From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Hornlist] Organ Symphony
> Hi there. > > Does anybody know why Saint-Seans wrote the 3rd and 4th horn parts in > his 3rd symphony as if it should be 1st and 2nd (and vice versa)? I know > that in the Brahms Symphonies the horn parts are written like two pairs > of 1st and 2nd with both pairs of almost equal importance. (Am I > right?). But in the Saint-Seans it is quite different (I think) - 3rd > and 4th are doing all the work (parts are 8 pages) while the other two > just sit back and relax most of the time (4 pages). Not that I have a > problem with this. First of all it is Saint-Saens! This work was written during the transition period, while the valve horn was being established, and this occurred rather later in France, than in Germany, for instance. France had a long and proud tradition of hand horn playing. If you look at the score, you will see that S.S writes for a pair of natural horns (1st and 2nd) and another pair of "Cor chromatiques" (3rd and 4th), which explains why the 2nd pair have interesting, highly chromatic parts, while the 1st pair have rather dull parts. The choice of the 2nd pair for the chromatic(valve) horns was probably pure chance, or possibly was because in the orchestra for which the piece was written, the 3rd and 4th players were more secure with valve horns. Brahms is an interesting comparison, because by the time he was writing symphonies, the valve horn (in F, but often crookable within limits), was well established in Germany and Austria, either with rotary valves or the viennese double piston valve. In spite of this, Brahms continued to write parts that could be played by competent hand horn players. This is why the pairs of horns in Brahms parts are crooked the way they are. A little study of the scores of these works will illustrate what I have just described. At about the same time, Tchaikovsky, for example, was writing works for valve horns in F. Cheers, Graeme Evans (Principal Horn, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) +61 3 9318 0690(H), +61 419 880371(B), +61 3 93180893(Fax) E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
