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XXI Century Horn

The horn is one of the strangest and most surprising of musical instruments in Western culture, not only due to its versatility but also its extraordinary development, spread over a huge geographical area. We can find its origins in the seashells, horns and hollow animal bones the people of Antiquity used for religious rites or when at war. These natural elements gave way to, while coexisting with, sonorous devices in materials such as metal, wood, leather, glass, or marble. In the Middle Ages, coming from the Byzantine Empire, instruments known as olifants arrived on our continent, made from elephant tusks, which where richly ornamented. From time immemorial we have known the alpine horn, made of wood, as well as the Tibetan horn, whose raw material is copper.

In the XVII century in Europe, the well-known hunting horn was created, whose appearance was close to that of the modern horn with its rolled-up metal tubes and wide opening or bell. These were able to emit various natural harmonics and their job was to produce fanfares and hunting calls, so in this way it was introduced into the orchestra. From these, improving their set-up and shape, we get to the natural horn, whose presence was consolidated in to XVIII century. Still without valves, the players achieved the various different notes and the possibility of playing in different key though various different techniques, modulating lip pressure, modifying the length of the tubes through what are known as “crooks” or changing the position of the right hand in the bell, a practice which also changes the timbre.

At the beginning of the XIX century, the invention of valves by Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel meant a complete revolution in the how brass instruments were played. Little by little these were modernized, improved in timbre, techniques where optimized, sonorous richness was extended. With the appearance of the chromatic horn, composers began to explore the possibilities that the instrument had to offer as the mediator between the open and incisive sonorities of the other brass instruments and the sweeter sound of the woodwind, without losing its symbolic connection with hunting, the countryside and the grandeur of nobility, royalty or the divine. (Eva Sandoval)