The practical

All the crooks, a list oi the principal of which is appended, therefore necessarily give real sounds lower than the above series according to their individual length.

French horns are made with either two or three valves. To the first valve is attached sufficient length of tubing to lower the pitch of the instrument a tone, so that any note played upon the horn in F Table of Prmczpal Crooks now m Use!

Length of

Key Of Actual Sounds of Range of Useful Harmonics. Crook in Transposes to Crook Inches.

Bb alto 5 Taggégig-a 2nd to 10th 16 major 2nd lower tl

z 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 xo

Ak(@:i § E';§ EE 2nd to 10th 22% minor 3rd, , 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 xo

5

A» @?“ §§ T fl n5§ Z d h ' ',

nj bg* EJ, fE 20 to I0t 29% major L 3rd,

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1°

G 2nd to 12th 36% i perfect 4th, , if 2 3 4 -gi 6 7 8 9 xo xx 12

~f — —i—3- q—; '-:

F 22g Edzghlggj 2nd to 16th 52% perfect 5th, , I Q-

2 3 4 ii 6 7 8 9 xo II 12 13 14 x5 x6

E   Evé 2nd to 16th 61 minor 6th, ,

T 3 4 5 ig- 7 8 9 xo II 13 13 14 x5 16 - ' ll f

au g§ @§ g@ jf? mil Fig?, 12 2ndto16th 70; major 6th M, 21

2 3 4 5 0 7 8 9 xc xx xz 13 14 x5 x6

1 °— §§ -" — " 135 " - .

D f *QF 3 2nd to 16th 80 minor 7th, , t #Ll-

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 xc xx xz 13 14 15 16

C basso § f! 3rd to I6Lh lol 8v=', , 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16

5,

-7- '*: ' ij; i 1 °

B; basso @ Ai€; éh' a lm qd 5i 1 3rd to 16th 125 major 9th, , I | 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 xo. II' 12 13 14 IS 16 a regate com ass of the natural horns from Bb gg P

basso at the service of composers therefore ranges (actual sounds) Q 'P~

from EQ or with 3 valves ;.E't

Q *

U '"' from 'gi ii:

bv

B; means of hand-stopping, i.e. the practice of thrusting the hand into the bell in order to lower the sound by a tone or a semitone, or lr) the adaptation of valves to the horn, this compass may be rendered chromatic almost throughout the range. The principle of the valve as applied to wind instruments differs tnnrely from that of keys. The latter necessitate lateral holes bored through the tube, and when the keys are raised the vibrating column uf air within the tube and the ambient air without are set in communication, with the result that the vibrating column is shortened and the pitch of the note raised The valve system consists of valves or pistons attached to additional lengths of tubing, the eFfect of which is invariably to lower the pitch, except in the case of valve systems specified as “ ascending " tried by John Shaw and Adolphe Sax insuperable practical diFlicultif>s led to the abandonment of these systems, which in any case were the exception and not the rule. The valves, placed upon the U-sha ped slides in the centre of the horn, are worked by means of pistons or levers, opening or closing the windways at will, so that when they are in operation the vibrating column of air no longer takes its normal course along the main tube and directly throug)h the slides, but makes a détour through the extra » length of tubing efore completing its course. Thus the valves, unlike the keys, do not open any communication with the ambient air. Even authoritative writers 2 have confused the two principles, believing them to be one and the same. I The measurements are for the high philharmonic pitch a'= 452-4. V Mahillon, “ Le cor ” (p. 32), gives a table of the lengths of crooks in metres.

Robert Eitner, editor of the Monatshefte fur Muszkwissenschaft, published therein an article in 1881, p 41 seq, “ Wer hat die Ventilwhile the first valve is depressed takes effect a tone lower or as though the horn were in Eb. The second valve opens a passage into a shorter length of tubing sufficient to lower the pitch of the instrument a semitone, as though the instrument were for the time bein in E. The third valve similarly lowers the pitch a tone and a half? It will thus be seen that the princi le applied in the crook and the valve is in the main the same, but the practical value of the valve is immeasurably superior. Thanks to the valve system the performer is able to have the extra lengths of tubing necessary to give the horn a chromatic compass permanently incorporated with the instrument, and at will to connect one or a combination of these lengths with the main tube of the instrument during any interval of time, however short. The three devices, crooks, valves and slides, are in fact all based upon the same principle, that of providin additional length of tubing in order to deepen the pitch of the wiole instrument at will and to transpose it into a different key. Valves and slides, being instantaneous in operation, give to the instrument a chromatic compass, whereas crooks merely enable the performer to lay in many keys upon one instrument instead of re uiring a different instrument for each key. The slide is the oldest olithese devices, and probably suggested the crook as a substitute on instruments of conical bore such as the horn.

The invention of the valve, although a substantial improvement, trompete erfunden, " in which, after referring to the Klappenwaldhom and Trompete (keyed horn and trumpet) made by Weidinger and played in public in 1802 and 1813 respectively, he goes on to state that Schilling in his Lexzcon makes the comical mistake of looking upon the Klappentroqgpete (keyed trumpet) and Ventzltrompete (valve trumpet) as di erent instruments. He accordingly sets matters right, as he thinks, by according to Weidinger the honour of the invention of valves, hitherto wrongfully attributed to Stolzel; and in the Quellenlexikon (1904) he lmves out Stolzel's name, and names Weidinger as the inventor of the Klqppen or Ventil, referrin readers for further particulars to his article, just

quoted, in the 5/Ionatshefte.