Title: why is the french horn in the woodwind quintet? - A COMPREHENSIVE WOODWIND CHAMBER MUSIC REPERTOIRE LIST
Headings: 
why is the french horn in the woodwind quintet?
Leave a Reply.

Content: Reply
CTB
1/23/2018 09:13:47 am
Karly - I suppose that is a 'tongue in cheek' comment (you're a saxophonist, right?). The saxophone was invented in 1840 (only about a dozen years after Beethoven died). Though the date of invention was after the large number of Reica and Danzi Quintets were written (with French Horn), there were countless pieces being written for saxophone in the last half of the 1800's - none of them included works replacing the French horn with a saxophone. And, certainly there are countless numbers of WW quintets written in the last century and currently that never substitute the sax for the horn. And, of course, there's the fact that the French horn has an astounding range of at least 4 octaves (even more with a professional horn player) and the saxophone has a range of only 2 octaves and a fifth (a bit more on newer saxophones). All of the woodwinds in the WW quintet have greater ranges than this. Finally, although the sax is a great solo instrument and in an ensemble of only saxophones has a most unique sound, it does not blend well with the traditional woodwinds. Whereas, the French horn (especially with the right hand in the bell muting its sound) blends very well with woodwinds. Only a very limited part of the mid-range of saxophones blend well with the other woodwinds. However, having said all of this, the idea of using a saxophone with flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon intrigues me.