Alphorn

The alphorn is a brass instrument on the principle of natural trumpet and is considered a national symbol of Switzerland and Austria. Also in the Bavarian Alps Alpine horns are common.

Description and History

The alphorn blowing technique which due to its instrumentenkundlich to the brass instruments, although it is traditionally mainly made of wood. It has no flaps, trains still valves and is therefore relative to the to-play sounds limited to the harmonic series. A Alphorn can, depending on the landscape, hear 5 to 10 km. Long wooden trumpets are available in many cultures and countries, such as in Tibet, the Pyrenees and the Carpathians ( Trembita called ), or in the Kyrgyz. However, in Switzerland, the alphorn enjoys widespread popularity. Operating on the same principle Büchel and Tiba are less common.

The first known written mention of the Alphorn in Switzerland dates back to 1527th From then comes an entry in a book of accounts of the monastery of St. Urban on " two chunks to a Valais with Alphorn ".

In the 18th century the alphorn almost forgotten, as the impoverished music-playing shepherds brought it in the cities in the 17th century into disrepute and it was ridiculed as a beggar horn. But the romance and tourists in the Swiss Alps ( first it was mainly the English ) brought in the 19th century, the folklore and the alphorn bloom. Today in Switzerland and the alphorn the Swiss Army Knife applies besides cheese, chocolate and Edelweiss as the national symbol. The first pastoral festivals ( Unspunnenfeste ) with alphorn music took place in 1805 and 1808.

Today's distribution and use

The Swiss Yodelling Association has organized the 1800 Alphornbläser in Switzerland and around the world to its members. In Germany there are numerous Alphornbläser, which together can also be found at international meetings and perform there as soloists, ensembles, or even in mass choirs, such as the annual Allgäu Alphornbläser meeting or at the National Meeting of Baden-Württemberg Alphornbläser. In Austria there are, among others, the alphorn festival in Baad in Kleinwalsertal.

There are few classical compositions for the alphorn, the best known of which are the Sinfonia pastorella for alphorn and Strings in G major by Leopold Mozart and Parthia at farmers' instruments of Družecký Jiří ( George Druschetzky ). Recent works are the Concertino Rustico by the Hungarian composer Ferenc Farkas, as well as the Concerto for Alphorn and Orchestra and dialogue with nature for Alphorn, Piccolo and Orchestra of the Swiss conductor and composer Jean Daetwyler. 1996 was the Concertino for Alphorn in F and Strings by Franz Kanefzky. In 2004 was commissioned by the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, the Concerto for Alphorn and Orchestra by Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder, which was premiered by Arkady Shilkloper. It uses a conventional, classical orchestra, but consults a triple to be filled drum part and synthesizer; stylistically you can call it a "crossover" between jazz and classical music.

Chance of the alphorn is also used purely in jazz. The group " Kerberbrothers Alpine merger" the instrument in the plays Alphorn Blues and Geierwalli, both published in 1998 on CD, a. Also, jazz trumpeter and composer Matthias Schriefl used in some cases several alpine horns in different keys at his belt 6, Alps and jazz.

The assertion that herdsmen previously used their horns primarily as signal horns, is wrong. The location of the horn would be almost impossible in an area surrounded by mountains area, since the sound would be reflected from the walls. The sound would thus several times and from different sides audibly ( echo).

Production

The technique of pipe production from wood is ancient, until very recently, even the water pipes have been manufactured or similar.

Today, there are some specialized instrument makers who manufacture of suitable logs an alphorn. His bent form below comes from the hillside and therefore crooked spruce, peeled and cut the length is halved. The subsequent hollowing out of the two halves on a wall thickness of half a centimeter is a seventy hour long hand. A subsequent wrapping of rattan (formerly bark leaves, strips of wood or roots ) serves as weather protection and a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece as a relief when blowing. The price for such an instrument is about 1000-2500 euro (as of 2003).

Mood

The following cues are built today:

In Switzerland, the F sharp / G flat Alphorn is most prevalent in Germany, the F- Alphorn. In usual version you can Alphorns now split into two or three parts.

The longest Alphorn

The alphorn longest in the world has a length of 47 meters. This world record is held by the alphorn maker Josef Stocker from Kriens together with the Americans Peter Wutherich, with the final decision and the diameter of the cup ( engl.: bell ) was fought. According to Josef Stocker Alphorn this is not recordable. However, if all parts are used in the assembly, then created with a length of 14 meters, the longest recordable Alphorn. This has 64 tones compared to the 16 tones of a "normal " alphorn.

The longest manufactured in one piece Alphorn with 20.67 meters, registered in the Guinness Book of World Records, comes from the workshop of Alois Beer Maier in Berchtesgaden (Upper Bavaria ) and can be viewed there.

Developments and variants

Today sporadically Alphorns of glass fibers, carbon fibers or acrylic glass are manufactured, they are no longer as severe a scarce kg and cost about 2,500 euros. The sound is such a modern alphorn inferior to the wooden horns clearly. Tentatively were also instruments with valves or valve engine built ( effect of the valves like a trumpet) to extend the range of a diatonic scale ( flaps) or a chromatic scale ( valve engine ).

Orgelregister " Alphorn "

In organs, one occasionally finds the register Alphorn. The special sound of the alphorn is in these organs by an organ pipe (usually made of wood) mimics to find, for example, in the swallow's nest organ from 1977 at the Minster as 16' - register at the main plant.

Film

Currently the only film about the Alphorn feature-length comes from Stefan Schwietert and is called Music of the Alps - The alphorn. He has a playing time of 76 minutes and is available on DVD. It deals with the origins of the instrument and leads on to a modern conception of the alphorn music - so to speak, from the Yodel Association to jazz.

Music

  • Swiss protagonists in the Alpine World Music: Hans Kennel, Eliana Burki, Mytha with Betty Legler and Hans Kennel, Balthasar Streiff as a solo performer, alphorn quartet with hornroh, modern and Stimmhorn
  • Hartmut Schmidt wrote two concertos for Alphorn and Orchestra
  • Armin Rosin brought classical music in connection with the Alphorn: Alphorn Goes Classic ( CD release 2001)
  • Even in the modern pop music the alphorn was used already. Swiss musician Pepe Lienhard and his band used the instrument in 1977 in their song " Swiss Lady ", with whom she participated in the Euro Vision Song Contest and thus reached the 6th place. In Switzerland, the title was a number - one hit and stayed for 18 weeks in the national charts.
  • Known Alphorn players are among others Lisa Stoll and Eliana Burki.
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