The first French horn was invented in July of 1814 by Heinrich Stoelzel. The original design was based on early fox hunting horns, and were first used as instruments during 16th century operas. During the 17th century, the bell was expanded and flared, thus creating the French Horn.
As hunting grew more popular among the wealthy, the French Horn was experimented on with shape and size to try to accomplish a larger range of notes. In 1636, Marin Mersenne wrote of four different types of French Horns. These types were: Le grande cor (the big horn), cor à plusiers tours (horn of several turns), cor qui n'a qu'un seul tour (horn with only one turn), and le huchet (the horn with which one calls from afar). These horns were mostly popular in Europe.
The first horns were “monotone” instruments. The most useful range to write horn music in was in the upper harmonics, or “clarino” range, where the natural harmonics are close together. If the hornist needed to switch keys in the music, they had to switch and play a different horn. The impracticality of this led to the creation of the crook. In 1753, a german hornist created moveable slides (crooks) that made it possible to change …show more content…
As mentioned above, F horns produce a more pure sound that one would generally associate with the French Horn. While the F horn is more pleasant sounding, the Bb horn is more secure when playing in the higher register making it easier for a player to play the notes. For this reason, the best instrument for a French Horn player is a Double Horn, because allows the best combination of tuning and accuracy across the scale. A double horn is, as the name suggests, two single horns put into one, with two sets of tubing, the longer in F and shorter in Bb. There is an additional rotor valve that diverts the airflow from one part of the instrument to the other. This is the thumb key. This gives the player the ability to choose when to use the F or Bb parts of the
As hunting grew more popular among the wealthy, the French Horn was experimented on with shape and size to try to accomplish a larger range of notes. In 1636, Marin Mersenne wrote of four different types of French Horns. These types were: Le grande cor (the big horn), cor à plusiers tours (horn of several turns), cor qui n'a qu'un seul tour (horn with only one turn), and le huchet (the horn with which one calls from afar). These horns were mostly popular in Europe.
The first horns were “monotone” instruments. The most useful range to write horn music in was in the upper harmonics, or “clarino” range, where the natural harmonics are close together. If the hornist needed to switch keys in the music, they had to switch and play a different horn. The impracticality of this led to the creation of the crook. In 1753, a german hornist created moveable slides (crooks) that made it possible to change …show more content…
As mentioned above, F horns produce a more pure sound that one would generally associate with the French Horn. While the F horn is more pleasant sounding, the Bb horn is more secure when playing in the higher register making it easier for a player to play the notes. For this reason, the best instrument for a French Horn player is a Double Horn, because allows the best combination of tuning and accuracy across the scale. A double horn is, as the name suggests, two single horns put into one, with two sets of tubing, the longer in F and shorter in Bb. There is an additional rotor valve that diverts the airflow from one part of the instrument to the other. This is the thumb key. This gives the player the ability to choose when to use the F or Bb parts of the