RUSSIAN HORNS
- 2012/08/24 21:54
- Category: Germany::Jürgen Voigt
RUSSIAN HORNS
Russian horns are single-toned, valve-less, conically bent instruments with large dimensions made out of sheet copper; they were introduced to Saxony from Russia during the nineteenth century.
They are played with a round mouthpiece.
These horns were introduced by the Freiberg chief captain Freiherr von Herder for the mining oboe ensemble in the city of Freiberg.
The special feature about the horns is that each one was only made for one note, so 8 musicians were needed to go right up the scale.
The chromatic set of Russian horns made for the Oelsnitz brass band in 2001 consists of 16 instruments [comprising the following pitch: G, G#. A. B (A#), B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F. F#, G, G#, A, B flat (A#)] and was made out of 0.6 mm copper sheeting with a short tuning slide. An ornamental wire made of brass crowns the instrument at the edge of the bell.
The dimensions are based on specifications provided by Herbert Heyde from the Musical Instrument Museum at the University of Leipzig, published by the Deutscher Verlag für Musik Leipzig 1982.