I searched this out from Oxford Music on-line (and I believe it brief enough to quote without fear):
A resourceful musician of modest talent, Johann Jakob learnt to play several instruments, including the flute, horn, violin and double bass, and in 1826 moved to the free Hanseatic port of Hamburg, where he earned his living playing in dance halls and taverns. In 1830, as a condition for gaining citizenship (Kleinbürger), he joined the local militia as a horn player; he also became a member of a sextet at the fashionable Alster Pavilion. Later he played the double bass and occasionally the flute in the Hamburg Philharmonie, obtaining a regular position as a bass player in 1864 through the influence of his son. While I was there, I also checked out Gioacchino Rossini and found: Rossini's father was a trumpeter and horn player, his mother a singer. Both toured the theatres of the Romagna, and from an early age Gioachino, their only child, accompanied them. The family moved in 1802 to Lugo, and two years later to Bologna, where with private tuition Rossini made rapid progress on the horn and keyboard, and especially as a singer (in 1805 he made a public appearance as the boy Adolfo in Paër's opera Camilla). And we all know about Franz Strauss' accomplishments; we could also add Gunther Schuller to the ranks of hornist composers not known primarily as horn players (though his father Arthur played violin in NY Phil under Toscanini), if we want to start widening and loosening our scope and lower the bar a bit (I'm not commenting on Schuller's compositions, just his relative level of acceptance in the Pantheon of composers). Cheers, Peter Hirsch >date: Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:43:14 -0000 (GMT) >from: "Kit Wolf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >subject: Re: [Hornlist] Brahms Trio, Op. 40 > >Also, whilst we're on the subject I'm sure I once heard that Brahms played >the horn. I know his father did, but the biography I've read doesn't seem >to mention whether he did too. It seemed to make a lot of sense - I'm not >generally a huge fan but I like his horn writing. > >Can anybody confirm or contradict? _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
