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The tenor horn (
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
; alto horn in
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
, Althorn in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
; occasionally referred to as E horn) is a
brass instrument A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin a ...
in the
saxhorn The saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces. The saxhorn family was developed by Adolphe Sax, who is also known for creating the saxophone family. The sound of the saxhorn has a ...
family and is usually pitched in E. It has a bore that is mostly conical, like the
flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...
and
euphonium The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word ''euphōnos'', meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" ( ''eu'' means "well" ...
, and normally uses a deep, cornet-like mouthpiece. It is most commonly used in British brass bands, and Mexican banda music whereas the
French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...
tends to take the corresponding parts in concert bands and
orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
s. However, the tenor horn has occasionally been used as an alternative to the French horn in concert bands.


Description

The tenor horn is a valved brass instrument (in E) which has a predominantly conical bore like that of the euphonium and
flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...
. It uses a deep funnel- or cup-shaped mouthpiece. The tenor horn's conical bore and deep mouthpiece produce a mellow, rounded tone that is often used as a middle voice, supporting the melodies of the
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s, cornets, or
flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...
s, and fills the gap above the lower tenor and bass instruments (the
trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
,
baritone horn The baritone horn, or sometimes just called baritone, is a low-pitched brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a piston-val ...
, euphonium, and
tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
). Its valves are typically, though not exclusively, piston valves. The tenor horn has been made and is made in various shapes: the most common in the United States and the UK, and in most other parts of the world, is a sort of mini-
tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
shape, with the
bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
pointing upward, which may help the voice blend before reaching the audience. In contrast, the solo horn (found mainly in Europe) looks like (and indeed effectively ''is'') an enlarged flugelhorn, with the
bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
pointing forward, projecting more toward the audience. Another older and lesser-known variant has the bell facing backward (for military
marching band A marching band is a group of musical instrument, instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass instrument, brass, woodwind instrument, woodwind, and percus ...
s that preceded the soldiers, thus helping them hear better and keep better time in marching). Still another variant has a detachable bell, easily rotated to point in the direction of the player's choice. The standard bell-up horn comes in two basic shapes - one with the beginning of the bell looping over the top of the valves and the other looping below the valves. These types are the most frequently encountered in the United States and UK. Only the standard upright instrument is seen in UK brass bands. In Europe, Červený have been manufacturing tenor horns since 1852.A Tenor Horn/Alto Horn FAQ
by John Ericson
They currently offer models of the instrument looped like a classic
horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
and an oval model shaped like a
Wagner tuba The Wagner tuba is a four-valve brass instrument named after and commissioned by Richard Wagner. It combines technical features of both standard tubas and French horns, though despite its name, the Wagner tuba is more similar to the latter, and ...
, all models having
rotary valve A rotary valve (also called rotary-motion valve) is a type of valve in which the rotation of a passage or passages in a transverse plug regulates the flow of liquid or gas through the attached pipes. The common stopcock is the simplest form of rot ...
s, as opposed to the more common
piston valve A "piston valve" is a device used to control the motion of a fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the linear motion of a piston within a chamber or cylinder. Examples of piston valves are: * The valves used in many brass instruments * The va ...
s. Within a British brass band, the tenor horn section usually plays a unique part in the middle of the band, with the Solo Horn having frequent solo passages. However, it is less often featured as a solo instrument, but is increasingly gaining popularity as one. The instrument's timbre, with little attack or resonance, as well as the parts it usually plays, makes the section difficult to hear individually, even in professional studio recordings. Despite this, the horn section contributes greatly to the rich mellow sound of a brass band. Tenor horns, especially those built in the middle of the 20th century, typically have very poor projection and power, so much so that they quickly became known as the "cinderella" of the brass band, hiding between the much more powerful cornets and trombones. This reputation played no small part in discouraging composers outside of the British brass band from writing for the tenor horn, and it certainly had an adverse effect on the instrument's popularity outside the UK. In more recent years, however, there have been many attempts by various makers to create a tenor horn with much better power and projection while still retaining the instrument's characteristic "narrow-mellow" timbre. A few of these modern instruments have become especially popular within the UK; the Besson Sovereign and the Yamaha Maestro have dominated the tenor horn market over the last decade or so. Today, different makes of tenor horns have a wide range of bore sizes. Narrow-bore instruments, such as those made by the former Besson company, tend to emphasise the tonal delicacy of older instruments and play more like a French-styled flugelhorn, while larger-bore instruments like those made by Courtois have a weight of sound much greater than traditional tenor horns, playing much more like a conical-bored cornet. There are even very rare instruments that have a fourth valve that functions similar to the F trigger on a trombone. Good, well-made instruments should, however, regardless of bore size, retain a light, velvety and mellow tone quality.


Range

The nominal range of the tenor horn (expressed in
concert pitch Concert pitch is the pitch (music), pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are musical tuning, tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from musical ensemble, ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over music history. ...
) is from the A an
octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
and a
minor third In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two com ...
below middle C to the E an octave and a minor third above middle C (A2 to E5 in
scientific pitch notation Scientific pitch notation (SPN), also known as American standard pitch notation (ASPN) and international pitch notation (IPN), is a method of specifying musical pitch by combining a musical note name (with accidental if needed) and a number ide ...
). Experienced players can reach at least a
major third In classical music, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones. Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony in Concept and P ...
higher than this. Additionally, as the tenor horn is a whole-bore brass instrument, most players can play some
pedal tone Pedal tones (or pedals) are special low notes in the harmonic series of brass instruments. A pedal tone has the pitch of its harmonic series' fundamental tone. Its name comes from the foot pedal keyboard pedals of a pipe organ, which are used ...
s, the
fundamentals Fundamental may refer to: * Foundation of reality * Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental" * Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simple or "fundamental" idea ...
(first partials) of (at least) the shorter tubing lengths.


Notation

Tenor horn parts are written in the
treble clef A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines, which defines the pit ...
. The tenor horn is an E
transposing instrument A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which music notation is not written at concert pitch (concert pitch is the pitch on a non-transposing instrument such as the piano). For example, playing a written middle C on a transposing i ...
written a
major sixth In music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six note letter names or staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as ''major ...
above
concert pitch Concert pitch is the pitch (music), pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are musical tuning, tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from musical ensemble, ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over music history. ...
: the tenor horn notation for middle C represents the E below middle C in concert pitch (E3 in scientific pitch notation).


History

The instrument known today as the tenor/alto horn was developed in the 1840s by the Belgian instrument maker
Adolphe Sax Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (; 6 November 1814 – 4 February 1894) was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba. He played the f ...
who, among other instrument design activities, designed two similar families of valved brass instruments, the
saxhorn The saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces. The saxhorn family was developed by Adolphe Sax, who is also known for creating the saxophone family. The sound of the saxhorn has a ...
and the
saxotromba The saxotromba is a valved brass instrument invented by the Belgian instrument-maker Adolphe Sax around 1844.. But for another opinion see: It was designed for the mounted bands of the French military, probably as a substitute for the French hor ...
. The surviving E alto instruments by Sax all have inner diameters described in the saxotromba patent. In this patent the soprano voice (descant) is tuned in E and thence descending through B (contralto) to E (alto). The next family member below the alto saxotromba was described as a baritone in B. Ascending from baritone, logically the next E family member above it is a tenor. The inconsistency spread across multiple descriptions and patents over decades apparently is the source of confusion as regards the names ''tenor'' vs. ''alto'' horn. The modern instrument has a larger diameter and now resembles Sax's specification of the saxhorn more than it does that of the saxotromba. A great deal of interesting historical technical information on the saxhorn is found in the "Saxhorn" entry o
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 4 (1909)
In the 1970s,
King Musical Instruments King Musical Instruments (originally founded as the H. N. White Company) is a former musical instrument manufacturing company located in Cleveland, Ohio, that used the trade name King for its instruments. In 1965 the company was acquired by the ...
produced a variation on the tenor/alto horn, called the "altonium". This instrument was keyed in F, and it utilized the same mouthpiece as the French horn. From their 1971 catalog, King Instruments produced two models of the altonium: numbers 1147 and 1148. The 1147 was a straight model, and the 1148 was a bell forward model. In the US, the alto horn is colloquially known as the "peck horn", supposedly because these instruments were employed in band music to "peck away at" the upbeats.It's Them Peck Horns
article by Linda Buchwald (archive from 20 February 2012).
This name is mentioned in ''
The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and ...
'', and a french horn-patterned peck horn can be seen in the scene where Professor Hill is explaining the Think System as applied to Beethoven's Minuet in G and a small boy asks him how to play it.


Repertoire

The tenor horn is very rarely included in the
symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...
, where its place is taken by the
French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...
. Instead, it is a fixture of
British brass bands British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
, where it often plays a role similar to that of the orchestral horn in the symphony orchestra. The tenor horn has also been used in concert bands as a replacement for the French horn. In the past, many publishers included parts in both Eb (for the tenor horn) and F (for the French horn). These parts were the same, just transposed into the pitch of the given instrument. Some publishers still follow this practice. Although
Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
orchestrated his Seventh Symphony to include one "tenorhorn in B", that instrument is more akin to the
baritone horn The baritone horn, or sometimes just called baritone, is a low-pitched brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a piston-val ...
. Partial list of solo repertoire: * Sonata for Alto Horn and Piano (1943)—
Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
. * Sonata for Eb Horn and Piano, Op. 75—
John Golland John Golland (Ashton-under-Lyne, 14 September 1942 - Dukinfield, 14 April 1993) was an English composer. He is most famous for his works for brass band, such as ''Sounds'', ''Atmospheres'', ''Peace'', ''Rêves d'Enfant'', his two euphonium co ...
* ''September Fantasy'' (1977)— Eric Ball * ''Masquerade'' for Tenor Horn and Brass Band (1985)—
Philip Sparke Philip Allen Sparke (born 29 December 1951) is an English composer and musician born in London, noted for his concert band and Brass band (British style), brass band music. His early major works include ''The Land of the Long White Cloud – " ...
* ''A Hornting We Will Go'' for Tenor Horn and Piano, Op. 151 (1997)—
Derek Bourgeois Derek David Bourgeois (16 October 1941 – 6 September 2017) was an English composer. Career Derek Bourgeois was born in Kingston upon Thames in 1941. After receiving his university education at Magdalene College, Cambridge (honours degree ...
* Concerto for Eb Tenor Horn and Brass Band, Op. 194 (2003)—Derek Bourgeois * ''Aria'' for Tenor Horn and Brass Band (2003)—Philip Sparke * ''Capricorno'' for Tenor Horn and Brass Band (2009)—Philip Sparke * Sonata for Tenor Horn and Piano, Op. 304 (2011)—Derek Bourgeois * ''Rajaz'' – concerto for tenor horn and chamber ensemble (2013)— Idin Samimi Mofakham * ''Sunday in the Park'' for Tenor Horn and Brass Band (2016)—Philip Sparke


References


External links


International Alto/Tenor Horn ProjectTenor Horn.comAl's Tenor Horn page
{{Authority control Brass instruments E-flat instruments Horns