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Something you might have noticed is that in Horn Matters (and elsewhere) I have rarely written about the Vienna horn. A perennially popular topic in our horn world, I have instead focused my own single F horn playing on period style instruments with rotary valves in the German style rather than Vienna valves (or French style instruments with piston valves). Beyond extensive writings on the topic, I made a solo recording on a horn of this type (more on that project here).
I played the instrument I used on that recording, which is a convertible natural horn (with rotary valves) built for me by Richard Seraphinoff, for nearly all my playing for 6 months, to be very familiar with how it played and to get as authentic a sound as I could. In particular, I adjusted my method of tonguing to promote the best articulations I could produce, and got very good at adjusting for intonation quirks.
What is a Vienna (or Wiener) horn?
The Vienna horn is an interesting anachronism in our modern musical world. Invented in 1897, the double horn revolutionized horn playing and quickly became the standard instrument in most of the world. One corner of the musical world that did not adopt the double horn was Vienna, where they kept using a type of single F horn with crooks and unique, double piston Vienna valves. A handy article on all the different types of valves used on early valved horns may be found here.
It has been said that the Viennese players continue to use an instrument that is a bridge instrument between the natural horn and the modern horn. It certainly occupies a unique space in modern orchestral playing, and is central to the sound of The Vienna Philharmonic.
19th century single horns are quirky
All instruments of this type generally (single horns with crooks of any type) are quirky in ways that we would not accept on a modern horn. You will have some issues to work around, “rolls” on some notes and intonation issues on others, touchy accuracy, and you will need to find solutions to really use them for performance.
Besides putting arrows in my music to remind me which direction to push intonation when needed, I know I also tried the trick (attributed to Dennis Brain) of putting a matchstick across a side of the first valve slide. I hoped it would help upper range articulations, but it did not really help anything.
But something I put in the bell did I think help a bit. Basically, at a horn workshop (the IHS symposium at UNT) I had purchased an item that was at the time marketed as the Tuning Sleeve. It was for a marching mellophone, and visually looked like a small version of the cork end of a stop mute. Placed in the bell of a Mellophone I thought it very much stabilized the high range. Essentially the theory is that it corrects for the hand not being in the bell. On a double horn it was not as usable as your fingertips will tend to hit the device. Instead, I found a rubber plumbing fitting (like a big O ring) and had that in the bell for the recording. I felt it did something for the G at the top of the staff, but it still was a problem note. As a natural horn in F the note was and is fine on that horn, but with the valve section added onto the instrument it was not nearly as stable. Knowing that, if you listen to the recording you can begin to hear how I tongued that note very lightly, babying the note. Careful mouthpiece choice helped too; I used a copy of a period mouthpiece on the recording to improve the higher range attacks.
What about putting a wire inside your Vienna horn?
Anyway, this brings me to the topic of today. In the most recent (May, 2022) issue of The Horn Call there is an article by Kulmer, Dorfmayr, and Nuzzo on the Vienna horn, “Vienna Calling.” I’d like to focus in on one specific part of the article, the section of “Tips for the Wiener Horn.” The section begins,
Wire. A trick commonly used on the Wiener Horn is to insert a wire in the tube, just a normal electric wire you can buy in any electrical equipment shop. The reason for this is to adjust the note f” [written F at the top of the staff], which is played by pressing the 1st valve on the Wiener Horn, making it much more centered. This trick, although used by many players, is usually not supported by manufacturers. The fun fact is that it not only fixes the precision of f”, but inexplicably, the sound of the whole instrument is just better. The theory is that the wire helps the soundwave float (or floating knots). As weird as it sounds, but also the fact that the wire is harder, softer, with or without the internal metallic part has a big influence. It is also likely that the induced physical change is actually minimal, yet enough to give the player a better feeling of playing, leading to a better sound.
Looking closer at the Vienna horn
For some months I’ve had borrowed the Pizka/Haagston Vienna horn seen in the photos of this article. Periodically I’ll get it out and play it, it is a very interesting horn. There was a time I took it in to demonstrate for my students, and they were excited about it in concept, but were disappointed when they heard it compared to other horns. That same day I took in a vintage Halari natural horn — they had low expectations for it, but they loved it after hearing it.
Still, the article inspired me to get the horn out again. The thing I like the most about this particular Vienna horn is the ability to play it very aggressively and at high volume. My other single F horns, they top out much sooner into an overly raw, overblown tone, more like a natural horn would when blown that hard. I credit this to the rather thick, heavy bell with the wide garland; it is much heavier than any comparable F horn (or natural horn) I have. I suspect it is also heavier than the average Vienna horn, but I have no way to compare with multiple instruments.
Those magical Vienna valves
These valves have a unique double piston design that always grabs the visual attention. Two small piston valves move, ganged together, on each valve – there are six valves on the horn, working in pairs. The result is the valve action from the players’ side is very smooth when you change notes. On a rotary valve horn, there will be notes somewhere that you notice the valve moving, it makes a pop or click that you feel and can be heard. On a Geyer style instrument, for example, that note is E at the bottom of the staff to F, played on the F horn. On the Bb side, the interval will be as smooth as can be, but on the F, there likely will be a bit of a click felt in the airstream.
While the smoothness is a plus, on the other hand, I can totally see why we use rotary valves today. Vienna valves have a very heavy action and there is a lot of weight in general in the valve section area. I would much rather play anything technical on a rotary valve F horn over a Vienna horn. For a tangible example, I can play the venerable Clarke Second Study at least 25% faster on a rotary valve horn over a horn with Vienna valves.
A maker’s eye
Returning to the quote from the article, I tend to look at any horn as a reflection on the maker. A competent horn maker builds a horn so that so far as they can it has no major playing issues. You paid them the money for the horn with the idea that it played well and did not need any modifications. If you feel that you need to immediately resort to pieces of wire or matchsticks to fix playing issues, you need a new horn. Something was not made right, there is some flaw in the design, likely beyond what might be fixed with simple repairs or a cleaning.
In the specific case of this Pizka/Haagston horn, I just don’t feel the top F as built is that much more difficult than say the F# or G that are on the same harmonic. If anything, the F# is the worst of the three notes – but all are manageable and similar in feel.
Trying a wire in a Vienna horn
Still, as the authors tell us that the wire trick is “commonly used” on the Wiener horn, I had to try it. Which leads to the obvious question, what kind of wire??? Wire comes in many gauges and types. Something could have been lost in translation, but it is described as “normal electric wire.” My guess is it is the wire that would be used to wire a house, split down to use one component wire (as the three-wire bundle would obviously be too large to fit in the tube). I chose a four-inch section of the black wire for my tests (as it would have the darker tone…).
As the trick is specifically for the f”, I started with the wire in the first valve slide. Maybe it is more stable with the wire? But the note was not that bad to begin with. Playing it with that setup I then began to notice how the lower range first valve notes gained a stuffy, resistant feeling.
How about putting a wire in a horn with a bad f”?
My favorite horn from my sabbatical project was the one I built with the Mirafone bell. (more here). As nice as it is, the F at the top line has quite a roll. And of course you play that note a lot. What if I tried a wire?
Placing that same black wire in the first valve slide … you know what? It was better! Up to then I was inclined to think the whole wire thing was a mind game only, but if you are using period instruments, consider it an option, it did something positive for sure.
How about bad notes on a double horn?
I have mentioned this in prior writings; there is a bad high Bb issue on some double horns. Test the note before buying! If there is no stable high Bb, walk away. Something, somewhere in the horn, is not right. A bad joint hidden inside, a blob of solder, a brace in the wrong place. Something is wrong. Matchsticks and alternate fingerings may be helpful, even a wire maybe, but the actual solution for a horn you intend to play all the time is obtaining a horn that does not have these issues to begin with.
To conclude…
The Vienna horn still is a great topic and one that has fascinated a lot of players. How much longer will they hold out in Vienna? Who knows, but hear them while you can and if you have the chance try a Vienna horn, do it! It has a unique feel and sound.
