greek and Roman antiquities at the British Museum, which possess well-preserved cup-shaped mouthpieces . See also:century was provided with a mouthpiece,' judging from a carved specimen on an See also:ivory capsa or Pyxis dating from the See also:period immediately preceding the fall of the Roman Empire, preserved among the See also:precious See also:relics at Xanten .
After the fall of the Roman Empire, when instrumental music had fallen into disrepute a r.c had been placed under a See also:ban by the See also: |