Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/822

800 horn is lost in antiquity. It is the parent—in its native form without pistons—of the numerous family of piston and slide instruments which have been evolved within the past century, and it is one of the relics of the past, which has maintained a place in the modern orchestra or military band through the addition of valves. The instrument in question is known at present as the French horn, to distinguish it from the sax-horn and the





English horn. When Beethoven first wrote for it in the orchestra it was in its primitive state, the tones produced being those of the harmonics of the open tube. These are doubtless familiar to most readers who have heard military bugles. Intermediate tones were produced by the insertion of the hand in the bell of the instrument at first, which muffled the tone and so rendered the effect uneven in timbre and not acceptable for solo purposes. The introduction of pistons, about 1840, obviated the former drawbacks, but its normal tone-character renders it useful merely as an accessory, for it is too soft, subdued, and lacking in individuality to win a place as a solo instrument. The slide trombone and trumpet are equally ancient in their primitive shape. The former yet maintains a leading place. Besides the harmonics of the open tube referred to, intermediate semitones, so as to complete the range of the accepted octave, are easily produced in the trombone by means of the slide, which lengthens or decreases the tubing as required. Since valves were invented, they have been applied to the latter, but the slide trombone is yet preferred, owing to the superior purity of its tones.