Horn (instrument)

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"Corno" and "French horn" redirect here. For the river, see Corno (river). For the luxury hotel and restaurant, see French Horn, Sonning Eye.
French horn front.png
Brass instrument
Other names French horn
de: Horn, Waldhorn
es: Trompa
fr: Cor (d'Harmonie)
it: Corno
Classification Aerophone
Hornbostel–Sachs classification 423.232
(Valved aerophone sounded by lip movement)
Playing range
Range frenchhorn.png
in F: sounds one fifth lower than written. Nonetheless, in older music, bass-clef notes are written one octave lower (thus sounding one fourth higher than written).[1]
Related instruments
More articles
Musical instruments
Brass instruments
String instruments

The horn, also known as the French horn, is a brass instrument made of tubing more than 20 feet (6.1 m) long, wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The main tubing on an F Horn is ~12–13' long and that associated with the valves adds additional length to achieve ~20' of tubing overall. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player (or less frequently, a hornist). In informal use, "horn" may also refer to nearly any wind instrument with a flared exit for the sound.[2]

Descended from the natural horn, the instrument is often informally known as the French horn. However, this is technically incorrect since the instrument is not French in origin, but German. Therefore, the International Horn Society has recommended since 1971 that the instrument be simply called the horn.[3][4] French horn is still the most commonly used name for the instrument in the United States.

Pitch is controlled through the adjustment of lip tension in the mouthpiece and the operation of valves by the left hand, which route the air into extra tubing.[5] Most horns have lever-operated rotary valves, but some, especially older horns, use piston valves (similar to a trumpet's) and the Vienna horn uses double-piston valves, or pumpenvalves. The backward facing orientation of the bell relates to the perceived desirability to create a subdued sound, in concert situations, in contrast to the more-piercing quality of the trumpet. A horn without valves is known as a natural horn, changing pitch along the natural harmonics of the instrument (similar to a bugle). Pitch may also be controlled by the position of the hand in the bell since the hand is acoustically beneficial to the horn because it shortens the diameter of the bell. The pitch of any note can easily be raised or lowered based on the hand position in the bell.[6]

Three valves control the flow of air in the single horn, which is tuned to F or less commonly B. The more common double horn has a fourth valve, usually operated by the thumb, which routes the air to one set of tubing tuned to F or another tuned to B. Triple horns with five valves are also made, tuned in F, B, and a descant E or F. Also common are descant doubles, which typically provide B and Alto F branches. This configuration provides a high-range horn while avoiding the additional complexity and weight of a triple.


General characteristics[edit]

The horn is the third highest sounding instrument group in the brass family, below the cornet and, highest, the trumpet.[citation needed] Horns are mostly tuned in B or F, or a combination of both. In some traditions, novice players use a single horn in F, while others prefer the B horn. The F horn is used more commonly than the B horn, especially in school bands. Compared to the other brass instruments in orchestras and concert bands, it has a very different mouthpiece, but has the widest usable range – approximately four octaves, depending on the ability of the player. To produce different notes on the horn, one must do many things – the seven most important are pressing the valves, holding the appropriate amount of lip tension, raising the soft palate, positioning the tongue, lowering the larynx, blowing air into the instrument, and placing the hand in the bell. More lip tension and faster air produces higher notes. Less lip tension and slower air produces lower notes. The right hand, usually cupped at a "three o-clock" position in the bell, can lower the pitch, depending on how far into the bell the player puts it, by as much as a semitone in the instrument's midrange. The horn plays in a higher portion of its overtone series compared to most brass instruments. Its conical bore (as opposed to the cylindrical bore of the trumpet or trombone) is largely responsible for its characteristic tone, often described as "mellow."

Today, music for the horn is typically written in F and sounds a perfect fifth lower than written. The limitations on the range of the instrument are primarily governed by the available valve combinations for the first four octaves of the overtone series and after that by the ability of the player to control the pitch through their air supply and embouchure. The typical written ranges for the horn start at either the F immediately below the bass clef or the C an octave below middle A.

The standard range starting from a low F is based on the characteristics of the single horn in F. But there is a great deal of music written beyond this range, on the assumption that players are using a double horn in F/B. This is the standard orchestral and concert band instrument and its valve combinations allow for the production of every chromatic tone from two octaves on either side of the horn's written middle C (sounding F immediately below the bass clef to F at the top of the treble clef). Although the upper range of the horn repertoire rarely exceeds high C (two octaves above the horn's middle C, sounding F at the top of the treble clef), skilled players can achieve yet higher pitches.

Also important to note is that many pieces from the Baroque to Romantic periods are written in keys other than F. This practice began in the early days of the horn before valves, when the composer would indicate the key the horn should be in (horn in D, horn in C, etc.) and the part would be notated as if it were in C. For a player with a valveless (i.e. natural) horn that is a help, showing where in the harmonic series a particular note is. A player with a modern instrument must provide the final transposition to the correct pitch. For example, a written C for horn in D must be transposed down a minor third and played as an A on an F horn.


Horn with three Perinet valves
"How to shout and blow horns."—Facsimile of a miniature in a manuscript of the hunting manual of Gaston Phoebus (15th century)
A hunting horn on the insignia of the Danish "Huntsmen Corps" (Jægerkorpset)




Early horns were commonly pitched in B alto, A, A, G, F, E, E, D, C, and B basso. Since the only notes available were those on the harmonic series of one of those pitches, they had no ability to play in different keys. The remedy for this limitation was the use of crooks, i.e., sections of tubing of differing length that, when inserted, altered the length of the instrument, and thus its pitch.




The use of valves, however, opened up a great deal more flexibility in playing in different keys; in effect, the horn became an entirely different instrument, fully chromatic for the first time. Valves were originally used primarily as a means to play in different keys without crooks, not for harmonic playing. That is reflected in compositions for horns, which only began to include chromatic passages in the late 19th century. When valves were invented, generally, the French made smaller horns with piston valves and the Germans made larger horns with rotary valves. For more information on instrument valves see Brass Instrument Valves. It is the German horn that is erroneously referred to in the English language (and more commonly in the United States and Canada)[citation needed] as the French horn. There is not a clear consensus on the reason or reasons for this nomenclature, and, as there are conflicting proposals, more research is still necessary.

Types of horns[edit]

Horns may be classified in single horn, double horn, compensating double horn, and triple horn as well as the versatility of detachable bells.

Single horn[edit]

Single horns use a single set of tubes connected to the valves. This allows for simplicity of use and a much lighter weight. They are usually in the keys of F or B, although many F horns have longer slides to tune them to E, and almost all B horns have a valve to put them in the key of A. The problem with single horns is the inevitable choice between accuracy or tone – while the F horn has the "typical" horn sound, above third-space C accuracy is concern for the majority of players because, by its nature, one plays high in the horn's harmonic series where the overtones are closer together. This led to the development of the B horn, which, although easier to play accurately, has a less desirable sound in the mid and especially the low register where it is not able to play all of the notes. The solution has been the development of the double horn, which combines the two into one horn with a single lead pipe and bell. Both main types of single horns are still used today as student models because they are cheaper and lighter than double horns. In addition, the single B horns are sometimes used in solo and chamber performances and the single F survives orchestrally as the Vienna horn. Additionally, single F alto and B alto descants are used in the performance of some baroque horn concertos and F, B and F alto singles are occasionally used by jazz performers.

Dennis Brain's benchmark recordings of the Mozart Horn Concerti were made on a single B instrument by Gebr. Alexander, now on display at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Double horn[edit]

The valves of a Conn 6D double horn. The 3 lever keys (above the large valves) can be depressed toward the large outer tube. The thumb key (near the left-most valve) moves inward toward the 3 finger keys.
Scheme of a double horn (view from underneath)
  1. Mouthpiece
  2. Leadpipe, where the mouthpiece is placed
  3. Adjustable handrest
  4. Water key (also called a spit valve)
  5. Fourth valve to change between F and B-flat pitch
  6. Valve levers, operated with the left hand
  7. Rotary valves
  8. Slides, for tuning each valve
  9. Long tubing for F pitch with slide
  10. General slide
  11. Short tubing for B-flat pitch with slide
  12. Bellpipe
  13. Bell; the right hand is cupped inside this

Despite the introduction of valves, the single F horn proved difficult for use in the highest range, where the partials grew closer and closer, making accuracy a great challenge. An early solution was simply to use a horn of higher pitch—usually B. The use of the F versus the B horn was a hotbed of debate between horn players of the late 19th century, until the German horn maker Ed. Kruspe produced a prototype of the "double horn" in 1897.

The double horn also combines two instruments into a single frame: the original horn in F, and a second, higher horn keyed in B. By using a fourth valve (usually operated by the thumb), the horn player can quickly switch from the deep, warm tones of the F horn to the higher, brighter tones of the B horn. The two sets of tones are commonly called "sides" of the horn. Using the fourth valve not only changes the basic length (and thus the harmonic series and pitch) of the instrument, it also causes the three main valves to use proportionate slide lengths.[11]

In the USA, the two most common styles ("wraps") of double horns are named Kruspe and Geyer/Knopf, after the first instrument makers who developed and standardized them. The Kruspe wrap locates the B change valve above the first valve, near the thumb. The Geyer wrap has the change valve behind the third valve, near the little finger (although the valve's trigger is still played with the thumb). In effect, the air flows in a completely different direction on the other model. Kruspe wrap horns tend to be larger in the bell throat than the Geyer wrap horns. Typically, Kruspe models are constructed from nickel silver or German Silver, while Geyer horns tend to be of yellow brass. Both models have their own strengths and weaknesses, and while the choice of instrument is very personal, an orchestral horn section is usually found to have either one or the other, owing to the differences in tone color, response, and projection of the two different styles.

In Europe the most popular horns are arguably those made by Gebr. Alexander, of Mainz (particularly the Alexander 103), and those made by Paxman in London. In Germany and the Benelux countries, the Alex. 103 is extremely popular. These horns do not fit strictly into the Kruspe or Knopf camps, but have features of both. Alexander prefers the traditional medium bell size, which they have produced for many years, whereas Paxman do offer their models in a range of bell throat sizes. In the United States, the Conn 8D, a mass-produced instrument based on the Kruspe design, has been extremely popular in many areas (New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Philadelphia). Since roughly the early 1990s, however, for reasons ranging from changing tastes to a general dislike of Conn's newer 8Ds, orchestras have been moving away from the popular Conn 8D. Geyer model horns (by Carl Geyer, Karl Hill, Keith Berg, Steve Lewis, Dan Rauch, and Ricco-Kuhn) are used in other areas (San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Houston). The CF Schmidt double, with its unique piston change valve, is occasionally found in sections playing Geyer/Knopf model equipment.

Compensating double horn[edit]


Triple horn[edit]

This relatively new design was created to afford the player even more security in the high register. It employs not only the F and B horns, but also a third, descant horn. This descant horn is usually pitched an octave above the F horn, though it can be alternatively pitched in E. It is activated through the use of a second thumb valve. The triple horn was met with considerable resistance when it first appeared. Horn players were reluctant to spend far more money for a triple horn than they would for a double horn, and a feeling that using a triple horn to help with the high register was "cheating" was rampant amongst prominent horn players. Also, the horns were much heavier than the average double horn. Players noted that their arms became fatigued much faster. Moreover, the combination of three different horns creates issues with sonority, because the piping shared among all three sides (that is, the lead pipe and bell) are mathematically disproportional to two or all three horn lengths. Horn makers have had to make concessions to "even out" the sound between all three, often to the loss of sound quality of each side or entire ranges of the instrument. Advances in horn production are gradually eliminating these drawbacks, and the triple horn is gaining popularity. They are rarely available in anything lower than professional quality. Like double horns, triple horns can come in both full and compensating wraps. Today they are found being played in many professional orchestras, although the substantial cost difference between double and triple horns limits their usage elsewhere.

Detachable bell[edit]

The horn, although not large, is awkward in its shape and does not lend itself well to transport, especially transport on commercial airlines. To compensate, horn makers can make the bell detachable. This allows for smaller and more manageable horn cases. The player can attach the bell when performing. This also allows use of different bells on the same horn, somewhat alleviating the need for multiple horns for different styles.


The Sotone is a model of horn made by the British firm Boosey and Hawkes during the late 19th and early 20th century. It is based on the natural horn, and plays a good deal closer to the way a natural horn does than a conventional French horn.

Related horns[edit]

The variety in horn history necessitates consideration of the natural horn, vienna horn, mellophone, marching horn, and Wagner tuba.

Natural horn[edit]

Main article: Natural horn

The natural horn is the ancestor of the modern horn. It is essentially descended from hunting horns, with its pitch controlled by air speed, aperture (opening of the lips through which air passes) and the use of the right hand moving in and out of the bell. Today it is played as a period instrument. The natural horn can only play from a single harmonic series at a time because there is only one length of tubing available to the horn player. A proficient player can indeed alter the pitch by partially muting the bell with the right hand, thus enabling the player to reach some notes that are not part of the instrument's natural harmonic series – of course this technique also affects the quality of the tone. The player has a choice of key by using crooks to change the length of tubing.

Vienna horn[edit]

Vienna horn
Main article: Vienna horn



Main article: Mellophone

Two instruments are called a mellophone. The first is an instrument shaped somewhat like a horn, in that it is formed in a circle. It has piston valves and is played with the right hand on the valves. Manufacturing of this instrument sharply decreased in the middle of the twentieth century, and this mellophone (or mellophonium) rarely appears today. Amati still makes circular mellophoniums.[12][13][14] The second instrument is used in modern brass bands and marching bands, and is more accurately called a "marching mellophone" or mellophone. A derivative of the F alto horn, it is keyed in F. It is shaped like a flugelhorn, with piston valves played with the right hand and a forward-pointing bell. These horns are generally considered better marching instruments than regular horns because their position is more stable on the mouth, they project better, and they weigh less. It is primarily used as the middle voice of drum and bugle corps. Though they are usually played with a V-cup cornet-like mouthpiece, their range overlaps the common playing range of the horn. This mouthpiece switch makes the mellophone louder, less mellow, and more brassy and brilliant, making it more appropriate for marching bands. Often now with the use of converters, traditional conical horn mouthpieces are used to achieve the more mellow sound of a horn to make the marching band sound more like a concert band.



While horn players may be asked to play the mellophone, it is unlikely that the instrument was ever intended as a substitute for the horn, mainly because of the fundamental differences described.[15] As an instrument it compromises between the ability to sound like a horn, while being used like a trumpet or flugelhorn, a tradeoff that sacrifices acoustic properties for ergonomics.

Marching horn[edit]


Wagner tuba[edit]

Main article: Wagner tuba

The Wagner tuba is a rare brass instrument that is essentially a horn modified to have a larger bell throat and a vertical bell. Despite its name, it is generally not considered part of the tuba family. The German 'Tube', phonetically mistranslated into English as 'tuba' (on account of the pronounced German final -e) means tube, not tuba. Invented for Richard Wagner specifically for his work Der Ring des Nibelungen, it has since been written for by various other composers, including Bruckner, Stravinsky and Richard Strauss. It uses a horn mouthpiece and is available as a single tuba in B or F, or, more recently, as a double tuba similar to the double horn. Its common range is similar to that of the euphonium, but its possible range is the same as that of the horn, extending from low F, below the bass clef staff to high C above the treble staff when read in F. These low pedals are substantially easier to play on the Wagner tuba than on the horn. Wagner viewed the regular horn as a woodwind rather than a brass instrument, evidenced by his placing of the horn parts in his orchestral scores in the woodwind group and not in their usual place above the trumpets in the brass section.


Paxman horns

Discussion of the repertoire of horns must recognize the different needs of orchestras and concert bands in contrast to marching bands, as above, but also the use of horns in a wide variety of music, including chamber music and jazz.

Orchestra and concert band[edit]


Many composers have written works that have become favorites in the horn repertoire. These includes Poulenc (Elegie) and Saint-Saëns (Morceau de Concert for horn and orchestra, op. 94 and Romance, op. 36). Others, particularly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose friend Joseph Leutgeb was a noted horn player, wrote extensively for the instrument, including concerti and other solo works. Mozart's A Musical Joke satirizes the limitations of contemporary horn playing, including the risk of selecting the wrong crook by mistake. By the end of the 18th Century the horn was sufficiently established as a solo instrument that the horn player Giovanni Punto became an international celebrity, touring Europe and inspiring works by composers as significant as Beethoven.

The development of the valve horn was exploited by romantic composers such as Richard Strauss, whose father was a well-known professional horn player, Bruckner and Mahler. Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks contains one of the best known horn solos from this period, relying on the chromatic facility of the valved horn. Schumann's Konzertstuck for Four Horns and Orchestra is a notable three-movement work. Brahms had a lifelong love-affair with the instrument, with many prominently featured parts throughout his four symphonies. Unlike most of his contemporaries Brahms composed for the older natural (valveless) horn, feeling it to be superior in tone to the valved instrument. However players today typically play Brahms on modern valved instruments.



Because of the heroic quality of the horn's sound, it is often used in film music. Bernard Herrmann's score for On Dangerous Ground, however, uses four horns (and anvils) during a chase sequence to suggest a wild state of mind.

Chamber music[edit]


Orchestral and concert band horns[edit]

A horn section in a military concert band


This configuration serves multiple purposes. It is easier to play high when the adjacent player is playing low and vice versa. Pairing makes it easier to write for horns, as the 3rd and 4th horns can take over from the 1st and 2nd horns, or play contrasting material. Horn music was first written for the natural horn, which could only easily play certain notes. This required that the 1st and 2nd horns be in a different key from the 3rd and 4th horns, so that more notes could be played. For example, if the piece is in C minor, the 1st and 2nd horns might be in C, the tonic major key, which could get most of the notes, and the 3rd and 4th horns might be in E, the relative major key, to fill in the gaps.

Many orchestral horn sections today also have an assistant[17] who doubles the 1st horn part for selected passages, joining in loud parts, playing instead of the principal if there is a 1st horn solo approaching, or alternating with the principal if the part is tiring to play.[18] Often the assistant is asked to play a passage after resting a long time. Also, he or she may be asked to enter in the middle of a passage, exactly matching the sound, articulation, and overall interpretation of the principal. The assistant is occasionally referred to as a bumper.

Some pieces (like Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead, Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem, Holst's The Planets and Richard Strauss' Don Quixote) have called for 6 horns, or as many as 20 horns, as found in Strauss' Alpine Symphony. Here the pairing remains the same, with the odd horns being high parts and the even horns being low parts. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring calls for 8 horns.

A modern concert band horn section generally has between four and six horns.

In jazz[edit]

The horn has been rarely used in jazz music. Notable exponents, however, include composer/arranger Gil Evans who included the horn as an ensemble instrument from the 1940s, first in Claude Thornhill's groups, and later with the pioneering cool jazz nonet led by trumpeter Miles Davis, and in many other projects that sometimes also featured Davis, as well as Don Ellis, a trumpet player from Stan Kenton's jazz band. Notable works of Ellis' jazz horn include "Strawberry Soup" and other songs on the album Tears of Joy. Notable improvising horn players in jazz include Julius Watkins, Willie Ruff, John Graas, David Amram, John Clark, Vincent Chancey, Mark Taylor, Giovanni Hoffer, Arkady Shilkloper, Adam Unsworth, and Tom Varner.

Notable horn players[edit]

People who are more notable for their other achievements, but also play the horn, include actors Ewan McGregor and David Ogden Stiers, comedian and television host Jon Stewart, journalist Chuck Todd, The Who bassist and singer John Entwistle, and rapper and record producer B.o.B.


See also[edit]


  1. ^ Walter Piston, "Orchestration." W. W. Norton & Company, 1955. ISBN 0-393-09740-4
  2. ^ http://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=horn&submit.x=0&submit.y=0
  3. ^ "Harold Meek (1914-1998)". Retrieved 2012-12-23. "Harold Meek is described by everyone as a gentleman, a perfectionist, and one who loved the horn. He was the first editor of The Horn Call and was responsible for this statement in every issue, "The International Horn Society recommends that HORN be recognized as the correct name for our instrument in the English language."" 
  4. ^ Meek, Harold (February 1971). "The Horn!". The Horn Call (International Horn Society) 1 (1): pp. 19–20. Retrieved 2011-03-03. "Meek strongly advocates using the term 'horn' rather than 'French horn.'" [dead link]
  5. ^ The background of the purpose in left-handed operation is murky, but may have arisen from the desirability to leave the right hand free to hold a weapon or the reins of a horse. Nonetheless, in view of the right-handed operation of most instruments, the horn offers left-handed players, including children who begin learning an instrument in the early years of school, a way to capitalize on their left-hand dominance, much as baseball favors left-handedness at pitcher and first base.
  6. ^ Whitener, Scott (1990) A Complete Guide to Brass Pg.40,44
  7. ^ Farkas, Philip (1956) The Art of French Horn Playing Pg. 21
  9. ^ Farkas, Philip (1956) The Art of French Horn Playing Pg. 65
  10. ^ See, e.g., the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor as performed by the Proms of London in the movement from 45:40 onward in "Mass in B Minor". You Tube. 2012. Retrieved 2013-11-29. 
  11. ^ Backus, John, The Acoustical Foundations of Music, 2nd ed., 1977, ISBN 0-393-09096-5
  12. ^ http://www.amati.cz/produkty/amati-mellophones/
  13. ^ http://www.interstatemusic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_193582
  14. ^ http://www.interstatemusic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_193584
  17. ^ Erickson, John."Horn Sections With and Without an Associate Principal" 28 March 2010. Retrieved on 14 January 2012
  18. ^ Bacon, Thomas."The Horn Section" Retrieved on 14 January 2012

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