Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Alphorn
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
== Construction and qualities == [[File:Seealpsee Juni2018 Alphorn.jpg|thumb|upright|Alphorn bell detail]] The alphorn is carved from solid [[softwood]], usually [[pine]] or [[spruce]]. Traditionally, the alphorn maker would find a tree growing on a slope and bent at the base providing the curved shape for the bell. The long trunk would be cut in half longways, the bore hollowed out, then glued and bound back together with outer layers of stripped bark. Modern instruments are made in several sections for more convenient handling and transport, each turned and bored from solid blocks of spruce. An integrated cup-shaped mouthpiece was traditionally carved into the narrow end, while modern instruments have a separate removable mouthpiece carved from hard wood.<ref name="Cambridge-2019"/> An alphorn made at Rigi-Kulm, Schwyz, and now in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], measures {{convert|8|ft|m}} in length and has a straight tube. The Swiss alphorn varies in shape according to the locality, being curved near the bell in the [[Bernese Oberland]].<ref name="EB1911"/> The alphorn is a simple tube with no lateral openings or means of adjusting the pitch, so only the notes of the [[Harmonic series (music)|natural harmonic series]] are available.<ref name="EB1911"/> As with other natural labrosones, some of the notes do not correspond to the Western [[equal temperament|equal tempered]] [[chromatic scale]], particularly the 7th and 11th partials. [[Image:Harmonic Series.png|thumb|center|600px]] Accomplished alphornists can command a range of nearly three octaves, consisting of the 2nd through the 16th partials. The availability of the higher tones is due in part to the relatively small diameter of the bore of the mouthpiece and tubing in relation to the overall length of the horn. The well-known "[[Ranz des Vaches]]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/19980214205945/http://www.lyoba.ch/culture/desalpe/ranz.htm#PARTITION score]; [http://www.bavarianinfo.ch/eng/bavarianinfo.html?sid=7020216&cKey=1183635931000&ty=st&rubricId=25004&siteSect=25001 audio]{{Dead link|date=February 2023}}) is a traditional Swiss melody often heard on the alphorn. The song describes the time of bringing the cows to the high country at milk making time.{{clarify|date=October 2023}} [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]] introduced the "Ranz des Vaches" into his masterpiece ''[[William Tell (opera)|William Tell]]'', along with many other melodies scattered throughout the opera in vocal and instrumental parts that are well-suited to the alphorn. [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] wrote to [[Clara Schumann]] that the inspiration for the dramatic entry of the horn in the introduction to the last movement of his [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|First Symphony]] was an alphorn melody he heard while vacationing in the [[Rigi]] area of Switzerland. For Clara's birthday in 1868 Brahms sent her a greeting that was to be sung with the melody.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)