Chapter XIV: Part 14

From two medieval representations of instruments like the Roman cornu
one might be led to conclude that the instrument had been revived and
was in use from the 14th century. A wooden bas-relief on the under
part of the seats of the choir of Worcester cathedral,[35] said to
date from the 14th century, shows a musician in a robe with long
sleeves of fur playing the horn (fig. 4). The tube winds from the
mouth in a circle reaching to his waist, passes under the right arm
across the shoulders with the bell stretching out horizontally over
his left shoulder. The tube, of strictly conical bore, is made in
three pieces, the joints being strengthened by means of two rings. The
other example is German, and figures in the arms of the city of
Frankfort-on-Main.[36] Here in the two opposite corners are two
cherubs playing immense cornua. The bore of the instruments (fig. 5)
is of a calibre suggestive of the contrabass tuba; the circle formed
is of a diameter sufficiently large to accommodate the youthful
performer in a sitting posture; the bell is the forerunner of that of
the modern saxophone, shaped like a gloxinea; the mouthpiece is
cup-shaped. It is possible, of course, that these two examples are
attempts to reproduce the classic instrument, but the figures of the
musicians and the feeling of the whole scheme of ornamentation seem to
render such an explanation improbable. Moreover, Sebastian
Virdung,[37] writing on musical instruments at the beginning of the
16th century, gives a drawing of a cornu coiled round tightly, the
tubing being probably soldered together at certain points. Virdung
calls this instrument a _Jegerhorn_, and the short hunting-horn
_Acherhorn_ (Ackerhorn--the synonym of the modern Waldhorn). The scale
of the former could have consisted only of the first eight harmonics,
including the fundamental, which would be easily obtained on an
instrument of such a large calibre. Mersenne,[38] a century and a
quarter later, gives a drawing of the same kind of horn among his
_cors de chasse_, but does not in his description display his
customary intimate knowledge of his subject; it may be that he was
dealing at second-hand with an instrument of which he had had little
practical experience. Praetorius[39] gives as Jagerhorn only the
simple forms of crescent-shaped horns with a single spiral; the
spirally-wound horn of Virdung is replaced by a new instrument--the
_Jagertrummet_ (huntsman's trumpet)--of the same form, but less
cumbersome, of cylindrical bore excepting at the bell end and having a
crook inserted between the mouthpiece and the main coils. The tube,
which could not have been less than 8 ft. long, produced the harmonic
series of the cavalry trumpet from the 3rd to the 12th. The
restrictions placed upon the use of the cavalry trumpet would have
rendered it unavailable for use in the hunting-field, but the
snake-shaped model, as Praetorius describes it, was a decided
improvement on the horn, although inferior in resonance to the cavalry
model. Here then are the materials for the fusion of the trumpet and
hunting-horn into the natural or hand-horn of the 17th and 18th
centuries. There is evidence, however, that a century earlier, i.e. at
the end of the 15th century, the art of bending a brass tube of the
delicate proportions of the French horn, which is still a test of fine
workmanship, had been successfully practised. In an illustrated
edition of Virgil's works published in Strassburg in 1502 and
emanating from Gruninger's office, Brant being responsible for the
illustrations, the lines (_Aen._ viii. 1-2) "Ut belli signum Laurenti
Turnus ab arce Extulit: et rauco strepuerunt cornua cantu" are
illustrated by two soldiers, one with the sackbut (posaune, the
descendant of the buccina), the other with a horn wound spirally round
his body in three coils, which appear to have a conical bore from the
funnel-shaped mouthpiece to the bell which extends at the back of the
head horizontally over the left shoulder (fig. 6). There is ample
room for the performer's head and shoulders to pass through the
circle: the length of the tube could not therefore have been much less
than 16 ft. long, equivalent to the horn in C or B[flat] basso. In the
same book (pl. ccci.) is another horn, smaller, differing slightly in
the disposition of the coils and held like the modern horn in front.

These horns were not used for hunting but for war in conjunction with
the draw-trumpet. Brant could not have imagined these instruments, and
must have seen the originals or at least drawings of them; the
instruments probably emanated from the famed workshops of Nuremberg,
being intended mainly for use in Italy, and had not been generally
adopted in Germany. The significance of these drawings of natural
horns in a German work of the dawn of the 16th century will not be
lost. It disposes once and for all of the oft-repeated fable that the
hunting-horn first assumed its present form in France about 1680, a
statement accepted without question by authorities of all countries,
but without reference to any _piece justificative_ other than the
story of the Bohemian Count Sporken first quoted by Gerber,[40] and
repeated in most musical works without the context. The account which
gave rise to this statement had been published in 1782 in a book by
Faustinus Prochaska:[41] "Vix Parisiis inflandi cornua venatoria
inventa ars quum delectatus suavitate cantus duos ex hominibus sibi
obnoxiis ea instituendos curavit. Id principium apud nos artis, qua
hodie Bohemi excellere putantur." In a preceding passage after the
count's name, Franz Anton, Graf von Sporken, are the words "anno
saeculi superioris octogesimo quum iter in externas provincias
suscepisset," &c. There is no reference here to the invention of the
horn in Paris or to the folding of the tube spirally, but only to the
manner of eliciting sound from the instrument. Count Sporken,
accustomed to the medieval hunting fanfares in which the tone of the
horn approximated to the blare of the trumpet, was merely struck by
the musical quality of the true horn tone elicited in Paris, and gave
France the credit of the so-called invention, which probably more
properly belonged to Italy. The account published by Prochaska a
hundred years after, without reference to the source from which it was
obtained, finds no corroboration from French sources. Had the French
really made any substantial improvement in the hunting-horn at the end
of the 17th century, transforming it from the primitive instrument
into an orchestral instrument, it would only be reasonable to expect
to find some evidence of this, considering the importance attached to
the art of music at the court of Louis XIV., whose musical
establishments, la Chapelle Musique,[42] la Musique de la Chambre du
Roi and la Musique de la Grande Ecurie, included the most brilliant
French artists. One would expect to find horns of that period by
French makers among the relics of musical instruments in the museums
of Europe. This does not seem to be the case. Moreover, in Diderot and
d'Alembert's _Encyclopedie_ (1767) the information given under the
heading _trompe ou cor de chasse grand et petit_ is very vague, and
contains no hint of any special merit due to France for any
improvement in construction. Among the plates (vol. v., pl. vii.) is
given an illustration of a horn very similar to the instruments made
in England and Germany nearly a century earlier, but with a
funnel-shaped mouthpiece. Dr Julius Ruhlmann states that there are two
horns by Raoux, bearing the date 1703,[43] in the Bavarian National
Museum in Munich,[44] but although fine examples, one in silver, the
other in brass (fig. 6) by Raoux, they turn out on inquiry[45] to bear
no date whatever. Ruhlmann's statement in the same article, that in
the arms of the family of Wartenberg-Kolb (now extinct), which goes
back to 1169, there is a hunting-horn coiled round in a complete
circle is also misleading. The horn (a post-horn) did not appear in
the arms of the family in question until 1699, when the first peer
Casimir Johann Friedrich was created hereditary Post-Master. The
influence of such erroneous statements in the work of noted writers is
far-reaching. Inquiries at the department of National Archives in
Paris concerning Raoux, the founder of the afterwards famous firm of
horn-makers whose model with pistons is used in the British military
bands and at Kneller Hall, proved fruitless. Fetis states that he
worked during the second half of the 18th century. Albert Chouquet[46]
states that he has seen a trumpet by Raoux, "seul ordinaire du Roy,
Place du Louvre" dated 1695. The inscriptions on the horns in question
are: For No. 105, a silver horn of the simplest form of construction
in D, "Fait a Paris par Raoux"; for No. 106, a brass horn engraved
with a crown on an ermine mantle with the initials C. A. (Carl
Albert), "Fait a Paris par Raoux, seul ordinaire du Roy, Place du
Louvre." Both horns measure across the coils 56 cm. and across the
bell 27(1/2). They are practically the same as the _cors de chasse_
now in use in French and Belgian military bands, the large diameter of
the coil enabling the performer to carry it over his shoulder. The
orchestral horn was given a narrower diameter in order to facilitate
its being held in front of the performer in a convenient position for
stopping the bell with the right hand. No. 107 in the same collection,
a horn of German construction, bears the inscription "Macht Jacob
Schmid in Nurnberg" and the trademark "J. S." with a bird. A horn in
E[flat]] of French make, having fleur-de-lys stamped on the rim of the
bell, and measuring only 15 in. across the coils to the exterior edge
of the bell--therefore a very small horn--is preserved in the Grand
Ducal Museum at Darmstadt.[47] A horn in F[sharp] (probably F in
modern high pitch), having the rim ornamented as above and the
inscription "Fait a Paris, Carlin, ordinaire du Roy," readily gives
the harmonics from the 3rd to the 12th.[48] The extreme width is 20
in.[49] Carlin, who lived at rue Croix des Petits Champs, died about
1780. The earliest dated horn extant is believed to be the one
preserved in the Hohenzollern Museum in Sigmaringen, "Machts Wilhelm
Haas, Nurnberg, 1688."[50] Another early German horn engraved "Machts
Heinr. Rich. Pfeiffer in Leipzig, 1697,"[51] formerly in Paul de Wit's
museum in Leipzig and now transferred with the rest of the collection
to Cologne, is of similar construction.

FIG. 7.--Early Raoux Horn (Munich).]

The horn must have been well known at this time in England, for there
are 17th-century horns of English manufacture still extant, one, for
instance, in the collection of the Rev. F. W. Galpin by William Bull,
dated 1699.[52] In 1701 Clagget[53] invented a contrivance by means of
which two horns in different keys could be coupled and played by means
of one mouthpiece, a valve or key opening the passage into the airways
of one or the other of these horns at the will of the performer.
Another horn of English manufacture about 1700 was exhibited at the
South Kensington Museum in 1872, bearing No. 337 in the catalogue, in
which unfortunately no details are given. Enough examples have been
quoted to show that, judging from the specimens extant, Germany was
not behind France, if not actually ahead, in the manufacture of early
natural horns. Data are wanting concerning the instruments of Italy;
they would probably prove to be the earliest of all, and as brass
wind instruments are perishable are perhaps for that very reason
unrepresented at the present day.

The horn at the present stage in its evolution was also well
represented among the illustrations of the musical literature in
Germany[54] during the first half of the 18th century, and references
to it are frequent.

Music.

The earliest orchestral music for the horn occurs in the operas of
Cavalli and Cesti, leaders of the Venetian Opera in the 17th century.
Already in 1639 Cavalli in his opera _Le Nozze de Tito e Pelei_ (act
i. sc. 1) introduced a short scena, "Chiamata alla Caccia"[55] in C
major for four horns on a basso continuo. An examination of the
scoring in C clefs on the first, second, third and fourth lines shows,
by the use of the note [music notes] in the bass part and in the
second tenor of [music notes] the 5th harmonic of the series, that the
fundamental could have been no other than the 16-ft. C; the highest
note in the treble part is [music notes], the 12th harmonic of the
8-ft. alto horn in C, now obsolete. It is clear therefore that horns
with tubing respectively 8 ft. and 16 ft. long, which must have been
disposed in coils as in the present day, were in use in Italy before
the middle of the 17th century, fifty years before the date of their
reputed invention in Paris.

In the same opera, act i. sc. 4, "Coro di Cavalieri" is a stirring
call to arms of elemental grandeur, in which occur the words: "all'
armi, o la guerrieri corni e tamburi e trombe, ogni campo ogni canto,
armi rimbombe." There are above the voice parts four staves with
treble and C clef signatures above the bass, and, although no
instruments are indicated, the music written thereon, which alternates
with the voices but does not accompany them, can have been intended
for no instruments but trumpets and horns, thus carrying out the
indications in the text. The horn is here once again put to the same
use as the Roman cornu, and associated in like manner with the
descendant of the buccina in a call to arms. It may be purely a
coincidence that the early illustration of a horn with the tubing
wound in coils round the body in the Strassburg Virgil mentioned above
was put to the same use and associated with the same instrument.

Cesti's operas likewise contain many passages evidently intended for
the horn, although the instruments are not specified in the score,
which was nothing unusual at the time. Lulli composed the incidental
music for a ballet, _La Princesse d'Elide_, which formed part of
Moliere's divertissement, "Les plaisirs de l'ile enchantee," written
for a great festival at Versailles on the 7th of May 1664. A copy of
the music for this ballet, made about 1680, is preserved in the
library of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The music contains a
piece entitled "Les violons et les cors de chasse," written in the
same style as Cavalli's scena; there are but two staves, and on both
the music is characteristic of the horn, with which the violins would
play in unison. The piece finishes on B[flat][music notes] and to play
this note as the second of the harmonic series, the fundamental not
being obtainable, the tube of the horn must have been over 17 ft.
long. Among Philidor's copies of Lulli's ballets preserved in the
library of the Paris Conservatoire of Music (vol. xlvii., p. 61) is a
more complete copy of the above. The second number is an "Air des
valets de chiens et des chasseurs avec les cors de chasse," which is
substantially the same as the one in the Fitzwilliam Museum, but set
for five horns in B[flat]. Here again the use of D, the fifth note of
the harmonic series, indicates that the fundamental was [music notes]
a tone lower than the C horn scored for by Cavalli, and known as
B[flat] basso. Victor Mahillon[56] considers that the music reveals
the fact that it was written for horns in B[flat], 35 degrees
(chromatic semitones) above 32-ft. C, or [music notes] having a
wave-length of 1.475 m. To this statement it is not possible to
subscribe. The quintette required four horns in B[flat] over 8 ft.
long and one B[flat] basso about 17 ft. long. It is obvious that the
present custom of placing the bass notes of the horn on the F clef an
octave too low, as is now customary, had not yet been adopted, for in
that case the bass horn would in several bars be playing above the
tenor.

In 1647 Cardinal Mazarin, wishing to create in France a taste for
Italian opera, had procured from Italy an orchestra, singers and
mise-en-scene. That he was not entirely successful in making Paris
appreciate Italian music is beside the mark; he developed instead a
demand for French opera, to which Lulli proved equal. The great
similarity in the style of the horn _scene_ by Cavalli and Lulli may
perhaps provide a clue to the mysterious and sudden apparition of the
natural horn in France, where nothing was known of the hybrid
instrument thirty years before, when Mersenne[57] wrote his careful
treatise on musical instruments.

The orchestral horn had been introduced from Italy. It is not
difficult to understand how the horn came to be called the _French_
horn in England; the term only appears after Gerber and other writers
had repeated the story of Count Sporken introducing the musical horn
into Bohemia.[58] By this time the firm of Raoux, established in Paris
a hundred years, had won for itself full recognition of its high
standard of workmanship in the making of horns.

This use of the horn by Lulli in the one ballet seems to be an
isolated instance; no other has yet been quoted. The introduction of
the natural horn into the orchestra of the French opera did not occur
until much later in 1735 in Andre Campra's _Achille et Deidamie_, and
then only in a fanfare. In the meantime the horn had already won a
place in most of the rising opera houses and ducal orchestras[59] of
Germany, and had been introduced by Handel into the orchestra in
London in his _Water-music_ composed in honour of George I.

Although the Italians were undoubtedly the first to introduce the horn
into the orchestra, it figured at first only as the characteristic
instrument of the chase, suggesting and accompanying hunting scenes or
calls to arms. For a more independent use of the horn in the orchestra
we must turn to Germany. Reinhard Keiser, the founder of German opera,
at the end of the 17th century in Hamburg, introduced two horns in C
into the opening chorus of his opera _Octavia_ in 1705, where the
horns are added to the string quartette and the oboes; they play again
in act i. sc. 3, and in act ii. sc. 6 and 9. The compass used by the
composer for the horns in C alto is the following:--

Wilhelm Kleefeld draws attention to the characterization, which
differed in the three acts. In _Henrico_ (1711), in _Diana_ (1712) and
in _L'Inganno Fedele_ (1714) F horns were used. This called forth from
Mattheson[60] his much-quoted eulogium, the earliest description of
the orchestral horn: "Die lieblich pompeusen Waldhorner sind bei
itziger Zeit sehr _en vogue_ kommen, weil sie theils nicht so rude von
Natur sind als die Trompeten, teils auch weil sie mit mehr _Facilite_
konnen tractiret werden. Die brauchbarsten haben F und mit den
Trompeten aus dem C gleichen _Ambitum_. Sie klingen auch dicker und
fullen besser aus als die ubertaubende und schreyende Clarinen, weil
sie um eine ganze quinte tiefer stehen."

Lotti in his _Giove in Argo_, given in Dresden, 1717, scored for two
horns in C, writing for them soli in the aria for tenor[61] (act iii.
sc. 1). Examples of C. H. Graun's[62] scoring for horns in F and G
respectively in _Polydorus_ (1708-1729) and in _Iphigenia_ (1731) show
the complete emancipation of the instrument from its original
limitations; it serves not only as melody instrument but also to
enrich the harmony and emphasize the rhythm. A comparison of the early
scores of Cavalli and Lulli with those of Handel's
_Wasserfahrtmusik_[63] (1717) and of _Radamisto_, performed in London
in 1720, shows the rapid progress made by the horn, even at a time
when its technique was still necessarily imperfect.

While Bach was conductor of the prince of Anhalt-Cothen's orchestra
(1717-1723), it is probable that horns in several keys were used. In
Dresden two Bohemian horn-players, Johann Adalbert Fischer and Franz
Adam Samm, were added to the court orchestra in 1711.[64] In Vienna
the addition is stated to have taken place in 1712 at the opera.[65]
It is probable that as in Paris so in Vienna there were solitary
instances in which the horn was heard in opera without attracting the
attention of musicians long before 1712, for instance in Cesti's _Il
Pomo d'Oro_, printed in Vienna in 1667 and 1668 and performed for the
wedding ceremonies of Kaiser Leopold and Margareta, infanta of Spain.
A horn in E (former F pitch) in the museum of the Brussels
conservatoire bears the inscription "Machts Michael Leicham Schneider
in Wien, 1713."[66] Furstenau[67] gives a further list of operas in
Vienna during the first two decades of the 18th century.

It will be well before the next stage in the evolution is approached
to consider the compass of the natural horn. The pedal octave from the
fundamental to the 2nd harmonic was altogether wanting; the next
octave contained only the 2nd and 3rd harmonics or the octave and its
fifth; in the third octave, the 8ve, its major 3rd, 5th and minor 7th;
in the fourth octave, a diatonic scale with a few accidentals was
possible. It will be seen that the compass was very limited on any
individual horn, but by grouping horns in different keys, or by
changing the crooks, command was gained by the composer over a larger
number of open notes.

An important period in the development of the horn has now been
reached. Anton Joseph Hampel is generally credited[68] with the
innovation of adapting the crooks to the middle of the body of the
horn instead of near the mouthpiece, which greatly improved the
quality of the notes obtained by means of the crooks. The crooks
fitted into the two branches of U-shaped tubes, thus forming slides
which acted as compensators. Hampel's _Inventionshorn_, as it is
called in Germany (Fr. _cor harmonique_), is said to date from
1753,[69] the first instrument having been made for him by Johann
Werner, a brass instrument-maker of Dresden. The same invention is
also attributed to Haltenhof of Hanau.[70] Others again mention
Michael Wogel[71] of Carlsruhe and Rastadt, probably confusing his
adaptation of the _Invention_ or _Maschine_, as the slide contrivance
was called in Germany, to the trumpet in 1780. The Inventionshorn,
although embodying an important principle which has also found its
application in all brass wind instruments with valves as a means of
correcting defective intonation, did not add to the compass of the
horn. At some date before 1762 it would seem that Hampel[72] also
discovered the principle on which hand-stopping is founded.

By hand-stopping (Fr. _sons bouches_, Ger. _gestopfte Tone_) is
understood the practice of inserting the hand with palm outstretched
and fingers drawn together, forming a long, shallow cup, into the
bell of the horn; the effect is similar to that produced in wood wind
instruments, termed _d'amore_, by the pear-shaped bell with a narrow
opening, i.e. a veiled mysterious quality, and, according to the
arrangement of the hand and fingers (which cannot be taught
theoretically, being inter-dependent on other acoustic conditions), a
drop in pitch which enables the performer merely to correct the faulty
intonation of difficult harmonics or to lower the pitch exactly a
semitone or even a full tone by inserting the hand well up the bore of
the bell. J. Frohlich[73] gives drawings of the two principal
positions of the hand in the horn. The same phenomenon may be observed
in the flute by closing all the holes, so that the fundamental note of
the pipe speaks, and then gradually bringing the palm of the hand
nearer the open end of the flute. As a probable explanation may be
offered the following suggestion. The partial closing of the opening
of the bell removes the boundary of ambient air, which determines the
ventral segment of the half wave-length some distance beyond the
normal length; this boundary always lies _beyond_ the end of the tube,
thus accounting for the discrepancy between the theoretical length of
the air-column and the practical length actually given to the
tube.[74] Hampel is also said to have been the first to apply the
_sordini_[75] (Fr. _sourdine_) or mute, already in use in the 17th
century for the trumpet,[76] to the horn. The original mute did not
affect the pitch of the instrument, but only the tone, and when
properly constructed may be used with the valve horn to produce the
mysterious veiled quality of the hand-stopped notes. No satisfactory
scientific explanation of the modifications in the pitch effected by
the partial obstruction of the bell, whether by the hand or by means
of certain mechanical devices, has as yet been offered. D. J. Blaikley
suggests that in cases when the effect of hand-stopping appears to be
to raise the pitch of the notes of the harmonic series, the real
result of any contraction of the bell mouth (as by the insertion of
the hand) is always a flattening of pitch accompanied by the
introduction of a distorted or inharmonic scale, of such a character
that for instance, the _c_, _d_, _e_, or 8th, 9th and 10th notes of
the original harmonic scale become not the c[sharp] d[sharp] e[sharp]
of a fundamental raised a semitone, but D[flat], E[flat], and f due to
the 9th, 10th and 11th notes of a disturbed or distorted scale having
a fundamental lower than that of the normal horn.

With regard to the discovery of this method of obtaining a chromatic
compass for the horn, which rendered the instrument very popular with
composers, instrumentalists and the public, and procured for it a
generally accredited position in the orchestra, the following is the
sum of evidence at present available. In the Kgl. offentliche
Bibliothek, Dresden, is preserved, amongst the musical MSS., an
autograph volume of 152 pages, entitled _Lection pro Cornui_, bearing
the signature A. J. H[ampel], the name being filled in in pencil by a
different hand. There is no introduction, no letterpress of any
description belonging to the MS. method for the horn, nor is any book
or pamphlet explaining the Inventionshorn or the method of
hand-stopping by Hampel extant or known to have existed. He has
apparently left no record of his accomplishment. A few typical
extracts copied and selected from the original MS., courteously
communicated by the director of the Royal Library, Hofrath, P. E.
Richter (a practical musician and performer on horn and trumpet), do
not prove conclusively that they were intended to be played on
hand-stopped horns, with the exception, perhaps, of the A, 13th
harmonic from C, which could not easily be obtained except by
hand-stopping on the hand-horn. On the blank sheet preceding the
exercises is an inscription in the hand of Moritz Furstenau, former
custodian of the Royal Private Musical Collection (incorporated with
the public library in 1896): "Anton Joseph Hampel, by whom these
exercises for the horn were written, was a celebrated horn-player, a
member of the Orchestra of the Electoral Prince of Saxony. He invented
the so-called Inventionshorn. Cf. _Neues biog.-hist. Lexicon der
Tonkunstler_ by Gerber, pt. i. col. 493; also _Zur Gesch. der Musik u.
des Theaters am Hofe zu Dresden_, by M. Furstenau, Bd. ii." It will be
seen that Furstenau gives Gerber as his authority for the attribution
of the invention to Hampel, although he searched the archives, to
which he had free access, for material for his book.

The first possessor of the MS., Franz Schubert (1768-1824), musical
director of the Italian opera in Dresden, wrote the following note in
pencil on the last page of the cover: "Franz Schubert. The complete
school of horn-playing by the Kgl. Polnischen u. Kursachs.
Cammermusicus Anton Joseph Hampel, a celebrated virtuoso, invented by
himself in 1762." Judging from the standard of modern technique, there
are many passages in the "Lection" which could not be played without
artificially humouring the production of harmonics with the lips, and
it is an open question to what extent this method of correcting
intonation and of altering the pitch was practised in the 18th
century. When, therefore, Franz Schubert states that the method was
_invented_ by Hampel, we may take this as indirectly confirming
Gerber's statements. Further confirmation is obtained from the text of
a work on the horn written by Heinrich Domnich[77] (b. 1760), the son
of a celebrated horn-player of Wurtzburg contemporary with Hampel.
Domnich junior settled eventually in Paris, where he was appointed
first professor of the horn at the Conservatoire. According to him the
mute (sourdine) of metal, wood or cardboard in the form of a hollow
cone, having a hole in the base, was used to soften the tone of the
horn without altering the pitch. But Hampel, substituting for this the
pad of cotton wool used for a similar purpose with the oboe, found
with surprise that its effect in the bell of the horn was to _raise_
the pitch a semitone (see D. J. Blaikley's explanation above). By this
means, says Domnich, a diatonic and chromatic scale was obtained.
Later Hampel substituted the hand for the pad. Domnich duly ascribes
to Hampel the credit of the Inventionshorn, but erroneously states
that it was Haltenhoff of Hanau who made the first instrument. Domnich
further explains that Hampel, who had not practised the _bouche_ notes
in his youth, only made use of them in slow music, and that the credit
of making practical use of the discovery was due to his pupil Giovanni
Punto (Joh. Stich) the celebrated horn virtuoso, who was a friend of
Domnich's.

It may be well to draw attention to the fact that hand-stopping was
not possible so long as the tube of horn was folded in a circle wide
enough to be worn round the body. The reduction of the diameter of the
orchestral horn in order to allow the performer to hold the instrument
in front of him, thus bringing the bell in front of the right arm in a
convenient position for hand-stopping, must have preceded the
discovery of hand-stopping. In the absence of contrary evidence we may
suppose that the change was effected for the more convenient
arrangement and manipulation of the slides or _Inventions_. So radical
a change in the compass of the horn could not occur and be adopted
generally without leaving its mark on the horn music of the period;
this change does not occur, as far as we know, before the last decades
of the 18th century. The rapid acceptance in other countries of
Hampel's discovery of hand-stopping is evidenced by a passage from a
little English work on music, published in London in 1772 but bearing
at the end of the preface the date June 1766:[78] "Some eminent
Proficients have been so dexterous as very nearly to perform all the
defective notes of the scale on the Horn by management of Breath and
by a little stopping the bell with their hands."

Hampel's success gave a general impetus to the inventive faculty of
musical instrument makers in Europe. At first the result was negative.
Kolbel's attempt must, however, be mentioned, if only to correct a
misconception. Kolbel, a Bohemian horn virtuoso at the imperial
Russian court from 1754, spent many years in vain endeavours to
improve his instrument. At last, in 1760, he applied keys to the horn
or the bugle, calling it Klappenhorn (the bugle is known in Germany as
_Signal_ or _Buglehorn_). Kolbel's experiment did not become widely
known or adopted during his lifetime, but Anton Weidinger, court
trumpeter at Vienna, made a keyed trumpet[79] in 1801, which attracted
attention in musical circles and gave a fresh impetus in experimenting
with keys upon brass instruments. In 1813 Joseph Weidinger, the
twelve-year-old son of the above, gave a concert in Vienna on the
_Klappenwaldhorn_[80] (or keyed French horn), about which little seems
to be known. Victor Mahillon[81] describes such an instrument, but
ascribes the invention to Kolbel; there was but one key placed on the
bell, which on being opened had the effect of raising the pitch of the
instrument a whole tone. By alternately using the harmonic open notes
on the normal length of the tube, and then by the action of the key
shortening the air column, the following diatonic scale was obtained
in the third octave:

In 1812 Dikhuth,[82] horn-player in the orchestra of the grand-duke of
Baden at Mannheim, constructed a horn in which a slide on the
principle of that of the trombone was intended to replace
hand-stopping and to lower the pitch at will a semitone.

The most felicitous, far-reaching and important of all improvements
was the invention of valves (q.v.), pistons or cylinders (the
principle of which has already been explained), by Heinrich
Stolzel,[83] who applied them first of all to the horn, the trumpet
and the trombone,[84] thus endowing the brass wind with a chromatic
compass obtained with perfect ease throughout the compass. The
inherent defect of valve instruments already explained, which causes
faulty intonation needing correction when the pistons are used in
combination, has now been practically overcome. The numerous attempts
to solve the difficulty, made with varying success by makers of brass
instruments, are described under VALVE, BOMBARDEN and CORNET.[85]
(K. S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Michael Praetorius, _De organographia_ (Wolfenbuttel, 1618),
tab. viii., where crooks for lowering the key by one tone on trumpet
and trombone are pictured.

[2] See Victor Mahillon, _Les Elements d'acoustique musicale et
instrumentale_ (Brussels, 1874), pp. 96, 97, &c.; Friedrich Zamminer,
_Die Musik und die musikalischen Instrumente_ (Giessen, 1855), p.
310, where diagrams of the mouthpieces are given.

[3] See Joseph Frohlich, _Vollstandige theoretisch-praktische
Musikschule_ (Bonn, 1811), iii. 7, where diagrams of the two
mouthpieces for first and second horn are given.

[4] See Gottfried Weber, "Zur Akustik der Blasinstrumente," in
_Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung_ (Leipzig, 1816), p. 38.

[5] _Les Instruments de musique au musee du Conservatoire royal de
musique de Bruxelles_, "Instruments a vent," ii., "Le Cor, son
histoire, sa theorie, sa construction" (Brussels and London, 1907),
p. 28.

[6] _Die Akustik_ (Leipzig, 1802), p. 86, S 72.

[7] _Op. cit._ p. 13, S 20, and p. 15, SS 24 and 25. This apparent
discrepancy between an early and a modern authority on the acoustics
of wind instruments is easily explained. Chladni, when speaking of
open and closed pipes, refers to the standard cylindrical and
rectangular organ-pipes. Mahillon, on the other hand, draws a
distinction in favour of the conical pipe, demonstrating in a
practical manner how, given a certain calibre, the conical pipe must
overblow the harmonics of the open pipe, whatever the method of
producing the sound.

[8] See Gottfried Weber, _loc. cit._

[9] See Ernst Heinrich and Wilhelm Weber, _Wellenlehre_ (Leipzig,
1825), p. 519, S 281, and _A Text-Book of Physics_, part. ii.,
"Sound," by J. H. Poynting and J. J. Thomson (London, 1906), pp. 104
and 105.

[10] See Sedley Taylor, _Sound and Music_ (1896), p. 21.

[11] _Id._ pp. 23-25.

[12] See Gottfried Weber, _op. cit._, pp. 39-41, and Ernst H. and
Wilhelm Weber, _op. cit._ p. 522, end of S 285.

[13] See A. Ganot, _Elementary Treatise on Physics_, translated by E.
Atkinson (16th ed., London, 1902), p. 266, S 282, "In the horn
different notes are produced by altering the distance of the lips."
Such a vague and misleading statement is worse than useless. See also
Poynting and Thomson, _op. cit._ p. 113.

[14] "Le Cor," p. 22; p. 11, S 18; pp. 6 and 7, S 8.

[15] The phraseology alone is here borrowed from Sedley Taylor, (_op.
cit._ p. 55), who does not enter into the practical application of
the theory he expounds so clearly.

[16] See Dr Emil Schafhautl's article on musical instruments, S iv.
of _Bericht der Beurtheilungs Commission bei der Allg. Deutschen
Industrie Ausstellung, 1854_ (Munich, 1855), pp. 169-170; also F.
Zamminer, _op. cit._

[17] The measurements are for the high philharmonic pitch a'=452.4.
V. Mahillon, "Le cor" (p. 32), gives a table of the lengths of crooks
in metres.

[18] Robert Eitner, editor of the Monatshefte fur Musikwissenschaft,
published therein an article in 1881, p. 41 seq., "Wer hat die
Ventiltrompete erfunden," in which, after referring to the
_Klappenwaldhorn_ and _Trompete_ (keyed horn and trumpet) made by
Weidinger and played in public in 1802 and 1813 respectively, he goes
on to state that Schilling in his Lexicon makes the comical mistake
of looking upon the Klappentrompete (keyed trumpet) and
_Ventiltrompete_ (valve trumpet) as different instruments. He
accordingly sets matters right, as he thinks, by according to
Weidinger the honour of the invention of valves, hitherto wrongfully
attributed to Stolzel; and in the _Quellenlexikon_ (1904) he leaves
out Stolzel's name, and names Weidinger as the inventor of the
_Klappen_ or _Ventil_, referring readers for further particulars to
his article, just quoted, in the _Monatshefte_.

[19] See Hector Berlioz, _A Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and
Orchestration_, translated by Mary Cowden Clarke, new edition revised
by Joseph Bennett (1882), p. 141.

[20] See Victor Mahillon, _Catal. descriptif des instruments de
musique_, &c., vol. ii. p. 388, No. 1156, where an illustration is
given. See also Dr August Hammerich (French translation by E.
Beauvais), "Uber altnordische Luren" in _Vierteljahrschrift fur
Musik-Wissenschaft_ x. (1894).

[21] See Major J. H. L. Archer, _The British Army Records_ (London,
1888), pp. 402, &c.

[22] _De re militari_, iii. 5 (Basel, 1532). The successive editions
and translations of this classic, both manuscript and printed,
throughout the middle ages afford useful evidence of the evolution of
these three wind instruments.

[23] See Wilhelm Froehner, _La Colonne Trajane d'apres le surmoulage
execute a Rome en 1861-1862_ (Paris, 1872-1874). On pl. 51 is a cornu
framing the head of a cornicen or horn-player. See also the fine
plates in Conrad Cichorius, _Die Reliefs der Traiansaule_ (Berlin,
1896, &c.).

[24] Ermanno Ferrero, _L'Arc d'Auguste a Suse_ (Segusio, 9-8 B.C.)
(Turin, 1901).

[25] See the mouthpiece on the Pompeian buccinas preserved in the
museum at Naples, reproduced in the article Buccina. The museums of
the conservatoires of Paris and Brussels and the Collection Kraus in
Florence possess facsimiles of these instruments; see Victor
Mahillon, _Catalogue_, vol. ii. p. 30. Cf. also the pair of bronze
Etruscan cornua, No. 2734 in the department of Creek and Roman
antiquities at the British Museum, which possess well-preserved
cup-shaped mouthpieces.

[26] See Bock, "Gebrauch der Horner im Mittelalter," in Gustav
Heider's _Mittelalterliche Kunstdenkmaler Osterreichs_ (Stuttgart,
1858-1860).

[27] _Dictionnaire raisonne du mobilier francais_ (Paris, 1889), ii.
p. 246.

[28] Engelbertus Admontensis in _De Musica Scriptores_, by Martin
Gerbert, Bd. ii. lib. ii. cap. 29; and Edward Buhle, _Die
Musikalischen Instrumente in den Miniaturen des fruhen Mittelalters_,
pt. i., "Die Blasinstrumente" (Leipzig, 1903), p. 16.

[29] _Le Tresor de venerie par Hardouin, seigneur de
Fontaines-Guerin_ (edited by H. Michelant, Metz, 1856); the first
part was edited by Jerome Pichon (Paris, 1855), with an historical
introduction by Bottee de Toulmon.

[30] As worked out by Edward Buhle, _op. cit._, p. 23.

[31] See Turbevile, _op. cit._, also J. du Fouilloux, _La Venerie_
(Paris, 1628), p. 70; cf. also editions of 1650 and of 1562, where
the horn is called _trompe_, used with the verb _corner_; Juliana
Bernes, _Boke of St Albans_ (1496), the frontispiece of which is a
hunting scene showing a horn of very wide bore, without bell. Only
half the instrument is visible.

[32] See "Reliure italienne du xv^e siecle en argent nielle.
Collection du Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild, Vienne," in _Gazette
archeologique_ (Paris, 1880), xiii. p. 295, pl. 38, where other
instruments are also represented.

[33] See Jost Amman, _Wappen und Stammbuch_ (1589). A reprint in
facsimile has been published by Georg Hirth as vol. iii. of
_Liebhaber Bibliothek_ (Munich, 1881). See arms of Sultzberger aus
Tirol (p. 52), "Ein Jagerhornlin," and of the Herzog von Wirtenberg;
cf. the latter with the arms of Wurthemberch in pl. xxii. vol. ii. of
Gelre's _Wappenboek ou armorial de 1334 a 1372_ (miniatures of coats
of arms in facsimile), edited by Victor Bouton (Paris, 1883).

[34] For illustrations see autotype facsimile of Utrecht Psalter, 9th
century; British Museum, Add. MS. 10,546, Ps. 150, 9th century; Add.
MS. 24,199, 10th century; Eadwine Psalter, Trin. Coll. Camb., 11th
century, and Cotton MS., Nero, D. IV., 8th century; also Edward
Buhle, _op. cit._, pl. ii. and pp. 12-24.

[35] See John Carter, _Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Paintings_
(London, 1780-1794), i. p. 53 (plates unnumbered); also reproduced in
H. Lavoix, _Histoire de la musique_ (Paris, 1884).

[36] See Jost Amman, _op. cit._

[37] _Musica getutscht und ausgezogen_ (Basel, 1511), p. 30. The
names are not given under the drawings, but the above is the order in
which they occur, which is probably reversed.

[38] _Harmonie universelle_ (Paris, 1636), p. 245.

[39] _Syntagma Musicum_ (Wolfenbuttel, 1618), pl. vii. No. 11, p. 39.

[40] _Historisch-biographisches Lexicon der Tonkunstler_ (Leipzig,
1790-1792 and 1812-1814).

[41] _De saecularibus Liberalium Artium in Bohemia et Moravia fatis
commentarius_ (Prague, 1784), p. 401.

[42] See Ernest Thoinan, _Les Origines de la chapelle musique des
souverains de France_ (Paris, 1864); F. J. Fetis, "Recherches sur la
musique des rois de France, et de quelques princes depuis Philippe le
Bel jusqu'a la fin du regne de Louis XIV.," _Revue musicale_ (Paris,
1832), xii. pp. 193, 217, 233, 241, 257; Castil-Blaze, _La Chapelle
musique des rois de France_ (Paris, 1882); Michel Brenet, "Deux
comptes de la chapelle musique des rois de France," _Intern. Mus.
Ges._, Smbd. vi., i. pp. 1-32; J. Ecorcheville, "Quelques documents
sur la musique de la grande ecurie du roi," _Intern. Mus. Ges._,
Smbd. ii. 4 (Leipzig, 1901), pp. 608-642.

[43] _Neue Zeitschrift f. Musik_ (Leipzig, 1870), p. 309.

[44] See _Die Sammlung der Musikinstrumente des baierischen Nat.
Museum_ by K. A. Bierdimpfl (Munich, 1883), Nos. 105 and 106.

[45] Communication from Dr Georg Hagen, assistant director.

[46] See Musee du Conservatoire National de Musique. _Catalogue des
instruments de musique_ (Paris, 1884), p. 147.

[47] See Captain C. R. Day, _Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical
Instruments exhibited at the Military Exhibition_ (London, 1890), p.
147, No. 307.

[48] See V. Mahillon, _Catal._ vol. i. No. 468.

[49] See Captain C. R. Day, _Catal._ No. 309, p. 148.

[50] For an illustration see _Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of
Ancient Musical Instruments at South Kensington Museum 1872_ (London,
1873), p. 25, No. 332.

[51] See _Katalog des musikhistorischen Museums von Paul de Wit_
(Leipzig, 1904), p. 142, No. 564, where it is classified as a
Jagertrompete after Praetorius; it has a trumpet mouthpiece.

[52] For an illustration see F. J. Crowest, _English Music_, p. 449,
No. 12.

[53] See Ignatz and Anton Bock in _Baierisches Musik-Lexikon_ by
Felix J. Lipowski (Munich, 1811), p. 26, note.

[54] See, for instance, frontispiece of Walther's _Musikalisches
Lexikon_ (Leipzig, 1732); J. F. B. C. Majer's _Musik-Saal_
(Nuremberg, 1741, 2nd ed.), p. 54; Joh. Christ. Kolb, _Pinacotheca
Davidica_ (Augsburg, 1711); Ps. xci.; "Componimenti Musicali per il
cembalo Dr Theofilo Muffat, organista di sua Sacra Maesta Carlo VI.
Imp." (1690), title-page in _Denkmaler d. Tonkunst in Oesterreich_,
Bd. iii.

[55] See Hugo Goldschmidt, "Das Orchester der italienischen Oper im
17 Jahrhundert," _Intern. Mus. Ges._, Smbd. ii. 1, p. 73.

[56] See "Le Cor," pp. 23 and 24, and _Dictionnaire de l'acad. des
beaux arts_, vol. iv., art. "Cor."

[57] Mersenne's drawings of _cors de chasse_ are very crude; they
have no bell and are all of the large calibre suggestive of the
primitive animal horn. He mentions nevertheless that they were not
only used for signals and fanfares but also for little concerted
pieces in four parts for horns alone, or with oboes, at the
conclusion of the hunt.

[58] See William Tans'ur Senior, _The Elements of Musick_ (London,
1772); Br. V. Dictionary under "Horn." Also Scale of Horn in the hand
of Samuel Wesley; in Add. MS. 35011, fol. 166, Brit. Mus.

[59] A horn-player, Johann Theodor Zeddelmayer, was engaged in 1706
at the Saxon court at Weissenfels; see _Neue-Mitteilungen aus dem
Gebiete histor. antiqu. Forschungen_, Bd. xv. (2) (Halle, 1882), p.
503; also Wilhelm Kleefeld, "Das Orchester der Hamburger Oper,
1678-1738," _Intern. Mus. Ges._, Smbd. i. 2, p. 280, where the
appearance of the horn in the orchestras of Germany is traced.

[60] _Das neu-eroffnete Orchester_, i. 267.

[61] See Moritz Furstenau, _Zur Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters
zu Dresden_ (Dresden, 1861-1862), vol. ii. p. 60.

[62] See "Carl Heinrich Graun als Opernkomponist," by Albert
Mayer-Reinach, _Intern. Mus. Ges._, Smbd. i. 3 (Leipzig, 1900), pp.
516-517 and 523-524, where musical examples are given.

[63] Cf. Chrysander, _Haendel_, ii. 146.

[64] See Moritz Furstenau, _op. cit._ ii. 58.

[65] See Ludwig von Kochel, _Die kaiserliche Hofkappelle in Wien_
(Vienna, 1869), p. 80.

[66] See Victor Mahillon, _Catalogue descriptif_, vol. ii. No. 1160,
p. 389.

[67] _Op. cit._ ii. 60.

[68] The Department of State Archives for Saxony in Dresden possesses
no documents which can throw any light upon this point, but, through
the courtesy of the director, the following facts have been
communicated. Two documents concerning Anton Joseph Hampel are
extant: (1) An application by his son, Johann Michael Hampel, to the
elector Friedrich August III. of Saxony, dated Dresden, April 3,
1771, in which he prays that the post of his father as horn-player in
the court orchestra--in which he had already served as deputy for his
invalid father--may be awarded to him. (2) A petition from the widow,
Aloisia Ludevica Hampelin, to the elector, bearing the same date
(April 3, 1771), wherein she announces the death of her husband on
the 30th of March 1771, who had been in the service of the house of
Saxony thirty-four years as horn-player, and prays for the grant of a
monthly pension for herself and her three delicate daughters, as she
finds herself in the most unfortunate circumstances. There is no
allusion in either letter to any musical merit of the deceased.

[69] There is an instrument of this early type, supposed to date from
the middle of the 18th century, in Paul de Wit's fine collection of
musical instruments formerly in Leipzig and now transferred to
Cologne; see _Katalog_, No. 645, p. 148.

[70] See _Dictionnaire de l'acad. des beaux arts_, vol. iv. (Paris),
article "Cor."

[71] See Dr Gustav Schilling, _Universal Lexikon der Tonkunst_
(Stuttgart, 1840), Bd. vi., "Trompete"; also Capt. C. R. Day, pp. 139
and 151, where the term _Invention_ is quite misunderstood and
misapplied. See Gottfried Weber in _Caecilia_ (Mainz, 1835), Bd.
xvii.

[72] Gerber in the first edition of his _Lexikon_ does not mention
Hampel or award him a separate biographical article; we may therefore
conclude that he was not personally acquainted with him, although
Hampel was still a member of the electoral orchestra in Dresden
during Gerber's short career in Leipzig. In the edition of 1812
Gerber renders him full justice.

[73] _Vollstandige theoretisch-praktische Musikschule_ (Bonn, 1811),
pt. iii. p. 7.

[74] See Victor Mahillon, "Le Cor," p. 28; Chladni, _op. cit._ p. 87.

[75] See Frohlich, _op. cit._ 7; and Gerber, _Lexikon_ (ed. 1812), p.
493; "Le Cor," pp. 34 and 53.

[76] See Praetorius and Mersenne, _op. cit._; the latter gives an
illustration of the trumpet mute.

[77] _Methode de premier et de second cor_ (Paris, c. 1807). The
passage in question was discovered and courteously communicated by
Hofrat P. E. Richter of the Royal Library, Dresden. There is no copy
of Domnich's work in the British Museum.

[78] See William Tans'ur Senior, _op. et loc. cit._

[79] See _Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung_ (Leipzig), Nov. 1802, p.
158, and Jan. 1803, p. 245; and E. Hanslick, _Geschichte des
Concertwesens in Wien_ (Vienna, 1869), p. 119.

[80] See _Allgem. mus. Ztg._, 1815, p. 844.

[81] "Le Cor," pp. 34-35.

[82] See the description of the instrument and of other attempts to
obtain the same result by Gottfried Weber, "Wichtige Verbesserung des
Horns" in _Allg. musik. Ztg._ (Leipzig, 1812), pp. 758, &c.; also
1815, pp. 637 and 638 (the regent or keyed bugle).

[83] See _Allg. musik. Ztg._, 1815, May, p. 309, the first
announcement of the invention in a paragraph by Captain G. B. Bierey.

[84] _Ibid._, 1817, p. 814, by F. Schneider, and Dec. p. 558; 1818,
p. 531. An announcement of the invention and of a patent granted for
the same for ten years, in which Blumel is for the first time
associated with Stolzel as co-inventor. See also _Caecilia_ (Mainz,
1835), Bd. xvii. pp. 73 seq., with illustrations, an excellent
article by Gottfried Weber on the valve horn and valve trumpet.

[85] For a very complete exposition of the operation of valves in the
horn, and of the mathematical proportions to be observed in
construction, see Victor Mahillon's "Le Cor," also the article by
Gottfried Weber in _Caecilia_ (1835), to which reference was made
above. A list of horn-players of note during the 18th century is
given by C. Gottlieb Murr in _Journal f. Kunstgeschichte_ (Nuremberg,
1776), vol. ii. p. 27. See also a good description of the style of
playing of the virtuoso J. Nisle in 1767 in Schubart, _Aesthetik d.
Tonkunst_, p. 161, and _Leben u. Gesinnungen_ (1791), Bd. ii. p. 92;
or in L. Schiedermair, "Die Blutezeit d. Ottingen-Wallensteinschen
Hofkapelle," _Intern. Mus. Ges._ Smbd. ix. (1), 1907, pp. 83-130.

HORNBEAM (_Carpinus betulus_), a member of a small genus of trees of the natural order Corylaceae. The Latin name _Carpinus_ has been thought to be derived from the Celtic _car_, wood, and _pin_ or _pen_, head, the wood of hornbeams having been used for yokes of cattle (see Loudon, _Ency. of Pl._ p. 792, new ed. 1855, and Littre, Dict. ii. 556). The common hornbeam, or yoke-elm, _Carpinus betulus_ (Ger. _Hornbaum_ and _Hornbuche_, Fr. _charme_), is indigenous in the temperate parts of western Asia and of Asia Minor, and in Europe, where it ranges as high as 55 deg. and 56 deg. N. lat. It is common in woods and hedges in parts of Wales and of the south of England. The trunk is usually flattened, and twisted as though composed of several stems united; the bark is smooth and light grey; and the leaves are in two rows, 2 to 3 in. long, elliptic-ovate, doubly toothed, pointed, numerously ribbed, hairy below and opaque, and not glossy as in the beech, have short stalks and when young are plaited. The stipules of the leaves act as protecting scale-leaves in the winter-bud and fall when the bud opens in spring. The flowers appear with the leaves in April and May. The male catkins are about 1(1/2) in. long, and have pale-yellow anthers, bearing tufts of hairs at the apex; the female attain a length in the fruiting stage of 2 to 4 in., with bracts 1 to 1(1/2) in. long. The green and angular fruit or "nut" ripens in October; it is about 1/4 in. in length, is in shape like a small chestnut, and is enclosed in leafy, 3-lobed bracts. The hornbeam thrives well on stiff, clayey, moist soils, into which its roots penetrate deeply; on chalk or gravel it does not flourish. Raised from seed it may become a tree 40 to as much as 70 ft. in height, greatly resembling the beech, except in its rounder and closer head. It is, however, rarely grown as a timber-tree, its chief employment being for hedges. "In the single row," says Evelyn (_Sylva_, p. 29, 1664), "it makes the noblest and the stateliest _hedges_ for long Walks in Gardens or _Parks_, of any Tree whatsoever whose leaves are _deciduous_." As it bears clipping well, it was formerly much used in geometric gardening. The branches should not be lopped in spring, on account of their tendency to bleed at that season. The wood of the hornbeam is white and close-grained, and polishes ill, is of considerable tenacity and little flexibility, and is extremely tough and hard to work--whence, according to Gerard, the name of the tree. It has been found to lose about 8% of its weight by drying. As a fuel it is excellent; and its charcoal is much esteemed for making gunpowder. The inner part of the bark of the hornbeam is stated by Linnaeus to afford a yellow dye. In France the leaves serve as fodder. The tree is a favourite with hares and rabbits, and the seedlings are apt to be destroyed by mice. Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xxvi. 26), who describes its wood as red and easily split, classes the hornbeam with maples.

The American hornbeam, blue or water beech, is _Carpinus americana_ (also known as _C. caroliniana_); the common hop-hornbeam, a native of the south of Europe, is a member of a closely allied genus, _Ostrya vulgaris_, the allied American species, _O. virginiana_, is also known as ironwood from its very hard, tight, close-grained wood.