Archived under: News & Announcements, Random, Rare/cool or just odd | Hunting Horn
Grand Festival of Hunting Horns and Venery
A blast from the past.
According to history King Charles IX of France (best known for the St. Bartholomew Massacre) died of tuberculosis. According to legend, he may have exacerbated this condition with his over-enthusiastic horn blowing while hunting.
The modern-day French horn has its roots in this tradition, and in an archived article I found at TIME.com from 1956, this tradition was celebrated in a huge event sponsored by Belgian Baron Marcel Schaetzen de Schaetzenhoff.
The Baron invited some of the leading horn groups of Europe to a Grand Festival of Hunting Horns and Venery* held at his 10th century Château of Laarne near Ghent.
The TIME article notes that about 200 hunting horn ensembles existed at the time throughout Europe, and that three French manufacturers produced some 400 hunting horns a year at about $35 apiece.
It was a glorious afternoon for the horn players but a somewhat puzzling one for the modern audience. When they began wandering aimlessly across the chateau grounds as the concert went on, nobody could think of a fanfare to recall them to their seats.
See the source article from the TIME magazine archives.
Related to this article
- Sunday in the Park – Hunting Horn or Bugle?
[ Click image for larger view. ] Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-6) depicts a busy park filled with visitors. A masterpiece of Pointillist technique, Seurat spent over two years working on it, painstakingly rendering the scene in tiny... - Backwards Horns and The Historic Brass Society Journal
As mentioned in a previous post, at the IHS Denver event I had the opportunity to meet Richard Martz, a horn collector. While I was visiting his collection (check it out online if you missed it) I was slightly embarrassed that he mentioned and then showed... - Triple Horns are Taking Over
Every month I am sure triple horn history is being made in the USA; at the professional level triples are being used more and more. This week in January of 2007 marked a new milestone in triple horn use in Phoenix; four of the seven horns... - A Blind Test of Horns at IHS Denver, the Results
A post on the Pope Instrument Repair site/blog points to the results of the blind test of horns done at the 2008 IHS Denver Symposium. The results are here, worth checking out if you are an advanced hornist. UPDATE-2011: The results are gone now! But, relying... - Playing it on the Right Horn, or, How Many Horns do you Really Need?
There are really two approaches to the question of how many horns you need, at least as an advanced horn player. One approach is that you have one horn and mouthpiece that you use for everything. I started out there. I think all horn players do.... - Piston Valve Horns
A few days ago I updated the page in my Horn Articles Online site that describes a pair of piston valved horns owned by ASU, an early Hawkes single horn that takes crooks and a Selmer double horn. Read the article for more information. Having played... - Horns for Beginners and Converts
Yesterday I presented at AMEA a joint session with Nancy Sullivan, Senior Lecturer in horn at Northern Arizona University, on the topic of horns for beginners and converts. My handout as a PDF document may be found here, which is a good summary of the major...
The Mouthpiece Wheel of Doom
Photograph: Study in contrast, II
