Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/A/Alpine Horn

Alpine Horn. An instrument made of the bark of a cherry tree; and, like a speaking trumpet, used to convey sounds to a great distance. When the last rays of the sun gild the summit of the Alps, the shepherd, who inhabits the highest peak of those mountains, takes his horn, and cries with a loud voice, "Praised be the Lord." As soon as the neighboring shepherds hear him, they leave their huts and repeat the words. The sounds are promulgated many minutes, while the echoes of the mountains, and grottoes of the rocks, repeat the name of God. Imagination cannot picture any thing more solemn or sublime than this scene. During the silence that succeeds, the shepherds bend their knees and pray in the open air, and then retire to their huts to rest. The sunlight gilding the tops of those stupendous mountains, upon which the blue vault of heaven seems to rest, the magnificent scenery around, and the voices of these shepherds sounding from rock to rock the praise of the Almighty, must fill the mind of every traveller with enthusiasm and awe.