Klarinet Archive - Posting 000478.txt from 2002/04

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Woodwind=sneezy
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 06:33:47 -0400

At 11:01 PM 4/17/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>Natale ("Neptune's Vengeance"?!?) pondered:
>
><<<So, just why IS there a french horn in a woodwind quintet?>>>
>
>If we're pondering . . . why do they call it a "French" horn? It's German!

The Germans won't admit to it. They instead blamed the French, and it
stuck. :-)

>What's English about a cor anglais?

As I understand it, early English Horns had a bend (or angle) in the middle
of them, which allowed the right hand to be able to reach the holes in the
lower portion. It was thus called in French a "cor angle" (accent over the
"e" and pronounced "cor ang-LAY"). Cor Anglais is a corruption where a
homophone was substituted for the original word. Of course, it really is
not a HORN either, but that is another story. I guess the real question is
why the English, like the French above, allowed their good name to be
besmirched in this fashion. ;-)

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.net
451 Old Orchard Drive
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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