Horn

Part 1

Did Bach write the "corne da caccia" part in the B minor Mass for Gottfried Reiche?

The Quoniam, only movement with horn in Bach’s B minor Mass, lies at the heart of a historical debate over whether its part was written for trumpeter Gottfried Reiche.

By Peter Damm

Part 1

Zen and the Art of Horn playing

Beyond technique: Jeffrey Agrell explores how Zen challenges Western thinking—revealing a new path to awareness, focus, and deeper musical experience in horn playing.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Part 2

Did Bach write the "corne da caccia" part in the B minor Mass for Gottfried Reiche?

By Peter Damm

Hermann Baumann

A virtuoso's career

A career built on sound, memory and the natural horn shows how Hermann Baumann helped redefine what a horn soloist could be on the international stage.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Part 1

Ornaments in 18th-century Horn Concertos?

Performance once depended as much on informed invention as on written notes, and early horn concertos still carry that forgotten freedom in plain sight.

By Peter Damm

Part 3

Did Bach write the "corne da caccia" part in the B minor Mass for Gottfried Reiche?

Baroque horn symbolism and Bach’s cantata writing underpin Peter Damm’s case for a low D horn in the Quoniam of the B minor Mass, intended for Dresden.

By Peter Damm

Barry Tuckwell

Interview

Between the London Symphony Orchestra, international solo tours and Mozart or Strauss concertos, Barry Tuckwell reflects on sound, risk and musical instinct.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 8

Dale Clevenger

Principal horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dale Clevenger spent his Tuesday evenings playing jazz, discovering a freedom that classical training alone could not provide.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Horns and Huntmen's trumpets

In the 17th and 18th centuries, bore profiles, mouthpieces and musical functions blurred the boundaries between hunting horns, trumpets and emerging orchestral instruments.

By Herbert Heyde

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 4

Thomas Bacon

Classical discipline meets jazz-rock freedom as Thomas Bacon confronts improvisation, stylistic crossover and the physical demands placed on the horn.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 10

Claudio Pontiggia

By Jeremy Mathez

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 2

Julius Watkins

A pioneering career, landmark recordings and collaborations with jazz legends gave the French horn a place it had never occupied before.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 6

Peter Gordon

Classically trained but drawn elsewhere, Peter Gordon made the horn at home in jazz, studios and popular music without abandoning its orchestral foundations.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 9

Richard Todd

By Jeffrey Agrell

The early 19th-century invention-posthorn

Used first for postal signals, the posthorn entered classical repertoire before gaining tuning slides, keys and valves as musical demands grew in the nineteenth century.

By Albert Hiller

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 5

Tom Varner

Choosing jazz over the orchestral path, Tom Varner confronts the horn’s stiffness, projection and unlikely place as a front-line improvising voice.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Markneukirchen 1986

International Brass Competitions

In 1986, young brass players from East and West met in Markneukirchen, where exceptional talent, demanding juries and musical traditions crossed political borders.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez, Roland Schnorhk

Special GDR

The horn in the G.R.D

A chat with Peter Damm

Peter Damm discusses horn training and orchestral life in East Germany, linking musical education, daily practice and the distinctive traditions of its orchestras.

By Peter Damm

Gregory Cass

Horn and soul

Appointed principal horn in Geneva at 21, Gregory Cass went on to rethink how he practised and brought what he learned into his teaching of brass players.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 7

John Clark

John Clark made the horn a jazz voice on its own terms, balancing improvisation, studio realities and an instrument still fighting to escape classical expectations.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Friedbert Syhre

35 years as an instrument maker in Leipzig

By Dagmar Rosenkranz

Peter Damm

For the love of music

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Interview with Guelfo Nalli

By Julio Briseño

Part 2

300 Years of the Horn

in the Dresden Court Orchestra

From Dresden’s court musicians to Hampel’s hand-horn technique, virtuoso players and court repertoire shaped a decisive shift in horn playing and orchestral writing.

By Peter Damm