Ray Horton wrote:
I asked a knowledgeable horn-playing friend about your later question (which composers started writing for F horn all the time), and he promised me a copy if an interesting article on Brahms horn writing, so I should have more to add. I'll just say that I have been told that, even though Brahms wrote parts that were playable on natural horn, he probably never heard tham played on natural horn in his lifetime. He also wrote a book of etudes for valved horn! The last sentence took me aback somewhat: I thought I've been through every single one of Brahms' opus numbers and WoO and posthumous works, and I never encountered a book of etudes for valved horn! And I can't find any mention in New Groves. I think your friend may be mistaken about this. Can you ask for the specifics about the etude book? Kalmus publishes Ten Studies for Horn, supposedly by Brahms, but I can't find any reference to it in Brahms literature (notice that there is no mention of "Ventilhorn" or "valved horn" in the title). Incidentally, the studies look to me like they are all playable on natural horn, although the hand stopping would be challenging. Everything I've learned about Brahms makes me doubt that he ever devoted time and energy to writing etudes for valved horn! Steve Larsen _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
