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Brahms wrote for the natural horn in all of his works but wrote for it in a period when the valved horn was coming into widespread use. Periodically a question will come in about this, as it is something that is puzzling to us today, in particular in relation to modern performances of the works of Brahms on period instruments.
I have looked at this topic quite a bit and it boils down pretty quickly in my mind to two points.
- Brahms clearly did write all of his horn parts for natural horn,
- But did the players of the time actually perform them on natural horns?
As to why he wrote them for natural horn, part of it certainly is tradition, and that tradition also mixes in with other things including an anti-Wagner stance on the part of Brahms. The style of natural horn writing does mark his music with a type of sound that is unmistakable.
It is known that early performances of the trio were on natural horn, and at one point I practiced it quite hard on natural horn for a performance. But on the whole performers in Germany clearly were using valved horns pretty widely after 1850. So what is the modern performer to do?
Modern performances and recordings in period style have been done on early valved horns and on natural horns. An earlier article in Horn Matters relates details of a recent performance of the Requim on natural horns, but early valved horns are common on recordings.
Either way is authentic but I am inclined to say that the best players of the time would have chosen to perform these works on valved horns. Brahms seems to have recognized this too, based on the specific notations in the Academic Festival Overture and in the first symphony to stop certain notes with the hand; those were intentional stopped effects driven by the natural horn that he wanted maintained if performed on valved horn.
At some point I will follow up with a longer, print article on this topic based on materials presented at the IHS Kalamzoo event in 2001, and there is more to be found online in this article. My final note for now is that as mentioned above, being an enthusiast for the Lowell Greer recording of the Brahms Trio on natural horn, about ten years ago I practiced for a performance of the trio on natural horn. I worked on it quite hard, did one rehearsal, and went back to valved horn! It really is easier on valved horn; it is pretty clear why players adopted the new instrument even if an older generation mourned the passing of the natural horn from the concert scene of the time.
UPDATE (2012): My full article based on the IHS presentation may be found here in Horn Articles Online.
