The horn had an incredibly rich evolution over three centuries, from the hunting field to the concert hall. With differences in size, mechanic, technique, sound aesthetic and manufacture through time and geography, the horn has many faces and playing a piece on the corresponding instrument has a great impact on interpretation and style. The purpose is to get closer to what composers had in mind while composing, and rediscover forgotten sounds. Like an actor switching masks and identities when switching roles, it is such a joy to go from one horn – one soul – to another and experience the difference through music.
The photos below cannot be used or reproduced without my permission
Baroque horn by Zoltan Juhasz, 2021
Juhasz’s own design of baroque horn, playing at 415. The sound is surprisingly rich and the high register frankly amazing ! Made for the baroque masterpieces of Bach, Haendel, Telemann, etc. Ventholes are a modern invention to correct the “wrong” harmonics of the instrument, allowing one to play without the hand in the bell but with the tuning we are used to.
Viennese natural horn by A. Kerner, 1760 – Replica by Seraphinoff, 2020
Copy of a 1760 horn made by Kerner. Clear, bright and narrow, intended for early classical music. However it feels and sound very different from the original instrument it is made after, which I played and recorded in 2019 – you can listen to it here.
Anonymous natural horn from central Europe, c.1800 ?
This horn was previously owned by famous hornist Hermann Baumann. A beautiful exemple of bohemian horn with a large, dark, rich sound, perfect for Beethoven, Brahms and all germanic music of the time. One of my favorites.
Anonymous natural horn, beginning of the XIXth century ?
It is at the moment hard to tell anything about this horn that doesn’t have any crooks nor signature. It is probably not French as the tuning slide – which must be an extension – bears the mark “C”. Very small socket ; crooks are to be made.
French natural horn by Courtois Neveu Aîné, c.1800
Courtois was one of the greatest horn manufacturers in France; this one is very old, most probably 1800 or before. Small bell flare, and so thin it vibrates like a cello! A beautiful voice, perfect for light French music, and likely one of my oldest instruments.
French natural horn by Halari, c.1820
Beautiful, complete, early Halari, another exemple of the French aesthetics in Paris in the early 19th century. Halary studied his trade with Courtois before becomming anothet of the great Parisian manufacturers. The aesthetics of Halari drastically changed later in the century to copy that of Guichard’s, so this is a wonderful example of the maker’s original “flavour”.
French natural horn (cor basse) by Kretschman, c.1830
A very interesting horn. Although the corpus is very small, the bell is absolutely gigantic. Very representative of the style of the eastern French cor basse (low horn) : large deep sound with plenty of room for the hand to enhance the difficult hand-stopping in the low range, and a lot of horse-power. The inlet was extremely small, only the original G crook would fit in. So I decided to have a larger inlet made, to be able to play other crooks on it.
French horn with 3 Stoelzel pistons attributed to Chollet, c.1840 ?
This is a piece of history ! Probably one of the earliest horns with 3 pistons in France, with a green chinoiserie inside the bell. The middle piston is slightly higher than the two others to match the shape of the hand. Only two of these instruments are currently known : the other is kept in the Klingendes Museum in Bern. Stoelzel valves are very capricious and primitive and one of them is unfortunately not working – however it is usable as a 2 piston horn and it sounds truly amazing. This instrument was made to be used with hand stopping technique combined with pistons.
French natural horn (cor basse) by Piatet & Benoît, c.1840
Another Cor Basse (low horn) with a large bore, result of the collaboration between the manufacturers Piatet and Benoît in Lyon. Typical design of the eastern-French school. Beautiful, free-blowing dark mellow sound.
French natural horn by Gautrot, c. 1860
A later French natural horn, by one of the dominating makers of the period. The techniques in manufacture have evolved, and the sound of the instrument with it. This horn has less resistance and more flesh in the sound.
French horn with two pistons by Besson, c.1860
An instrument which allows the mix of hand-stopping technique and the use of pistons, which results in endless possibilities of expression. Besson was one of the most famous manufacturers of the second part of the century, settled in Paris as well as in London.
French natural horn by Raoux – Labbaye c.1870 with sauterelle by Brown&Sons, c.1915
The fame of the Raoux family in Paris during the late 18th and throughout the 19th century is only equal to the quality of their instruments. In 1857 Raoux was bought by Labbaye, who kept selling Raoux horns with the same name and address. During the early 20th century, Brown&Sons turned these instruments into valved horns by making detachable piston sets (sauterelle) for them. Aubrey Brain and Franz Paersch played the exact same instrument.
Bohemian crookable valved horn by Bohland&Fuchs, c.1880
Crookable valved horn by Bohland&Fuchs c1880. The business flourished in Graslitz from 1870 and was the first bohemian factory to use steam power and mass production techniques. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester ordered 6 of these horns in the late 19th century, and they premiered Bruckner 7th Symphony as well as Brahms violin concerto around that time – so this horn may have been part of it ! Beautiful engravings, nacre on the valves, a set of slides to play on higher crooks, and a perfect player. Rich, large, deep German sound, with great nuances and quite free-blowing. The valves feature an interesting curiosity : one is supposedly able to change the weight of the mechanism just like on certain keyboards, in order to have slower or faster fingers.
Anonymous French natural horn attributed to Guichard, c.1880
An anonymous beauty with a quite narrow bell. The paint is 100% original ! This shape of corpus is very distinctive of the late 19th century, with manufacturers such as Guichard – this is very likely one of his instruments. Light and bright sound.
Swiss crookable horn with 3 valves by Simoutre, c.1880
Swiss manufacturer Nicolas Eugène Simoutre flourished in Basel, Switzerland, before moving to Paris in 1889. This particular instrument is quite a curiosity… the valves were influenced by a German design in which the lever is on the transmission itself, perpendicular to the rotor. This “top action” system places your fingers very close to the valve itself, and the movement of the fingers is slightly different. Furthermore, the first valve can be converted from descendant to ascendant – yes, the FIRST valve ! Which would allow one to play a half-step higher. Thanks to the long slides, this horn can be easily played from Bb down to much lower crooks such as D. In spite of its German inspiration, I found it to sound best when holding the bell the French way – thumb out, very open and clear.
Vienna horn with double pistons by A. Dehmal, c.1890
A typical Vienna horn with the famous Viennese double-pistons, pumpen-valves. An incredibly rich core, astonishing legato due to the mechanism, with delicate pianos and bright powerful fortes. A very intimate instrument that I enjoy playing with piano a lot. These instruments are still played in Vienna today !
Vienna horn with rotary valves by A. Dehmal, c.1890
Another Vienna horn from the same maker, this time with rotary valves but still the Viennese aesthetics of its time. Sounds very large and feels very free-blowing compared to its little brother. Perfect for orchestra playing!
German tri-valve horn in B-flat by Barth, c.1896
Made by Robert Barth in Stuttgart around the turn of the century, this horn has a typical triangular pattern from the late 19th century – however it is in B flat, which is very rare ! The result is extremely accurate, clear and free-blowing ; however it has the sound quality of an F-horn. One of my best players… This instrument can be found in the 1896 catalogue of the manufacturer.
French compensated double horn F/Bb by Selmer, model Vuillermoz, c.1935
Iconic French sound of the first part of the XXth century and featuring the special ascending third piston, this instrument is the fruit of the collaboration between Selmer and horn player Louis Vuillermoz in the 1930’s. Vuillermoz was one of the early French players to work on refining the F/Bb double horn to its best. Light, elegant and over-the-surface sound.
German horn in F with rotary valves by Kley, c.1910
The perfect German F-sound of the beginning of the 20th century. Deep, rich and very generous. Albert Kley was a student of C. F. Schmidt and flourished in Berlin.
German single B-flat horn mod.97 with stopping valve and F extension by Alexander, c.1945
This single Alexander was made between the end of WW2 and 1950, according to Gebr. Alexander themselves. It once belonged to International Horn Society president Andrew Pelletier, and it is in exceptional state. A very light, bright and free-blowing sound with a fantastic high register. The best years of the famous Alexander family !
American double horn F/Bb by Holton (mod. Tuckwell H104), c.1990
Model of the American idol Barry Tuckwell, one of the greatest horn soloists to ever live. Golden brass gives this instrument a very soft coloured sound and it plays very smoothly.
…and a work in progress…
All right, that is no horn. But it is cool. This anonymous serpent is from the mid-18th century, and completely original. It is covered with leather and the mouthpiece is made of ivory. “But Nicolas, what on earth are you doing with this ?” It’s a cool instrument OK ?? Let me have my fun ! Once some restoration work is done, I will learn how to ride this animal.
