The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a straight several-meter-long wooden natural horn of conical bore, with a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. Traditionally the Alphorn was made of one single piece, or two parts at most, and made from the wood of a red pine tree. Sometimes the trees would bend from the weight of snow during the wintertime, and this caused them to have the larger and bent mouthpiece at their ends. Modern Alphorns are sometimes made from three distinct parts that can be stuck together, this is to make them easier to transport via

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

, or even carried by hand, and today are more frequently made from the wood of a spruce tree or

fir tree Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely re ...

. It is used by mountain dwellers in the

Swiss Alps The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (german: Schweizer Alpen, french: Alpes suisses, it, Alpi svizzere, rm, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swis ...

. Similar wooden horns were used for

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...

in most mountainous regions of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, from the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

to the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...

. Alphorns are today used as musical instruments. Alphabetical musical instruments

History

For a long time, scholars believed that the alphorn had been derived from the Roman-Etruscan lituus, because of their resemblance in shape, and because of the word ''liti'', meaning Alphorn in the dialect of

Obwalden Obwalden, also Obwald (german: Kanton Obwalden, rm, Chantun Sursilvania; french: Canton d'Obwald; it, Canton Obvaldo), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of seven municipalities and the seat of the gover ...

. There is no documented evidence for this theory however, and also the word ''liti'' was probably borrowed from 16th–18th century writings in Latin, where the word ''lituus'' could describe various wind instruments, such as the horn, the crumhorn, or the cornett. Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner used the words ''lituum alpinum'' for the first known detailed description of the alphorn in his ''De raris et admirandis herbis'' in 1555. The oldest known document using the German word ''Alphorn'' is a page from a 1527 account book from the former

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

abbey St. Urban near Pfaffnau mentioning the payment of two Batzen for an itinerant alphorn player from the

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the S ...

. 17th–19th century collections of alpine myths and legends suggest that alphorn-like instruments had frequently been used as signal instruments in village communities since old times or earlier, sometimes substituting for the lack of church bells. Surviving artifacts, dating back to as far as ca. AD 1400, include wooden labrophones in their stretched form, like the alphorn, or coiled versions, such as the "Büchel" and the "Allgäuisches Waldhorn" or "Ackerhorn". The alphorn's exact origins remain indeterminate, and the ubiquity of horn-like signal instruments in valleys throughout Europe may indicate a long history of cross influences regarding their construction and usage.

Construction and qualities

The alphorn is carved from solid

softwood Scots Pine, a typical and well-known softwood Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees. The main differences between hardwoods and softwoods is that the s ...

, generally spruce but sometimes pine. In former times, the alphorn maker would find a tree bent at the base in the shape of an alphorn, but modern makers piece the wood together at the base. A cup-shaped mouthpiece carved out of a block of hard wood is added and the instrument is complete. An alphorn made at Rigi-Kulm, Schwyz, and now in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, measures in length and has a straight tube. The Swiss alphorn varies in shape according to the locality, being curved near the bell in the Bernese Oberland. Michael Praetorius mentions an alphorn-like instrument under the name of Hölzern Trummet (wooden trumpet) in ''Syntagma Musicum'' (Wittenberg, 1615–1619; Pl. VIII). The alphorn has no lateral openings and therefore gives the pure natural harmonic series of the open pipe. The notes of the natural harmonic series overlap, but do not exactly correspond, to notes found in the familiar chromatic scale in standard Western

equal temperament An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, ...

. Most prominently within the alphorn's range, the 7th and 11th harmonics are particularly noticeable, because they fall between adjacent notes in the chromatic scale. Accomplished alphornists often command a range of nearly three octaves, consisting of the 2nd through the 16th notes of the harmonic series. The availability of the higher tones is due in part to the relatively small diameter of the bore of the mouthpiece and tubing in relation to the overall length of the horn. The well-known " Ranz des Vaches"
score
is a traditional Swiss melody often heard on the alphorn. The song describes the time of bringing the cows to the high country at milk making time.

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

introduced the "Ranz des Vaches" into his masterpiece '' William Tell,'' along with many other delightful melodies scattered throughout the opera in vocal and instrumental parts that are well-suited to the alphorn. Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann that the inspiration for the dramatic entry of the horn in the introduction to the last movement of his First Symphony was an alphorn melody he heard while vacationing in the Rigi area of Switzerland. For Clara's birthday in 1868 Brahms sent her a greeting that was to be sung with the melody.

Music for alphorn

Among music composed for the alphorn: *Concerto Grosso No. 1 (2013) for four alphorns and orchestra by

Georg Friedrich Haas Georg Friedrich Haas (born 16 August 1953 in Graz, Austria) is an Austrian composer. In a 2017 ''Classic Voice'' poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000, pieces by Haas received the most votes (49), and his composition ''in vain'' (2 ...

*''Sinfonia pastorale'' for corno pastoriccio in G (alphorn) and string orchestra (1755) by

Leopold Mozart Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787) was a German composer, violinist and theorist. He is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook ''Versuch einer gründlichen ...

*Concerto for alphorn and orchestra (1970) by

Jean Daetwyler Jean Daetwyler (24 January 1907, Basel – 4 June 1994, Sierre) was a Swiss composer and musician. He is barely remembered, mostly for his largely forgotten works for alphorn inspired by Jozsef Molnar beginning in 1970. Also inspired by tromboni ...

*Concerto No. 2 for alphorn (with flute, string orchestra and percussion) (1983) by Daetwyler *''Dialogue with Nature'' for alphorn, flute, and orchestra by Daetwyler *''Super Alpen King'' for three alphorns and orchestra by Ghislain Muller (2001) VSP orkestra /

Arkady Shilkloper Arkady Shilkloper (born 17 October 1956) is a Russian multi-instrumentalist ( horn, alphorn, flugelhorn, corno da caccia, didgeridoo, shofar, and others) and composer, currently living in Berlin. He is known as one of the best jazz performers ...

, Renaud Leipp *''Concertino rustico'' (1977) by Ferenc Farkas *''Begegnung'' for three alphorns and concert band, by Kurt Gable. *''Säumerweg-Blues'
(audio played by Kurt Ott)
among many compositions by Hans-Jürg Sommer
Alphorn Musik
*''Messe'' for alphorn and choir by Franz Schüssel
Alphorn-Center
* ''Erbauliche Studie für 12 Alphörner in Abwesenheit von Bergen'' by Mathias Rüegg (1998) *''Wolf Music: Tapio'' for alphorn and echoing instruments (2003) by R. Murray Schafer *''Le Berger fantaisiste'' for three alphorns and orchestra by Ghislain Muller,

, Renaud Leipp, Serge Haessler, VSP orkestra (2001) *''Bob Downes & The Alphorn Brothers'' (2015) by Bob Downes Open Music (CD rec. 2004) * Concerto for alphorn in F and orchestra by

Daniel Schnyder Daniel Schnyder (born March 12, 1961 in Zurich) is a Swiss jazz reedist and composer of both jazz and classical music. Schnyder learned to play cello before saxophone. He attended Berklee College of Music and the Conservatory of Winterthur. He ...

(2004) * ''Matterhorn'' (a prelude for alphorn and wind orchestra) by Robert Litton (2013) * ''Alpine Trail'' for alphorn and orchestra by

* ''Lai nair'' for alphorn and contrabass by John Wolf Brennan (2015) * ''Der Bergschuh'' for alphorn and marching band by Daniel Schnyder * ''Crested Butte Mountain'' for alphorn and wind band (or brass sextet, strings, or horn septet) by Arkady Shilkloper * ''Robin'' for alphorn and wind band (big band) by Arkady Shilkloper * Fanfare for four alphorns by Arkady Shilkloper

In popular culture

*The alphorn is prominently featured in advertisements for Ricola cough drops, which are manufactured in Laufen, Switzerland *Brief scene in Rammstein's "Dicke Titte."

References

External links

Alphorn in concert
Concert and composition contest taking place annually in Oensingen, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland
International Alphorn Festival
at Nendaz, Canton Valais, Switzerland
VSP orkestra & Arkady Shilkloper
alphorn jazz & improvisations, composer / arranger
Ghislain Muller

, Pascal Beck {{Authority control National symbols of Switzerland Swiss musical instruments Natural horns and trumpets