It's not so much that they were leaving off a key signature as that the correct key signature was (usually) C. In the days before valved horns the horns were most often crooked in the key of the piece. Even when the "correct" key signature was not the same as the crook, the playing technique lent itself to a staff w/o a key sig. The 4 or 5 pitch classes most parts employed (i.e., C, G, E, D, F) would not have required any inflection, so a key signature would still have been superfluous. And if inflections were required, the technique of playing made more sense to write them as accidentals.
In the 19th cent. when valves came into the picture, it became a common although by no means universal practice to continue to omit key signatures. As to why that happened I have no facts, only guesses. Probably just a continuation of the older look and feel, given that the two types of instruments overlapped for decades as valves gradually took hold. On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 2:06 PM, Chuck Israels <[email protected]> wrote: > Curious - why is the convention not to have key signatures in horn parts, > when all other transposing instruments have them? What is the use of this > convention? > > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
