Sans titre

I have kept all the names Bach used for the horn, i.e. corno, corno da caccia, corno da tirarsi or lituus. I even write like Bach "corno col soprano" to indicate that the horn plays the parts of soprano. When the key of the horn is specifically written, I give it into brackets. On the other hand, I do not give any key for the crook to use in all the movements where it is not clearly specified, like in the chorals where the horn generally plays the sopranos' parts. There is always a great question mark about the use of the horn in these chorals. Some peope think that it should be played by a cornetto rather than a horn (cornetto and not corno - and one can see why thoses names are so confusing in Bach's music, see BWV 68, 105 and 109 for example) and if it is written for a natural instrument, the key which should be used is never clear. It will be to the player to choose the key which seems to be the best for him. If there are any questions about all this horn music, and I suppose it can have some since many things are still completely obscure, I advise you to use the forum.

All the scores are downloadable in pdf. They are the old Breitkopf editions which are now in the public domain. It's not just the horn parts, it's complete scores, and not only the parts with the horn(s). The B minor mass is thus complete, as well as the Christmas Oratorio. They can be used only as documentation, because even if these editions were done with the greatest care, nowadays, the best printed editions are not those. Bach's whole work published by Breitkopf dates from the years 1854 to 1899 and of course are not up to date on term of modern musicology. People who want more recent data are requested to refer to the other complete edition by Bärenreiter which was done one century later. Moreover, and on a practical level, none of these music could be used as separate parts that any horn player will undoubtedly need for concerts and nothing like that is downloadable on the site. Specifically made for horn players, there are two editions of the more or less complete parts of horn of Bach's works, one in two volumes entitled “Bach Studien für Waldhorn” edited by Kut Janetzky in 1958 and published by Friedrich Hofmeister, which gives the whole of the most important parts, but don't give the chorals and other doubtful parts. Another publication, less old and in three volumes, edited by Alfons Vernooy and published by Musica Rara which is more complete since it gives all the chorals as well as the parts posing problem like the corno da tirarsi parts, the corno part in the first chorus of the BWV 105, etc. One is still waiting for the new announced collection of “Music for Brass” at Carus Verlag in Stuttgart which should gather in 2 volumes all the horn parts. The trumpet and cornetto volumes are published, but to my knowledge, still nothing for the horn. If someone has information about that, I would be very happy to know.

C alto or basso ? Very likely C alto, even if Baumann and Harnoncourt choose C basso for their recording.

Obviously not a natural horn part, but I choose to include this cantata here for a few reasons. First of all because "Clarino" is not supposed to mean an instrument but a range, then, because this part is clearly written for a natural instrument and also because since Baumann recorded it with Harnoncourt, I couldn't just forget about this cantata.

The sinfonia is exactly the same music as BWV 1071, which is almost the same as Brandeburg # 1 BWV 1046.

Horns should very likely be in C alto, but many horn players prefer playing it on the C basso, which is very understandable. The instrumentation is not written down for the choral # 7.

The corno part in the chorus # 1 is very likely a cornetto part, but on the other hand, the Arie # 5 is clearly written for a natural instrument in F.

The corno da caccia part in the chorus # 1 is probably a cornetto part, but in any case is not written for a natural instrument.

The lituus is a word which means curve and which is usually used for an instrument similar to the roman buccina and the cornu. It is anyway an instrument playing the natural overtones and these parts are usually played on horns.

Very likely in B flat alto, even if some horn players do it in B basso, among the others with Leonhardt in the Bach Cantata complete recording.

First movement of the 3rd Brandenburg concerto BWV 1048 re-orchestrated with some winds.

A very unique case where the horns play at the same time as the trumpets. Not as unique, but still very rare in Bach's music, the D horn, although much used during that time by other composers, the only other piece he writes for horn in D is the B minor mass BWV 232.

The musique of this chorus # 1 has been re-used in the Chorus # 1 of the 4th cantata of Christmas Oratorio BWV 248.

Although this cantata got a number in the BWV catalogue, it is not by J.S. Bach, but by G.P. Telemannn and it has the reference number TWV 1:634.

This concerto is not written for horn, but there is a copy of it made by Penzel, one of Bach's copyists, from after Bach's death saying: "tromba o vero corno da caccia", which means "trumpet or rather corno da caccia de chasse".