Musica Viva: The Free Sheet Music Archive: The Horn Archive

The Horn Archive

 
 
 
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Introduction

The division between the four brass music archives at Musica Viva is mainly based on the size - or to be more specific: the range - of the various instruments, not what brass instruments family they belong to.
  Thus the horn archive contains music not only for the two common alto brass instruments in the alto range, the common French horn in F and the alto horn in Eb, but also for the bass trumpet, the alto trombone etc.

A few comments on the various instruments:

French horn
Also known as "waldhorn." Probably the most commonly used of these instruments.
Alto horn
Also known as "tenor horn." A small "tuba-shaped" instrument tuned one note below the common french horn. Used a lot in brass bands and in other European military band formations. The tone of the alto horn has neither the fullness nor the dynamic range of the french horn, but when it comes to speed and flexibility, the alto horn is the king of the alto brasses.
Alto trombone
A small trombone in the same range as the alto horn.
Bass trumpet
A rather rare large variant of the trumpet in the same range as the alto horn.
Mellophone
An attempt to combine the best from the french horn and the alto horn. It was very popular for a while among inexpereienced players who wanted an instrument that looked like a french horn but was easier to play. Unfortunately, while the mellophone is indeed easy to play, it is actually very difficult to play in tune!
Tenor horn
This is a bit of a problem, the name "tenor horn" are used for two different instruments. In Great Britain (and occasionally in the USA) the name is used for the alto horn, while in the rest of the world a tenor horn is a baritone sized brass instrument. Needless to say, this has led to a lot of confusion over the years.
Most of the pieces here are not written especially for brass, but for more or less any melodic instrument. This is not special for Musica Viva. There is very little music for horn solo written before the 20th Century, and the horn books you can buy usually contain mostly music originally for other instruments, just like here.

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Printed music

As big as Musica Viva is, you still can't find everything here. There's the problem with copyright on modern music for a start, and no web server on earth is big enough to store all music ever written. ;-)
  Besides, there is something about a properly published sheet music book that computer printouts simply never can have.

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