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Natural horn and valve horn in the 19th century. The period of transition between both instruments. (2015)

Mateusz Cendlak
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Name: Mateusz Cendlak Main subject: Natural horn Research coach: Herman Jeurissen Title of research: Natural horn and valve horn in the 19th century. The period of transition between both instruments. Research question: How long did it take the valve horn to completely replace its predecessor and why did they coexist for such a long period of time? Summary of Results: It is crucial for professional horn players (playing both natural and modern horn) to study the origins of their instrument. Just few decades after horn became a standard instrument of the orchestra horn players and makers started to search for ways to explore it more and broaden its capabilities. The main disadvantage of early horn was its limited range. Before the valve horn became the main instrument in this family a lot of experiments took place. The most important technique which arose from these experiments was since the middle of the 18th century the hand stopping technique. This way of playing had crucial influence on the attitude to the horn and made this instrument so distinctive. The evolution of hand stopping technique came to the point when natural horn was considered as a fully chromatic instrument. As a result, a lot of horn players did not get convinced about the invention of valve around 1815 and did not want to accept the new type of instrument which had only open sounds. The sense of esthetic of a great part of horn players and composers was the main reason why the natural instrument remained for them the real horn. The most conservative center of natural horn playing was Paris. It was where the most important treatises of horn were written. The class of natural horn of Paris Conservatory was closed down only in 1906. But not only French musicians remained faithful to the natural horn. Johannes Brahms never really accepted the new invention of valved horn and wrote all his pieces theoretically for natural instruments. The double horn we know from modern orchestras has been existing only since the first half of 20th century. Nowadays the natural horn is experiencing its renaissance and has been used by some contemporary composers such as Benjamin Britten or György Ligeti. Biography: I was born in Poznań (Poland) on 13th October 1987. I began my musical education at age of 13 in Music High-school in my hometown. After 7 years I decided to devote myself to music and began modern horn studies at Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań with dr. Krzysztof Stencel. After two years when my school opened the natural horn subject I became the first student of this instrument in Poland. My experience with natural horn in Poland was not satisfying and after graduating I decided to continue my education at school with richer tradition.
typeresearch exposition
date01/01/2015
published28/05/2015
last modified28/05/2015
statuslimited publication
share statusprivate
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/136818/136819
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue3. Internal publication


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146710 Natural horn and valve horn in the 19th century Mateusz Cendlak 2015 All rights reserved
145980 Natural horn and valve horn in the 18th century Mateusz Cendlak 2015 All rights reserved
145976 Natural Horn and Valve Horn in the 18th Century Mateusz Cendlak 2015 All rights reserved
145963 Natural horn and valve horn in the 18th century Mateusz Cendlak 2015 All rights reserved
145961 Natural horn and valve horn in the 18th century Mateusz Cendlak 2015 All rights reserved
145959 Natural horn and valve horn in the 18th century Mateusz Cendlak 2015 All rights reserved

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