OSU French Horn Studio

The Horn, as named by the International Horn Society , is a somewhat large, coiled wind instrument that produces a mellow, velvet tone. The Horn is usually keyed in F and Bb. Three valves on the Horn lower the tone a half tone, whole tone, and a one and one-half tone. The Horn is also referred to as the F Horn, the double horn, and to complete beginners and non-horn players as the French Horn. Although, the modern horn isn’t French, it did derive from France.

In the late 16th century, the hunting horn emerged in France. This is the type of horn you might see on TV with the blood hounds and the hunters on horses. Although this example might be referring to the British, it is the same type. To the right is an example of this horn. In 1650, the hunting horn began to show up in the French opera and orchestra halls. In the mid-17th century, the hunting horns were used in operas, notably by Pietro Cavalli and Jean-Baptiste Lully. These horns were also used in the 18th century by Handel in ‘Water Music’ and Bach in ‘Mass in B Minor’.

The hunting horns were then developed musically with the addition of crooks. Crooks are pieces of different sized coiled tubing that are attached to the lead pipe of the horn. They lower the horn to the desired key. The more crooks added, the lower the key.

The 18th century was a time of change for the Horn. Musicians, blacksmiths (term used loosely) and many others tried several ways to add types of valves to arrive at a chromatic series. Many types of piston systems and rotary systems were used, none of which were readily accepted. In 1815, a two valved system came about and was alter replaced by the three valve system of today. The two common keys for the Horn to be built in were E, F and the Bb above. The first opera to use the valved horns was ‘La Juive’ by Fromental Halevy. Also, Wagner used them in his early operas along with a pair of valveless horns.

In about 1900, Fritz Kruspe came out with the modern, standard horn. It was a horn that combined the horn in F with the horn in Bb. The double horn invention was probably the greatest thing that happened to the Horn. The double horn provided a good high register with the Bb horn and a good low register with the F horn. Together, these two horns provide a very wide range of possible notes with no chromatic gaps. Eventually, horn makers began making variations on the Kruspe design. The Geyer wrap, introduced by Carl Geyer, is probably the next most popular of horn designs. This wrap placed the thumb valve on the far side of the Horn, next to the third valve. Kruspe’s wrap placed the thumb valve on the near side, close to the first valve. The more popular wrap is the Kruspe design.

Today, there are many, many different Horn manufacturers. All with there own techniques in putting together the Horn, with there own materials and all sorts of other variations. Here are some that I have found and received by people:

Alexander, Amati-Kraslice, Bach, Benicchio, Besson, Bohland & Fuchs, Boosey & Hawkes, Boerner, Conn, Couesnon, Courtois, Desidera, Finke, Geyer, Holton, Hueller, Huettl, Jiracek, Jupiter, King, Klein, Knopf, Kruspe, Kujer, Lawson, Lehmann, Lidl, Melchior, Monke, Moennich, Olds, Orsi, Parot, Paxman, Pfeiffer, Prinz, Rampone & Cazzani, Raoux, Rauch, Reynolds, Sansone, Scherzer, Schmid, Schmidt, Schoepf, Selmer, Thibouville-Lamy, Uhlmann, Wunderlich, Yamaha, York

(Information and photos courtesy thefrenchhorn.net.)