I haven't read all the posts on this, so please forgive me if I'm repeating what somebody else wrote.
It's not just horns that traditionally had no key signature: also trumpets and timpani. In the case of the two brass instruments, it followed a logical chain of events in their historic usage: 1. Natural trumpets and natural horns were first called for in whatever key the music was in. Traditionally (and probably because of the potential for greater range), horns had more optional crooks than trumpets for transpositions. So, for a piece in D major, horns and trumpets were pitched in D. Of course, their music is then read in C major, making a key signature unnecessary. Early timpani writing treated notation the same as trumpets (they were considered an inseparable pair up to the classical era). The incipit would read, "Timpani in D and A" and the notation would be in C, pitches written as C and G. 2. Later, still in the natural horn era, composers began using pairs of horns in keys related to the main key, allowing them the versatility of choosing a greater variety of pitches. So, in a piece in C minor, two horns were in C (playing lots of C, D and G) and two were in E flat (supplying the E flats need in C minor, as well as the tonic harmonies for the relative major of E flat). Both parts were still written in C major, so no need for accidentals. In the classical era, only natural trumpets in C, D and E flat were used. Check out Beethoven's Seventh Symphony in A major, which uses trumpets in D. Still no key signature; none needed, because the C sharp and G sharp weren't part of the D overtone series (in the last movement, Beethoven calls for the rarely used 7th partial, C natural, which is notated as a B flat). With timpani, even when a key signature may have been useful (as in Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat), the incipit simply gives the pitches as E flat and B flat, and E and B are written in the part thereafter. Since the pitches never change, why bother? 3. In the romantic era, composers increasingly ask that players change instruments (usually by changing crooks) during the course of a movement. Often (but not always) this results once again in the player reading music that is mostly in C major. Although natural instruments were slowly replaced by their valved counterparts, it was a long time before composers began exploiting their chromatic potential. 4. Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss are the principal composers to promulgate the advancement of the horn (Brahms preferred the sound of the natural horn), and it's interesting to track the changes in horn use and notation in their works. Strauss' op. 1 Festmarsch from 1877 uses natural horns and trumpets, in E flat, B flat basso and E flat respectively. In his op. 11 Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat, he calls for orchestral horns in the piece's key, thus rendering their key signature as C major. I'm not an expert on this subject, but although the parts look like they were written for valved instruments, I think that all the chromatic pitches could be played using hand horn techniques. The Symphony in F minor, op. 12, calls for four horns in F, with accidentals written in to produce the A flats, etc. Again, it looks like this is playable with natural horns, but is certainly much easier on valved instruments. His op. 16 tone poem, Aus Italien, clearly calls for valved instruments, and is the first work require horns in F despite an opening key signature of G major (later, he asks for changes to horn in E, A and D). Trumpets are in C (later in D). It might seem that a key signature would work nicely here, but if you look at the way the part is written, there are very few visual clues that would indicate a G tonality. Tradition held, and no key signature was used. Strauss began to almost always favor Horn in F, but often called for changes to other keys in the course of the work. The best summary of this confusing practice is in Strauss' own words (or at least as translated by Theodore Front for Strauss' revision of Berlioz' "Treatise on Instrumentation", written in 1904 and reprinted by Kalmus in 1948): "Although horn players now use almost exclusively the horns in D, F, high A and high B flat . . . it is nevertheless advisable to retain Richard Wagner's method of indicating the key of the horns according to the changes of key in the music. It is true that horn players do not observe these different keys any more; but they are accustomed to transpose any key instantly into the key of the horn they are using, and they much prefer this method to being forced to read all the time the horn in F, for instance, with a great number of accidentals (sharps, double sharps, etc.). Hence, composers should continue to indicate: horn in E flat, D, D flat as they see fit. In my opinion, this has the advantage of a cleaner appearance of the score. Personally, I prefer to read the horns in the different keys and to transpose them (habit may have something to do with this, too). The score is much clearer on first sight, since the staves of the horns and trumpets at once stand out plastically in contrast to the staves of the woodwinds and strings with their transpositions and numerous accidentals." (p. 279) At some point in the 20th century, most composers settled on the now-standard Horn in F and stopped the practice of "changing horns" in the parts. Exactly when that happened? I'm sure somebody out there has written a dissertation on it! Steve Larsen 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
