Historical instruments

300 Years of the Horn in Bohemia

An unsigned portrait from the Dresden court links the rise of Bohemian horn playing to the ceremonial world of Baroque hunting culture.

By Kurt Janetzky

The trombone with 6 independent valves

Technical analysis of the trombone with six independent valves, examining its mechanics, extended range and potential for new repertoire.

By Edmond Leloir

The double-slide trombone

museum-piece with a future?

As virtuosity reshaped 20th-century brass playing, Boris G. Manzora argued that the forgotten double-slide trombone could redefine technique and range.

By Boris G. Manzora

A modern corno da caccia

Bach’s highest horn parts expose a divide between historical sound and modern technique, prompting Friedbert Syhre and Ludwig Güttler to rethink the instrument itself.

By Werner Wolf

On hunting horns and other similar instruments

From Pierre Trichet’s Traité des Instruments de Musique (c. 1640)

Hunting horns, buccinae and cornets blur into one another as Trichet links ancient signals, shepherds, hunters and myth to the instruments of his own age.

By Pierre Trichet

The hunting horn

Long-held beliefs about the French hunting horn are challenged as forgotten playing practices and Baroque traditions reshape its early history and repertoire.

By Jacques Poncet

Part 4

On the early history of valves and valve instruments in Germany (1814-1833)

Poverty, patents and workshop rivalries shaped the first German valve instruments, from Blühmel and Stoelzel to the Vienna and Mainz systems.

By Herbert Heyde