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Horn Quiz

This quiz was given to two classes given in the USA in 2001 whilst I was on a tour with the chamber music ensemble New York Philomusica. We were performing a programme of Beethoven's Sextet, Mozart's Horn Quintet and Spohr's Octet, and between concerts I visited the Bloomington University horn class and the North Western University horn class. The numbers in brackets after the question refer to the number of marks possible, a total of 60. If you get 30 or more then you're doing better than any of the students at these two universities! But don't get put off - the answers are here and you might enjoy it.

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1) What famous piece of orchestral music was the first to include horns and when was this composed? (3)
2) Approximately when were crooks first used with horns? (1)
3) Approximately when was the tuning slide added to the body of the horn? (1)
4) Who is said to be responsible for first playing the horn with a hand in the bell and when? Why might this not be the first time such technique was used? (3)
5) How was the tuning adjusted on a horn of the baroque period? (1)
6) In Bach's B minor Mass approximately how many minutes does the horn player have to wait before playing the solo? (1)
7) Name two major 18th century sources which inform historical performance practice. (2)
8) What are the two main ingredients of brass? (1)
9) For which horn player did Mozart write most of his horn concerti? (1)
10) What are the two types of crook used on natural horns of the classical period? What other means is there to change the key of the instrument of this time? (3)
14) What is the highest horn crook Mozart scored for and in which composition? (2)
15) What is the lowest crook scored for? By whom and in which composition? (3)
11) For which horn player did Beethoven compose his Horn Sonata? (1)
12) Which manufacturer made a silver horn for this player? (1)
13) What did this player drink before he was able to perform a concerto in London in 1788? (1)
16) What length is a C basso horn? (1)
17) What length is a Bb alto horn? (1)
18) Which written note is the 16th harmonic partial on a horn in Eb? (1)
19) How many crook changes would you expect there to be in a Mozart opera? (1)
20) In which piece did Haydn score a range of over four octaves between the 1st and 2nd horn? (1)
21) What degree of pitch lowering is achieved by fully hand-stopping the bell of the horn? (1)
22) What crook is scored in the Minuet of Haydn's Farewell Symphony? (1)
23) In which of Mozart's horn concerti is the slow movement in the subdominant key? (1)
24) Which well-known overture did Berlioz conduct in Paris in 1844 with six players to each horn part? (1)
25) Which famous solo work for hand horn has chords written for the soloist? (1)
26) Name two Professors of Horn at the Paris Conservatoire in the 19th century. (2)
27) Which is the first piece of orchestral repertoire to require a change of crook within a movement? (2)
28) What key is specified for the off-stage natural horn call in Verdi's Falstaff? (1)
29) When were valves first patented? (1)
30) Name three types of valve. (3)
31) Which composer invented the use of the + to mean hand stopped and in which work was it first used? (2)
32) Did Brahms want his Horn Trio to be performed using a valve horn or a hand horn? (1)
33) List four fingerings for E above middle C. (2)
34) What is the meaning of the term Schalltrichter in die Höhe? (1)
35) In which romantic symphony is the dynamic ffffff marked? (1)
36) Which symphony has ten separate horn parts? (2)
37) When was the first full-double horn design patented and by whom? (2)
38) List three manufacturers who still use this basic pattern. (3)
39) Which famous horn player died in a car crash in 1957? (1)
40) Which instrument maker was founded in 1782 and is still manufacturing horns now? (1)
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