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In 1923, “after much experimentation,” Carl Geyer (1880-1973) made the first example of what we would call today a Geyer style double horn. Our source is pretty authoritative; this date and information is found on page 115 of the 1995 memoir by Milan Yancich, An Orchestra Musician’s Odyssey: A View from the Rear. Yancich knew Geyer very well, and presents a number of fascinating details on his horns and the man.
Before getting to quotes, this book is a great read and is still available from Wind Music Publications. Treat yourself to a copy! (Website link here).
Without question the Geyer style horn is the horn most in demand in the USA horn playing market. And 2023** will mark the 100th anniversary of the design! Geyer is very worth a closer look. Compared to other early and iconic double horn designs — the Alexander 103, the Kruspe Horner model, and the Schmidt – the Geyer is the newest type by some 20+ years.
At 15 Carl Geyer had begun an eight-year apprenticeship to an instrument maker. By age 23 he was experienced in the craft, and saw an advertisement in Leipzig for work as an instrument maker in Chicago.*** He decided to follow the opportunity, entering the United States in April of 1904 to work for the firm of Richard Wunderlich. Geyer became a US citizen in 1915.
In those years Geyer built single horns and double horns with the Schmidt-style piston thumb valve. Wunderlich retired during WWI, and Geyer took that opportunity to set out on his own. He had his own shop operating by 1918 at 218 S. Wabash Ave.**** Quoting Yancich,
Musicians began to try the Geyer horn and they discovered a French horn of superior quality. By listening to a person’s tone quality and the manner in which he performed, he was able to construct an instrument that fitted that individual’s needs. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Geyer’s horn[s] have been so popular with his clientele and the reason why today a Geyer horn is considered a collector’s item.
Jumping forward a few years, we get to the key quotes from Yancich about his 1923 innovation.
Simplicity of design was the feature that struck the eye of the player viewing it for the first time. The tone quality of the horn, both in brightness and richness, was due to Geyer’s selection of the finest imported brass….
During those many years with the Wunderlich firm, Geyer made horns designed on the Schmidt model horn and those horns were called Wunderlich horns. Eventually Wunderlich returned to Germany with the newly designed horn that Geyer had built. The horn was then manufactured by the Knopf firm of Germany and also called the Wunderlich horn until the death of Wunderlich. Europeans know of the design to be the Knopf model, but Geyer insisted that he had invented the design; because of the patent laws in the United States there was no way he could protect his horn. This particular designed instrument has now become the most popular of all French horn models. It is used by practically all the major horn manufacturers in the world.
The very next sentence in the Yancich book might then surprise you. Yancich states that “I was surprised when Geyer affirmed the Schmidt horn, even with its awkward piston valve, was the greatest horn ever designed.”
However, the market today would confirm that the 1923 Geyer design was in fact the greatest double horn ever designed. Especially among higher level players in the United States, it is absolutely the dominant design today
During WWII and after the war when he was in the Chicago Symphony, Yancich spent many hours with Geyer in his shop. When this series returns, we will look closer at the development of his horn design.
Continue to Part II of Geyer series
Several details updated
**So far as I am aware, Yancich is the only source to give a specific date for this design. He does so in this book and also in a 1961 article (in volume 3, no. 11 of Woodwind World, — which is the basis of the text in the book, with additional information). I welcome readers who have access to any other sources that address the topic, as 2023 would appear to be the 100th anniversary of the design.
***Yancich says he came to the USA in 1903, but the bio in the IHS website gives this date as 1904, as does the Geyer timeline that may be accessed from this page in the Horn-U-Copia website. Horn-U-Copia is very specific in fact, that he emmigrated on April 13, 1904.
****This information is also from the Horn-U-Copia site, citing a “WWI draft listing.”
