French Horn

Orchestral instrument developed out of the old hunting horn, still called Waldhorn, or Forest Horn, by Germans. It is a simple bra tube, ab. 17 ft. long, widening rapidly to a bell at one end, and, for convenience in handling, arranged in spiral convolutions. By means of crooks the length of the tube is changed and its pitch raised or lowered. The compa of the instrument varies with each change. Formerly the tones which were not the natural resonances of the harmonic divisions of the tube were helped out by inserting the hand into the bell of the horn which raised its pitch. Valves are now used, but the old method is still at times resorted to.