 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-11-01 23:05
My band director asked me to join a woodwind quintet he put together where I'd play Bassoon parts on the Bass Clarinet, and he mentioned the French Horn being part of a woodwind quintet, though he didn't know why. When/How did the French Horn, which to my knowledge has always been a brass instrument (including the single-pitched horns that Farkas says they evolved from) become a part of the woodwind quintet?
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Author: Brad
Date: 2004-11-01 23:09
It's not, it is 100% a brass instrument. It is a member of a woodwind quintet because theoretically it blends well with woodwinds.
Brad Cohen
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Author: William
Date: 2004-11-01 23:10
Why is the horn included in the woodwind quintet??
Maybe it just got lucky.
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Author: Tom J.
Date: 2004-11-01 23:29
"When/How did the French Horn . . . become a part of the woodwind quintet?"
When ophecleide players became hard to find.
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-11-01 23:46
Ha, thanks for the answers and humor, both. Though I'm not sure that any instrument that has to share room with an Oboe is lucky. :p
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Author: Dee
Date: 2004-11-02 00:16
According to what I've read, the French Horn, despite being a brass instrument, was included because the composer of the "original" woodwind quintet liked the sound that he obtained in the blend.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2004-11-02 00:36
Because it wanted to get away from those brass players and move up in the world.
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-11-02 01:07
Only ever heard it referred to as a wind quintet ... but the horn blends deliciously with bassoons and chalemaux clarinets, to be sure.
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: Ron Jr.
Date: 2004-11-02 15:08
In Granthams book on orchestration, he describes the balance of the instruments: for every two horns, you need only one trumpet. Because the horn is not as piercing nor as loud as the other brass instruments, its tone blends nicely with the other woodwinds: flute included. Think about a string quartet with a trumpet, there's no way the trumpet could ever blend. But a string quartet with a clarinet, that really works. So in sum the tone quality of the horn is very compatable with the other woodwinds.
Ron Jr.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-11-02 15:14
It's not a woodwind, it's a wind instrument.....i.e. it doesn't have strings or things to pound on
Bob Draznik
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-11-02 15:45
The bass clarinet should have been the fifth member of the woodwind quintet, but it hadn't been invented yet. So French Horn was the next best thing.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-11-02 15:56
The Wind Quintet (or Woodwind Quintet) originated during the Classical period.
It was formed by taking one instrument from each of the wind sections of the standard Classical orchestra.
The French Horn was, at that time, the only "permanent" member of the symphony orchestra. Other brass instruments were added to the orchestra for festive works or special occasions/effects ...GBK
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-11-02 16:28
TKS to all for fine info. To me it "just sounds VERY GOOD" with ww's AND brass ! We enjoyed the Canadian Brass , rite hear in River Citi, recently [2 tpts et al to 1 FR], and yes, could hear it when the tpts played softly, which they are V G at !! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-11-03 00:24
Thanks again to everyone for the info and humor. It's always interesting to learn the tradition behind things that don't quite seem to make sense today.
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Author: Topher
Date: 2004-11-03 21:17
While listening to the local classical radio station on a day that was dedicated to chamber music, I heard two recordings of woodwind quintets where the bassoon was replaced by the bass clarinet and the french horn was replaced by the alto sax in one, tenor in the other. In the first recoding, I can honestly say that most high school students could play better than they did. Intonation was terrible, the bass sounded nasal-y and squeaked a few times, and the saxophone sounded like... a saxophone, but in a bad way. The second recording was beautiful. The balance was perfect, the bass led all the dynamics like it should, and the tenor sax, although it was in the upper part of its range, had a beautiful, velvety, shimmering tone quality. After hearing these, I decided that I do prefer a very good classical saxophone player to a french horn player, but prefer a bassoon to a bass. I think its singing, differently interesting tone is better suited to a woodwind quintet.
topher
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