Title: why is the french horn in the woodwind quintet? - A COMPREHENSIVE WOODWIND CHAMBER MUSIC REPERTOIRE LIST
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why is the french horn in the woodwind quintet?
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Content: History of the French Horn
Chicago International Music Foundation: Questions About Woodwind Quintet
McAnulty School of Music: French Horn Information
Read more: Why is there a French horn in a woodwind quintet? | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1927779#ixzz35sGLV9YY
4 Comments
Karly
10/14/2017 08:42:17 pm
Simple answer, the saxophone didn't exist when composers were writing woodwind quintets so the only thing available to use was the F Horn. 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).