300 Years of the Horn

Three hundred years ago in Bohemia there began that fruitful development which changed the original hunting horn (in German Jagdhorn) into one of the most beautiful and expressive of musical instruments, one of which Robert Schumann could say that it was “the soul of the orchestra”. It is a proud anniversary and it gives me an opportunity for my survey of the history of the horn, although I make no claim for the completeness of my findings.

Neither the year nor the day of the adoption of the French hunting horn in Bohemia can be precisely established. The dates given in the literature on the subject vary between 1680 and 1681. The fact is that in 1680/1681 two huntsmen of Count Sporck returned to Bohemia from Versailles. They had got to know the new hunting horns in Versailles and had learned the art of playing them. Bohemia became the home of the real Waldhorn. Here the development from tool to musical instrument was completed. Bohemian horn players propagated the art of horn playing in many European countries and became teachers in neighbouring states.

One name is directly connected with the anniversary: Franz Anton Count von Sporck (1662–1738). It is to his interest in music and his enthusiasm for hunting that we owe the introduction into Bohemia of hunting horns from France. The son of an Imperial General of Cavalry who had been elevated to the nobility, Count Sporck was able after the death of his father to undertake an extended “Grand Tour”, visiting several of the royal courts of Europe. The high point was a visit to France. In Versailles Sporck experienced the splendour of the court of Louis XIV, and was delighted by the theatrical performances, the courtly music and the pleasures of the hunt. Sporck was particularly impressed by the new way of playing the hunting horn and so he decided to bring the new large hunting horns to Bohemia.