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The early horn : a practical guide / John Humphries.

By: Humphries, John, 1956-.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookSeries: Cambridge handbooks to the historical performance of music.Publisher: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2000Description: ix, 138 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. + pbk.ISBN: 0521632102 ; 0521635594 .Subject(s): Horn (Musical instrument) | Horn music -- 18th century -- History and criticism | Horn music -- 19th century -- History and criticism | Performance practice (Music) -- History -- 18th century | Performance practice (Music) -- History -- 19th centuryDDC classification: 788.9409
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Barcode
General lending MTU Cork School of Music Library Lending 788.9409 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00126661
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This introduction to the early horn provides a historical account of the instrument's development during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as a practical guide to playing techniques and principles of interpretation. The book aims to help performers to play in an historically appropriate style and to guide listeners towards a clearer understanding of the issues which affected the way the horn was played during the period. It includes chapters on the historical background of the instrument, its design and development, and choice of instrument today. A series of case studies which include the music of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, will help performers to make a well-grounded, period interpretation of major works from the horn repertoire. Complemented by an extensive bibliography, this accessible guide will appeal to players of all levels.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • 1 Introduction
  • 2 Historical background
  • 3 Equipment
  • 4 Technique
  • 5 The language of musical style
  • 6 Case studies

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Intended for use with its parent volume, Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell's The Historical Performance of Music (1999), this book includes chapters on historical background, equipment, technique, style, and (like all volumes in the "Cambridge Handbooks to the Historical Performance of Music" series) repertoire case studies. The book is concise, sometimes overly so. However, overall the content reflects a thorough evaluation of primary sources. Humphries refers readers to other investigations, including Thomas Hiebert's chapter on baroque and classical horn in the Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments, ed. by Trevor Herbert and John Wallace (CH, Apr'98); Richard Merewether's The Horn, The Horn . . . (1978); and Jeremy Montagu's The French Horn (1990). His discussion of Bach, however, would have benefited from an evaluation of Gisela Csiba and Jozsef Csiba's Die Blechblasinstrumente in Johann Sebastian Bachs Werken (1994). The endnotes are substantial and the bibliography is extensive, though some of the general and biographical sources cited are dated. The use of illustrations is limited, which makes some topics (e.g., valve systems, handhorn technique) more difficult to grasp. For collections supporting the study of instrumental music and performance at the upper-division undergraduate level and above. D. Heuchemer; Kenyon College