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History of the Corno da Caccia (French Horn)
By Douglas Myers
In Europe around 1700, the horn suddenly burst onto the musical scene. Almost overnight, this
fashionable instrument was being heard in instrumental music and in opera. Previously, the horn was
only known as an outdoor signal instrument for the favorite sport of the nobility, the Hunt. Designed in
a large brass circle, the hunting horn (Italian: corno da caccia; French: trompe de chasse, German:
Jagdhorn or Waldhorn) conveniently fit over the shoulder of a huntsman on horseback. Blasts from the
horn were used to excite and encourage the hounds as well as to give signals to the hunting party.
Primitive fanfares using just three or four low notes of the horn were played at the beginning and at the
end of the Hunt.
The Hunt was the privilege of royalty, and the size and splendor of the hunting entourage came to be
the yardstick by which a nobleman and his wealth were measured. The horn’s transition from outdoor
signal instrument to the musical stage happened very rapidly. At Versailles, the most prestigious and
emulated court in Europe, the Hunt was especially popular. Following his visit to Versailles, on the
Grand Tour, the young nobleman Count Franz Anton von Sporck is credited with importing the horn
from France to the German-speaking countries. For the next century, Bohemia and Saxony would send
forth horn players to all the important courts of Europe. The Germans were the first to champion the
use of the horn in music and established its place as a refined and elegant instrument of the orchestra.
In the concert hall, the horns were played much more softly than when used outdoors, enabling the
performers to play an entire scale one octave above the original low fanfare notes. Complete melodies
could now be performed by the horn.
The original horns, imported by Sporck were in the key of C, the same overall length as the trumpets of
that time. The first people to play this horn were the trumpet players, since they were the only brass
players at court. The horn from France was viewed as a new type of trumpet. They were played as the
trumpet was, that is “open” without the hand in the bell. The only difference was that the horns were
round and had deep, funnel-shaped mouthpieces. This new type of trumpet was called, logically
enough, tromba da caccia (“hunting trumpet” by Handel), tromba selvatica (“trumpet of the woods by
Telemann), tromba piccolo (“small trumpet” by Telemann-trumpets of the day were large: 3 feet long)
and even just tromba (“trumpet”, as in Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto). All of these terms referred
to the newcomer horn, but today, 300 years later, have created much confusion.
Later in the century the horn became a distinct and separate instrument from the trumpet. The
nomenclature became standardized to “corno” or “horn” and by now there were players who played
only the horn. By mid-century, tastes and styles were shifting away from thin, clear sounds of the
Baroque and towards the fuller, darker sounds of the Rococo and Classical periods. The horn developed
a larger bell and an increased length. At this point, something unusual occurred. Around 1750, Anton
Hampel, the second horn player in the Dresden Court Orchestra, pioneered a new technique using the
hand in the bell to create a much needed scale in the horn’s lower octave. Soloists emerged from this
new second horn school and, in their stagecoaches with entourage of servants these new “superstars”
of music performed throughout Europe. Players began to specialize even further in their roles, that is,
the first horn claiming the high notes as his territory, and the second horn specializing in and extending
the low register. In this time, one finds single solo concerti written for the “First Horn” or for the
“Second Horn” as the schism widened. (Leopold Mozart labeled his two-horn concerto, heard today, for
the “First Horn” and for the “Second Horn.”)
Around 1811, valves were invented and a full chromatic scale was possible. (Valves were universally
adopted by horn and trumpet players alike. However the second horn players left their hands in their
bells, not for the purpose of producing chromatic notes, but for the beauty of the sound. Today’s horn
players are direct descendents of these second horn specialists. Around 1950 piccolo trumpets were
invented and around 1980 piccolo horns followed.
Our modern instrument, the corno da caccia or piccolo horn, was recently invented in Germany. They
are something truly new in the field of classical music! Developed in today’s atmosphere of authenticity
and historical correctness, these instruments are played “open”, that is, without the hand in the bell,
just as they were played in the 18th century. Not muffled by the 19th century practice of placing the
hand in the bell, the resulting authentic sound is pure Baroque, clear and ringing.