Baroque Horn

At the suggestion of, and in collaboration with Martin Mürner, horn player and restorer of historic brass instruments, we have made replicas of two baroque horns, each in a single pitch.

Because baroque horn repertoire requires the use of instruments in different pitches, modern instrument makers have developed systems of crooks combined with a single body to change the pitch. Using crooks alters the profile of the instrument and in doing so ultimately compromises it, leading especially to tuning difficulties. It is almost impossible to play according to baroque methods on these instruments, that is, without the hand in the bell. Above all the tuning 11th and 13th overtones become too difficult to correct.

On original baroque horns there is a continual conical widening from the mouthpiece to the bell, and the size of the bell depends on the length of the instrument. According to our observations, this profile makes it easier for the player to bend pitches, i.e. to correct out of tune harmonics. We have therefore copied two horns of Leichamschneider, both of which offer better support for open (ie. without the hand in the bell) playing. Our horn after Eichentopf is still built with hand-stopping in mind.

All of our horns are built according to traditional methods. All tubes as well as the bell of the instrument are soldered from hammered brass sheets and therefore show a soldering seam. The use of these methods produces instruments acoustically closer to original instruments, especially where tone colour is concerned. The garland is engraved and the instrument is burnished by hand according to historical methods before it is polished.

 

BAROQUE HORN in G, F and D 415 Hz

This horn comes with the bell of the D-Horn after Michael Leichamschneider and is designed to play in the three pitches listed above. It is intended as an economical alternative to buying three different horns, offering good results in these pitches.

Key notations refer to pitch a1 = 415 Hz.
Component PartCurrencyPrice

BAROQUE HORN in F 415 Hz


after Johannes Leichamschneider, Vienna 1715
Corpus in F 415 Hz		 CHF 4.850,-

BAROQUE HORN in D 415 Hz


after Michael Leichamschneider, Vienna 1723
Corpus in D 415 Hz		 CHF 5.650,-

Corpus in G

 CHF 4.350,-
G extension CHF 190,-
F crook CHF 590,-
D crook CHF 850,-

Complete horn in 3 keys

CHF

5.980,-

 

BAROQUE HORN

after Johann Heinrich Eichentopf, Leipzig 1738
The key notations refer to pitch a1 = 440 Hz.

Corpus in G 440 Hz
Component PartCurrencyPrice

Corpus in G 440 Hz

 CHF 4.850,-
G extension CHF 190,-
Gb crook CHF 630,-
F crook CHF 640,-
E crook CHF 650,-
Eb crook CHF 660,-
D crook CHF 880,-
Db crook CHF 890,-

Horn in the above mentioned keys

CHF

9.390,-

October 2011