Alphorn

The alphorn may have developed from instruments like the {{lang|la|lituus}}, a similarly shaped Etruscan instrument of classical antiquity, although there is little documented evidence of a continuous connection between them. A 2nd century Roman mosaic, found in Boscéaz, depicts a shepherd using a similar straight horn. The use of long signal horns in mountainous areas throughout Europe and Asia may indicate a long history of cultural cross-influences regarding their construction and usage.

The first documented use of the German word {{lang|de|Alphorn}} is in a payment recorded in the 1527 accounts ledger of Saint Urban's Abbey in Pfaffnau. Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner used the words {{lang|la|lituum alpinum}} for the first known detailed description of the alphorn, in his De raris et admirandis herbis (1555); in his time, the word lituus was used for several other wind instruments, like the horn, crumhorn, or cornett.

In the early 17th century, music scholar Michael Praetorius in his treatise Syntagma Musicum (1614–1620) depicts an alphorn-like instrument he called a {{lang|de|Hölzern Trummet}} ("wooden trumpet"), noting they are used by shepherds.{{EB1911|inline=y |wstitle=Alpenhorn, Alphorn |volume=1 |page=723 |first=Kathleen |last=Schlesinger |author-link=Kathleen Schlesinger}}

From the 17th to 19th century, alphorns were used in rural areas of the Alps, for signalling between high pastures across the valleys and to communities on the valley floor. The alphorn sounds can carry for several kilometres, and were even used to collect together dispersed herds. Although use by herdsmen had waned by the early 19th century, a revival of interest in the musical qualities of the instrument followed by the end of the century, and the alphorn became important in tourism, and inspired Romantic composers such as Beethoven and Gustav Mahler to add alphorn, or traditional alphorn melodies, to their pieces.

File:Seealpsee Juni2018 Alphorn.jpg

The alphorn is carved from solid softwood, usually pine or spruce. Traditionally, the alphorn maker would find a tree growing on a slope and bent at the base providing the curved shape for the bell. The long trunk would be cut in half longways, the bore hollowed out, then glued and bound back together with outer layers of stripped bark. Modern instruments are made in several sections for more convenient handling and transport, each turned and bored from solid blocks of spruce. An integrated cup-shaped mouthpiece was traditionally carved into the narrow end, while modern instruments have a separate removable mouthpiece carved from hard wood.

An alphorn made at Rigi-Kulm, Schwyz, and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, measures {{convert|8|ft|m}} in length and has a straight tube. The Swiss alphorn varies in shape according to the locality, being curved near the bell in the Bernese Oberland.

The alphorn is a simple tube with no lateral openings or means of adjusting the pitch, so only the notes of the natural harmonic series are available. As with other natural labrosones, some of the notes do not correspond to the Western equal tempered chromatic scale, particularly the 7th and 11th partials.

Image:Harmonic Series.png

Accomplished alphornists can command a range of nearly three octaves, consisting of the 2nd through the 16th partials. The availability of the higher tones is due in part to the relatively small diameter of the bore of the mouthpiece and tubing in relation to the overall length of the horn.

The well-known "Ranz des Vaches" ([https://web.archive.org/web/19980214205945/http://www.lyoba.ch/culture/desalpe/ranz.htm#PARTITION score]; [http://www.bavarianinfo.ch/eng/bavarianinfo.html?sid=7020216&cKey=1183635931000&ty=st&rubricId=25004&siteSect=25001 audio]{{Dead link|date=February 2023}}) is a traditional Swiss melody often heard on the alphorn. The song describes the time of bringing the cows to the high country at milk making time.{{clarify|date=October 2023}} Rossini introduced the "Ranz des Vaches" into his masterpiece William Tell, along with many other melodies scattered throughout the opera in vocal and instrumental parts that are well-suited to the alphorn. Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann that the inspiration for the dramatic entry of the horn in the introduction to the last movement of his First Symphony was an alphorn melody he heard while vacationing in the Rigi area of Switzerland. For Clara's birthday in 1868 Brahms sent her a greeting that was to be sung with the melody.

Image:Fanfare 27BCA 01.JPG of the French Chasseurs Alpins uses alphorns]]

File:Alphorns Grindelwald.jpg Alphorn players]]

Among music composed for the alphorn:

• Concerto Grosso No. 1 (2013) for four alphorns and orchestra by Georg Friedrich Haas{{cite web|url=http://www.universaledition.com/Georg-Friedrich-Haas/composers-and-works/composer/278 |title=Georg Friedrich Haas |publisher=Universal Edition |access-date=28 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208163014/http://www.universaledition.com/Georg-Friedrich-Haas/composers-and-works/composer/278 |archive-date=8 February 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.eamdc.com/news/bavarian-radio-symphony-orchestra-debuts-concerto-grosso-nr-1-by-georg-friedrich-haas/ |title=EAM: Georg Friedrich Haas's Concerto Grosso No. 1 Debuts with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra |publisher=European American Music Distributors Company |date=25 February 2014 |access-date=28 December 2016}}
• Sinfonia pastorale for corno pastoriccio in G (alphorn) and string orchestra (1755) by Leopold Mozart
• Concerto for alphorn and orchestra (1970) by Jean Daetwyler
• Concerto No. 2 for alphorn (with flute, string orchestra and percussion) (1983) by Daetwyler
• Dialogue with Nature for alphorn, flute, and orchestra by Daetwyler
• Super Alpen King for three alphorns and orchestra by Ghislain Muller (2001) VSP orkestra / Arkady Shilkloper, Renaud Leipp
• Concertino rustico (1977) by Ferenc Farkas
• Begegnung for three alphorns and concert band, by Kurt Gable.
• Säumerweg-Blues [https://www.alphornmusik.ch/noten/alphorn-mit-orgel-klavier/saeumerweg-blues.php (audio played by Kurt Ott)] among many compositions by Hans-Jürg Sommer, [http://www.alphornmusik.ch Alphorn Musik]
• Messe for alphorn and choir by Franz Schüssele [http://www.alphorn-center.de Alphorn-Center]
• Erbauliche Studie für 12 Alphörner in Abwesenheit von Bergen by Mathias Rüegg (1998)
• Wolf Music: Tapio for alphorn and echoing instruments (2003) by R. Murray Schafer{{cite journal |url=https://caml.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/caml/article/view/2385/1590 |title=R. Murray Schafer |last=Biggs |first=Charlene |journal=CAML Review |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=46–47 |date=2003 |publisher=Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres}}
• Le Berger fantaisiste for three alphorns and orchestra by Ghislain Muller, Arkady Shilkloper, Renaud Leipp, Serge Haessler, VSP orkestra (2001)
• Bob Downes & The Alphorn Brothers (2015) by Bob Downes Open Music (CD rec. 2004)
• Concerto for alphorn in F and orchestra by Daniel Schnyder (2004)
• Matterhorn (a prelude for alphorn and wind orchestra) by Robert Litton (2013)
• Alpine Trail for alphorn and orchestra by Arkady Shilkloper
• ''Alpine Sketch" for alphorn and big band by Arkady Shilkloper
• Lai nair for alphorn and contrabass by John Wolf Brennan (2015)
• Der Bergschuh for alphorn and marching band by Daniel Schnyder
• Crested Butte Mountain for alphorn and wind band (or brass sextet, strings, or horn septet) by Arkady Shilkloper
• Robin for alphorn and wind band (big band) by Arkady Shilkloper
• Fanfare for four alphorns by Arkady Shilkloper
• Tanz der Kuhe by Carlo Brunner/Lisa Stoll

• The alphorn is prominently featured in advertisements for Ricola cough drops.{{cite web |title=By The Way ; Come Blow Your Horn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/03/nyregion/by-the-way-come-blow-your-horn.html |website=The New York Times |date=3 October 1999 |access-date=13 October 2021}}

• Bucium, a type of alphorn used by mountain dwellers in Romania{{cite web |last1=Vitaliev |first1=Vitali |title=The technology of Alphorn design |url=https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2016/10/the-technology-of-alphorn-design/ |website=eandt.theiet.org/ |date=11 October 2016 |publisher=E&T (Engineering & Technology) |access-date=8 December 2021}}
• Didgeridoo, an instrument of Aboriginal Australian origins, traditionally made from a hollowed out eucalyptus tree trunk
• Erke, a similar instrument of Argentine Northwest
• Kuhreihen, a type of melody played on an alphorn
• Tiba, wind instrument made of wood or metal that originates in the Grisons canton; it was used by shepherds on alpine meadows in the Alps
• Tibetan horn, long trumpet or horn used in Tibetan Buddhist and Mongolian buddhist ceremonies
• Trembita, a Carpathian alpine horn made of wood
• Trutruca, wind instrument played mainly amongst the Mapuche people of Chile and Argentina; produces a sound that is loud and severe, with few tonal variations

{{Reflist}}

• Bachmann-Geiser, Brigitte, Das Alphorn: Vom Lock- zum Rockinstrument. Paul Haupt, Berne, 1999. {{ISBN|3-258-05640-4}}
• Franz Schüssele, Alphorn und Hirtenhorn in Europa, book and CD with 63 sound samples available at [http://www.alphorn-center.de Alphorn-Center], {{ISBN|3-927-78121-5}}

• {{Commons-inline}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100807080633/http://www.salzburgerecho.com/seminars.html Third Annual North American Alphorn Retreat]
• [http://www.alphorninconcert.ch Alphorn in concert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615101131/https://www.alphorninconcert.ch/ |date=2021-06-15 }} Concert and composition contest taking place annually in Oensingen, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland
• [http://www.nendazcordesalpes.ch International Alphorn Festival] at Nendaz, Canton Valais, Switzerland
• [http://www.vsp-orkestra.com/index.php?lang=2 VSP orkestra & Arkady Shilkloper] alphorn jazz & improvisations, composer / arranger : [https://ghislainmuller.wixsite.com/ghislain-muller Ghislain Muller], Arkady Shilkloper, Pascal Beck

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Category:National symbols of Switzerland

Category:Swiss musical instruments

Category:Natural horns and trumpets