Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/180

168 ruder representations of similarly-shaped instruments occur in armorial bearings of a much remoter period. The horn in its earlier form served exclusively the various purposes of the hunt, whence its name in the different languages : Italian, corno di caccia ; French, cor de chasss ; German, Waldhorn. Originally there seems to have been only a single ring, but a second semicircle occurs at an early date. The capabilities of the primitive instrument were as limited as its purpose, the latter being chiefly that of announcing by signals the various stages and incidents of ths hunt, such as the Reveille, the Hallali, and the Mort. Simple tunes, however, were within its range, for Mersenne mentions a &quot;concert a quatre&quot; for horns as early as 1637. The demands on the horn were naturally much enlarged whan it was introduced into the orchestra as an exponent of artistic and complicated music. As to the date of this event opinions differ considerably. It has been asserted that Gossec was the first to make use of the horn in an important orchestral part in 1759. But this is true, if true at all, of France only. In Germany and England the instrument was in common use at a much earlier period. From 1712-1740 two hornists were members of the imperial chapel in Vienna at the not incon siderable salary of 360 florins. Moreover, both Handel (in his Water Music, 1715, and elsewhere) and Bach assign important parts to the horn. The notes natural to the horn and produced by the action of the lips alone are the so-called harmonics or partial tones of the bottom note be tween the extreme limits of the C below the staff in the bass clef to the E in alt. Some of these notes are, however, not used in practice. In order to supply the notes not in the scale of natural harmonics various methods have been used. The simplest is the insertion of the hand in the bell of the instrument, accidentally discovered by a German horn player towards the end of the last century. The effect is to lower the note by a semitone or a whole tone, according to the extent that the orifice is closed. The drawback attaching to this system is that the &quot; closed &quot; or &quot; stopped &quot; (etouffe) notes differ in character from the open ones, and are in part dull. It is true that a good composer may produce certain effects by this means. In the modern horn a mechanical contrivance generally takes the place ef the hand. This is the valve or ventil, an apparatus for lower ing the note by means of the pressure of the fingers. There are three valves attached to the ventil-horn, lowering the note by one, two, and three semitones respectively. Most modern composers write for the ventil-horn exclusively; others use it in combination with natural or hand horns. Another important appliance of the horn is the crook, which may best be described as a transposing machine. The crooks can be removed at will, their effect (by altering the length of the tube) being to transpose the notes produced by the lips into anything that is required. The player there fore plays as it were in one and the same key. and the difficulty of transposing his part mentally is saved to him. In consequence the horn part in a score is always written in the key of C, which may be changed into E flat or F or E by merely inserting the crook intended for that key. In this way not only the diatonic scale, but all kinds of chromatic progressions can be produced on the horn. Of these opportunities modern composers have largely availed themselves, frequently tasking the capabilities of the players to the utmost degree. The passage for three horns in the great scena of Fidelio in Beethoven s opera of that name is celebrated for its effectiveness as well as for its difficulty. With Wagner also the horns are favourite instruments. In the economy of the orchestra the horns form the transi tion from the wood winds to the trumpets, trombones, and other loud brass instruments ; they share the softness of the former with the power of the latter, and may be used with equal effect both in filling up the harmony and in emphasizing the melody. In works of a romantic character, such as Mendelssohn s overture to A Midsummer Night s Dream, or Weber s Der Freischutz, they are invaluable for the purpose of local colouring. There are also many solo pieces written for the- horn, amongst which Mozart s three concert! for horn and orchestra, Schumann s concerto for 4 horns and Orchestra (op. 80), Beethoven s horn sonata (op. 17), and Brahms s trio for pianoforte, violin, and horn (op. 40) may be cited.  HORNBEAM, Carpinus, Tournef., a small genus of trees of the natural order Cupuliferce and sub-order Corylcce. The Latin name Carpinus has been thought to be derived from the Celtic car, wood, and pin or pen, head, the wood of hornbeams having been used for yokes of cattle (see Loudon, Ency. of PL, p. 792, new ed., 1855, and Littrc, Diet., ii. 55G). The common hornbeam, or yoke-elm, Carpinus Betulus, L. (Gr., probably i&amp;gt;yia ; Germ., Horn- baum and Hornbuche ; Fr., ckarme), is indigenous in the temperate parts of western Asia and of Asia Minor, and in Europe, where it ranges as high as 55 and 56 N. lat. It is common in woods and hedges in parts of Wales and of the south of England. The trunk is usually flattened, and twisted as though composed of several stems united; the bark is smooth, and light grey ; and the leaves are sub- distichous, 2 to 3 inches long, elliptic-ovate, doubly serrate, pointed, numerously ribbed, hairy below, and opaque, and not glossy as in the beech, have large stipules and short petioles, and when young are plaited. The flowers appear with the leaves in April and May. The male catkins are about 1 J- inches long, and have pale yellow anthers, bearing tufts of hairs at the apex ; the female attain a length of 2 to 4 inches, with bracts 1 to H inches long. The green and angular fruit or &quot; nut &quot; ripens in October; it is about - The wood of the hornbeam is white and close-grained, and polishes ill, is of considerable tenacity and little flexi bility, and is extremely tough and hard to work whence, according to Gerard, the name of the tree. It has been found to lose about 8 per cent, of its weight by drying. As a fuel it is excellent ; and its charcoal is much esteemed for making gunpowder. The bark of the hornbeam has tonic properties, and the inner part is stated by Linnseus to afford a yellow dye. In France the leaves serve as fodder. The tree is a favourite with hares and rabbits, and the seed lings are apt to be destroyed by mice. Pliny (Nat. Hist., xxvi. 26), who describes its wood as red and easily split, classes the hornbeam with maples. The American hornbeam, blue or water beech, or iron- wood, is Carpinus americana, Mich. ; the common hop-hornbeam, a native of the south of Europe, is Ostrya vulgaris, Willd., and the American, 0. virginica, Willd.

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