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NOTE: These are now available in a second edition. available worldwide in print and Kindle versions. More information in this article.
The newest releases from Horn Notes Edition are three versions of a collection of 35 melodic etudes. Set at standard pitch and also in special versions targeted for high and low horn study — areas where there is great need for more studies of this type — these etudes have been “rescued” from the method books of two important 19th-century horn teachers, Josef Schantl and Joseph Meifred.
The Große theortisch-praktische Horn-Schule of the great Viennese hornist and teacher Josef Schantl (1842-1902) was published in four volumes in 1903. The best know portion today is volume III, which was reprinted in 1941 in abridged form as Preparatory Melodies to Solo Work, edited by Max P. Pottag. The etudes excerpted here are found in the original but not the Pottag version; Pottag selected just 98 melodies from the original Schantl collection of 120 melodies.
Schantl was a major teacher and player of the late nineteenth century. He was a Principal Horn of the Imperial and Royal Court Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic, and has been credited with founding the Vienna Waldhornverein. Among many significant performances he performed on the premieres of Brahms second and third Symphonies and also the third and eighth Symphonies of Anton Bruckner.
Joseph Meifred (1791-1867) studied the natural horn with Louis-François Dauprat (1787-1868) at the Paris Conservatory, where he was awarded the First Prize for horn in 1818. In 1833 the Conservatory instituted a valved horn class with Meifred as professor; he held this position until his retirement in 1864.
Meifred’s Méthode pour le Cor Chromatique, ou à Pistons, published in 1840, was the first method for the valved horn written by a major performer. Being first, he developed quite a few interesting and unique exercises, including within his method a group of etudes.
A number of these etudes of Schantl and Meifred I selected and included in my earlier publication Ultimate Horn Technique (Horn Notes Edition), but all of them are now together for the first time.
In the Standard French Horn Version the etudes are presented in the keys they were originally published, in order by key and with only light editing (and that primarily limited to the Meifred etudes). The Low French Horn version transposes these etudes to lower keys, targeting the lowest notes of the horn, and the High French Horn version transposes these etudes to higher keys, targeting the highest notes of the horn.
These are effective and new materials worthy of checking out! For a variety of innovative horn and brass publications visit www.hornnotes.com
UPDATE: And now I have done a Video Podcast that tells you more:
