The Natural Horn and Brahms

This research is an extract from my final year at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

‘I write for the most wonderful Waldhorns in D flat,

but I never expect to hear them…’

Johannes Brahms

There is a common misconception with regards to Brahms’ horn writing that he wrote exclusively for his works to be performed on the natural horn. In this essay I would like to clarify this theoretical misnomer, and examine the nature of Brahms’s horn writing in relation to the natural horn.

The history of the horn dates back thousands of years. Before the seventeenth century the horn was mainly used in a ceremonial, military or sporting function, and was limited to the notes of the harmonic series. Then, during the seventeenth century, the French altered the size of the instrument, and the way it was wrapped (the familiar coil-shape which we use today). This instrument was called the Cor de Chasse.

The next major progression in the history of the horn was the invention of ‘crooks’ by Joseph Hampel around 1750. This system of crooks was designed as separate pieces of various sized tubing which could be inserted into the main tubing of the horn, allowing the horn to play in different keys. Hampel’s next discovery was by putting his hand in the bell, which led to the development of so-called ‘hand technique’. This enabled the player to produce notes outside the operative harmonic series, as well as providing a less raucous and more beautiful sound.

It is common knowledge that valves were in use during the mid nineteenth century in Germany, replacing the natural horn with its system of crooks and hand technique that had been implemented in the early eighteenth century. Brahms (1833-1897), however, still used to compose for horns which could be crooked into varying keys. This is probably because he loved the sound of the natural ‘Waldhorn’, which he heard from a young age (his father was a horn player). His innate affection with the natural sounding horn gave him an acute ear for scoring for the instrument. Throughout the symphonies, he uses the qualities of stopped notes of the horn rather sparingly, whilst using two pairs of horns in differing crooks to cope with modulations and to cover the full range of the instrument. There were few occasions where Brahms specifically asked for notes to be stopped, creating a hard, brash sound. So one might assume that Brahms was expecting his players to play on valved horns and there is in fact no evidence to suggest that Brahms’ orchestral works were performed on valve-less horns.

This poses a rather pertinent question – what type of horn did Brahms intend his orchestral works to be performed on? The answer seems to be rather less straightforward than one might imagine, as his letters on the subject are inconclusive. In his letter to Robert Keller about a rehearsal in Vienna, he conveys his aversion to a horn player’s Ventilhorn (i.e. Valve Horn) – the player not being able to produce a low B flat written in the part. There is an element of confusion surrounding the nature of the horn in question. It is most likely that the player was using one of the new two or three-valve horns, but may not have had the correct crook with him at that particular rehearsal. If he were, however, using the ‘Pumpenhorn’ with an E flat crook, he would have been able to produce that note as well as being able to play the rest of the part adequately well.

The ‘Wiener Pumpenhorn’ (or Vienna Horn) was developed as early as the 1830s, based on designs made from the earliest valve systems by Heinrich Stolzel and Friedrich Bluhmel. The technique of playing this horn was through a combination of valve and hand technique, which is still implemented in Vienna today. The foremost advantage of this horn is that it maintains the timbral quality of the original natural horn, whilst being able to play chromatically throughout the register. It has, however, become unpopular throughout the rest of the world due to the valves being heavy and unresponsive, making fast technical passages incredibly problematic.

This may well be the solution to the question surrounding the nature of Brahms’ horn writing, as this horn would fit the timbral requirements of the natural horn which Brahms was so fond of, as well as being completely chromatic for all of the challenging solos which would be far too cumbersome when using hand technique alone. Brahms did admire the performances of his symphonies in Vienna, so it would follow that he most likely approved of the horns’ sound quality.

Brahms could be considered as a romantic composing in the classical aesthetic, and it is through his intimate knowledge of classical masters such as Beethoven and Mozart who provide the models for his delicate wind writing. We are in no doubt that Brahms was a fond admirer of the natural horn, and his writing in his symphonies for the horn is clear evidence to this fact. His use of the open harmonics throughout the majority of his themes for the horn gives his music a wonderfully naturalistic quality. Hopefully this has clarified the misnomer that Brahms did not specifically write for the natural horn in his symphonies, but that the possibility of his writing for the Vienna Horn seems more likely.