The horn had an incredibly rich evolution over three centuries, from the hunting field to the concert hall. With differences of size, mechanic, technique, sound aesthetic from a country to another and throughout time, the horn has many faces and playing a piece on the corresponding instrument makes a great difference in interpretation and style. 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, etc.
Viennese natural horn by A. Kerner, 1760 – Replica by Seraphinoff, 2020
Copy of a 1760 horn made by Kerner. Clear, bright, light and agile, it is perfect for early classical music. I played and recorded the original instrument – you can hear 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, mellow sound, perfect for Beethoven and all germanic music of the time.
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.1810
A very thin Courtois with a small bell flare, most probably very old. So thin it vibrates like a cello ! Perfect for light French music.
French natural horn by Halari, c.1820
Beautiful complete early Halari
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 aesthetic of the cor basse (low horn) : large deep sound with plenty of room for the hand to enhance the difficult hand-stopping in the low range.
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.
French natural horn (cor basse) by Piatet & Benoît, c.1840
A Cor Basse (low horn) with a large bore, result of the collaboration between the manufacturers Piatet and Benoît in Lyon. Beautiful, free-blowing dark mellow sound.
French natural horn by Gautrot, c. 1860
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.
French natural horn by Raoux – Labbaye c.1870 with sauterelle by Brown&Sons, c.1915
Raoux was one of the most renown manufacturers in Paris during the 19th century. In 1857 Raoux was bought by Labbaye, who kept selling Raoux horns with the name and address. During the early 20th century, Brown&Sons turned these instruments into valved horns by making detachable sets (sauterelle) for them. Aubrey Brain and Franz Paersch played the exact same horn.
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, c.1880
An anonymous beauty from the end of the century with a quite narrow bell. The paint is 100% original !
Vienna horn with double pistons by A. Dehmal, c.1890
A typical Vienna horn with the famous Viennese double-piston mechanism. An incredibly rich sound, astonishing legato due to the mechanism, with delicate pianos and bright powerful fortes. 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.
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 XXth century. Deep, rich and generous.
German single B-flat horn mod.97 with stopping valve and F extension by Alexander, c.1935
This single Alexander was made before WWII and once belonged to the president of the International Horn Society, Andrew Pelletier. A very light, bright and free-blowing sound with a fantastic high register.
American double horn F/Bb by Holton (mod. Tuckwell), 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.
