The posthorn of the 19th-century Royal Post Office in the service of folk music

When postilions drive their charges
Safely over hill and dale,
Hours and miles fly sweetly by
With the horn call’s merry note.

C. Hildebrandt

The main purpose of the posthorn, we read in the “Instruction of the use of the posthorn for the Royal Hanover Postilions” of 1832, is to signal the approach of postal conveyances and thus secure them unhindered and speedy attention... The posthorn also serves to increase the amenities of postal traffic in that it is most appropriate to the performance of attractive melodies. In the age of Romanticism, therefore, the posthorn was seen as no longer simply a signalling instrument, but also as a significant melodic instrument; this — the 1820’s — was the golden age of the art of the posthorn.

Until about 1830 two or three-coil posthorns in C or B♭ with a cup mouthpiece were in use in Bavaria; these had only a limited range:

After 1830 the Bavarian postilions were equipped with lower-pitched four-coil posthorns in F with a more funnel-shaped mouthpiece; these were in use until the present century. On these instruments the following notes were available:

This made the following calls, used between 1839 and 1903, easy to play:

In order to increase the range of notes available on the basic signalling posthorn, the service instrument was equipped with a tone hole situated two thirds of the way along the length of the tube, which, by shortening the tube when opened, raised the natural notes of the horn by a fourth:

This gives us the following fingering chart for a posthorn with one tone hole:

Even though the notes produced by using the tone hole did not match the principal notes in sound quality, this innovation constituted a substantial improvement in the Bavarian posthorn. From around 1830 there were even — for use in salon orchestras and wind bands (then known in German as Harmoniemusik) — fully chromatic posthorns with four or five tone holes closed by keys or with the still very expensive valves. Apart from their cost these instruments were too delicate for service use and had to be bought privately by posthorn virtuosos. Many postilions also used a cornet (then called in German Piston) for their musical performances.