[1] There was a barrow in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorsetshire, called
Hornesbeorh; and there are other indications which point to a
possible connexion between _Horn_ and Dorset (see H. L. Ward, _Cat.
of Romances_, i. 451).
[2] Sudenne and Westernesse are tentatively identified also with Isle
of Man and Wirral (_Cambridge Hist. of Eng Lit._, i. 304).
HORN (a common Teutonic word, cognate with Lat. _cornu_; cf. Gr. [Greek:
keras]). The weapons which project from the heads of various species of
animals, constituting what are known as horns, embrace substances which
are, in their anatomical structure and chemical composition, quite
distinct from each other; and although in commerce also they are known
indiscriminately as horn, their uses are altogether dissimilar. These
differences in structure and properties were thus indicated by Sir R.
Owen:--"The weapons to which the term horn is properly or technically
applied consist of very different substances, and belong to two organic
systems, as distinct from each other as both are from the teeth. Thus
the horns of deer consist of bone, and are processes of the frontal
bone; those of the giraffe are independent bones or 'epiphyses' covered
by hairy skin; those of oxen, sheep and antelopes are 'apophyses' of the
frontal bone, covered by the corium and by a sheath of true horny
material; those of the prong-horned antelope consist at their basis of
bony processes covered by hairy skin, and are covered by horny sheaths
in the rest of their extent. They thus combine the character of those of
the giraffe and ordinary antelope, together with the expanded and
branched form of the antlers of deer. Only the horns of the rhinoceros
are composed wholly of horny matter, and this is disposed in
longitudinal fibres, so that the horns seem rather to consist of coarse
bristles compactly matted together in the form of a more or less
elongated sub-compressed cone." True horny matter is really a modified
form of epidermic tissue, and consists of the albuminoid "keratin." It
forms, not only the horns of the ox tribe, but also the hoofs, claws or
nails of animals generally, the carapace of the tortoises and the
armadilloes, the scales of the pangolin, porcupine quills, and birds'
feathers, &c.
Horn is employed in the manufacture of combs, buttons, the handles of
walking-sticks, umbrellas, and knives, drinking-cups, spoons of various
kinds, snuff-boxes, &c. In former times it was applied to several uses
for which it is no longer required, although such applications have left
their traces in the language. Thus the musical instruments and fog
signals known as horns indicate their descent from earlier and simpler
forms of apparatus made from horn. In the same way powder-horns were
spoken of long after they ceased to be made of that substance; to a
small extent lanterns still continue to be "glazed" with thin
transparent plates of horn.
HORN (Lat. _cornu_; corresponding terms being Fr. _cor_, _trompe_; Ger.
_Horn_; Ital. _corno_), a class of wind instruments primarily derived
from natural animal horns (see above), and having the common
characteristics of a conical bore and the absence of lateral holes. The
word "horn" when used by modern English musicians always refers to the
French horn.
Modern horns may be divided into three classes: (1) the short horns with
wide bore, such as the bugles (q.v.) and the post-horn. (2) The saxhorns
(q.v.), a family of hybrid instruments designed by Adolphe Sax, and
resulting from the adaptation of valves and of a cup-shaped mouthpiece
to instruments of the calibre of the bugle. The Flugelhorn family is the
German equivalent of the saxhorns. The natural scale of instruments of
this class comprises the harmonics from the second to the eighth only.
(3) The French horn (Fr. _cor de chasse_ or _trompe de chasse_, _cor a
pistons_; Ger. _Waldhorn_, _Ventilhorn_; Ital. _corno_ or _corno di
caccia_), one of the most valuable and difficult wind instruments of the
orchestra, having a very slender conical tube wound round in coils upon
itself. It consists of four principal parts--the body, the crooks, the
slide and the mouthpiece.
(a) The _body_ is the main tube, having a bore of the form known as
trunco-conical, measuring approximately 7 ft. 4 in. in length, in
which the increase in the diameter of the bore is very gradual in
proportion to the length, the cone becoming accentuated only near the
bell. In the valve horn the bore is only theoretically conical, the
extra lengths of tubing attached to the valves being practically
cylindrical. The body is coiled spirally, and has at one end a
wide-mouthed bell from 11 to 12 in. in diameter having a parabolic
curve, and at the other a conical ferrule into which fit the crooks.
(b) The _crooks_ (Fr. _corps_ or _tons de rechange_; Ger.
_Krummbogen_, _Stimmbogen_, _Einsetzbogen_) are interchangeable,
spiral tubes, tapering to a diameter of a quarter of an inch at the
mouthpiece end and varying in length from 16 in. for the B[flat] alto
crook to 125 in. for the B[flat] basso. Each crook is named according
to the fundamental tone which it produces on being added to the body.
By lengthening the tube at will the crook lowers the pitch of the
instrument, and consequently changes the key in which it stands.
Although the harmonic series remains the same for all the crooks, the
actual sounds produced by overblowing are lower, the tube being
longer, and they now belong to the key of the crook. The principle of
the crook was known early in the 17th century; it had been applied to
the trumpet, trombone and Jagertrummet[1] before being adapted to the
horn. Crooks are merely transposing agents; they are powerless to fill
up the gaps in the scale of the horn in order to make it a chromatic
or even a diatonic instrument, for they require time for adjustment.
The principle of the crook doubtless suggested to Stolzel the system
of valves, which is but an instantaneous application of the general
principle to the individual notes of the harmonic series, each of
which is thereby lowered a semitone, a tone or a tone and a half, as
long as the valve remains in operation. The body of the horn without
crooks is of the length to produce 8 ft. C., and forms the standard,
being known as the alto horn in C, which is the highest key in which
the horn is pitched. The notes are sounded as written.
(c) The _mouthpiece_ of the horn differs substantially from that of
the trumpet.[2] There is, strictly speaking, no cup, the inside of the
mouthpiece being, like the bore of the instrument itself, in the form
of a truncated cone or funnel. Like the other parts of this difficult
and complex instrument, the proportions of the mouthpiece must bear a
certain undefined relation to the length and diameter of the column of
air. The choice of a suitable mouthpiece is in fact a test of skill;
the shape of the lip of the performer and the more special use he may
wish to make of either the higher or the lower harmonics have to be
taken into consideration. In orchestral music the part for first horns
naturally calls for the use of the higher harmonics, which are more
easily obtained by means of a somewhat smaller and shallower
mouthpiece[3] than that used upon the second horn, which is called
upon to dwell more on the lower harmonics.
(d) The _tuning slides_ (Fr. _coulisses_; Ger. _Stimmbogen_) consist
of a pair of sliding U-shaped tubes fitting tightly into each other,
by means of which the instrument can be brought strictly into tune,
and which also act as compensators with the crooks. On these tuning
slides, placed across the ring formed by the coils of the valve-horn,
are fixed the pistons with their extra lengths of tubing; as the
connexion of the pistons with the body of the horn is made through the
slides, the value of the latter as compensators will be readily
understood. Those accustomed to deal with instruments having fixed
notes, such as the piano and harp, hardly realize the extreme
difficulties which confront both maker and performer in intricate wind
instruments such as the horn, on which no sounds can be produced
without conscious adjustment of lips and breath, and but few without
the additional use of some such contrivance as slide, crook, piston of
of the hand in the bell, in the case of the natural or hand horn.
Acoustics.
The production of sound in wind instruments has a fourfold object: (1)
pitch; (2) range or scale of available notes; (3) quality of tone or
_timbre_; (4) dynamic variation, or crescendo and diminuendo. The pitch
of the horn, as of other wind instruments, depends almost exclusively on
the length of the air-column set in vibration, and remains practically
uninfluenced by the diameter of the bore. In the case of conical tubes
in which the difference in diameter at the two extremities, mouthpiece
and bell, is very great, as in the horn, the pitch of the tube will be
slightly higher than its theoretical length would warrant.[4] When, for
instance, three tubes of the same length are sounded--No. 1, conical
diverging; No. 2, conical converging in the direction from mouthpiece
to bell; No. 3, cylindrical--No. 1 gives a fundamental tone somewhat
higher, No. 2 somewhat lower, than No. 3. Victor Mahillon[5] adds that
the rate of vibration in such conical tubes as the horn is slightly less
than the rate of vibration in ambient air; therefore, as the rate of
vibration (i.e. the number of vibrations per second) varies in the
inverse ratio with the length of the tube, it follows that the practical
length of the horn is slightly less than the theoretical, the difference
for the horn in B[flat] normal pitch amounting to 13.9 cm.
(approximately 5(1/2) in.).
The tube of the horn behaves as an open pipe. E. F. F. Chladni[6] states
that the mouthpiece end is to be considered as open in all wind
instruments (excepting reed instruments), even when, as in horns and
trumpets, it would seem to be closed by the lips. Victor Mahillon,
although apparently holding the opposite view, and considering as closed
the tubes of all wind instruments played by means of reeds, whether
single or double, or by the lips acting as reeds, gives a new and
practical explanation of the phenomenon.[7] The result is the same in
both cases, for the closed pipe of trunco-conical bore, whose diameter
at the bell is at least four times greater than the diameter at the
mouthpiece, behaves in the same manner, when set in vibration by a reed,
as an open pipe, and gives the consecutive scale of harmonics.[8]
In order to produce sound from the horn, the performer, stretching his
lips across the funnel-shaped mouthpiece from rim to rim, blows into
the cavity. The lips, vibrating as the breath passes through the
aperture between them, communicate pulsations or series of
intermittent shocks to the thin stream of air, known as the exciting
current, which, issuing from them, strikes the column of air in the
tube, already in a state of stationary vibration.[9] The effect of
this series of shocks, without which there can be no sound, upon the
column of air confined within the walls of the tube is to produce
sound-waves, travelling longitudinally through the tube. Each
sound-wave consists of two half-lengths, one in which the air has been
compressed or condensed by the impulse or push, the second in which,
the push being spent, the air again dilates or becomes rarefied. In an
open pipe, the wave-length is theoretically equal to the length of the
tube. The pitch of the note depends on the frequency per second with
which each vibration or complete sound-wave reaches the drum of the
ear. The longer the wave the lower the frequency. The velocity of the
wave is independent of its length, being solely conditioned by the
rate of vibration of the particles composing the conveying medium:
while one individual particle performs one complete vibration, the
wave advances one wave-length.[10] The rate of particle vibration or
frequency is therefore inversely proportional to the corresponding
wave-length.[11] Sound-waves generated by the same exciting current
travel with the same velocity whatever their length, the difference
being the frequency number and therefore the pitch of the note. As
long as the performer blows with normal force, the same length of tube
produces the same wave-length and therefore the same frequency and
pitch. By "blowing with normal force" is understood the proper
relative proportions to be maintained between the wind-pressure and
the lip-tension--a ratio which is found instinctively by the performer
but was only suspected by the older writers.[12] If the shocks or
vibrations initiated by the lips through the medium of the exciting
current be sharper owing to the increased tension of the lips, and at
the same time succeed each other with greater velocity, the
wave-length breaks up, and two, three or more proportionally shorter
complete waves form instead of one, and traverse the pipe within the
same space of time, producing sounds proportionally higher by an
octave, a twelfth, &c., according to the character of the initiatory
disturbance. We may therefore add this proposition: the rate of
vibration of a tube varies as the number of segments into which the
vibrating column of air within it is divided. In order to obtain the
fundamental, the performer's lips must be loose and the wind-pressure
gentle but steady, so that the exciting current may issue forth in a
broad, slow stream. To set in vibration a column of air some 16 or 17
ft. long is a feat of extreme difficulty; that is why it is quite
exceptional to find a horn-player who can sound the fundamental on the
low C or B[flat] _basso_ horns. In the organ, where even a 32 ft. tone
is obtained, the wind-pressure and the lip-opening controlling the
exciting current are mechanically regulated for each length of
pipe--only one note being required from each. In order, therefore, to
induce the column of air within the tube to break up and vibrate in
aliquot parts, the exciting current must be compressed into an ever
finer, tenser and more incisive stream. There is in fact a certain
minimum pressure for each degree of tension of the lips below which no
harmonic can be produced.
It is often stated that the harmonics are obtained by increasing the
tension of the lips and a crescendo by increasing the pressure of the
breath.[13] Victor Mahillon[14] accounts for the harmonics by
increased wind-pressure only. It is evident that the greater the
tension of the lips, the greater the force of wind required to set
them vibrating; therefore the force and velocity of the air must vary
with the tension of the lips in order to produce a steady or musical
sound. D. J. Blaikley considers that the ratio of increase in lips and
breath follows that of the harmonic series. The tension of the lips
has the effect of reducing the width of the slit or aperture between
them and the width of the exciting current. While increasing its
density the energy of the wind must, therefore, either expend itself
in increasing the rate of vibration, or frequency of the pulses, which
influences the pitch of the note; or else in increasing the extent of
excursion or amplitude of the vibrations, which influences the dynamic
force of the sound or loudness.[15] If the aperture be narrowed
without providing a proportional increase of wind-pressure, the
harmonic overtone may be heard, but either the intonation will suffer
or the intensity of the tone will be reduced, because the force
required, to set the tenser membrane in vibration is insufficient to
give the vibrations the requisite amplitude as well as the frequency.
If the force expended be excessive, i.e. more than the maximum
required to ensure the increased frequency proportional to the
increased tension, the superfluous energy must expend itself in
increasing the amplitude of the vibrations so that a note of a greater
degree of loudness as well as of higher pitch will be produced. The
converse is equally true; the lower the pitch of the note the slower
the pulses or vibrations and therefore the looser the lip and the
gentler the force of current required to set them vibrating. To draw a
parallel from organ-pipes: as long as even wind-pressure is
maintained, the mouthpiece being fixed proportional to the length of
tube, the pipe gives out one note of unvarying dynamic intensity;
increase the pressure of the wind and harmonics are heard, but it is
impossible to obtain a crescendo unless the mouthpiece be dispensed
with and a free reed (q.v.) adapted.
Reference has already been made above to the difficulty of obtaining
the fundamental on tubes of great length and narrow bore like the
horn. The useful compass of the horn, therefore, begins with the note
that an open pipe half its length would give; the Germans term
instruments of such small calibre _half instruments_, and those of
wide calibre, such as bugles and tubas, _whole instruments_,[16] since
in them the whole of the length of the tube is available in practice.
The harmonic series of the horn, or the open notes obtainable without
using valves or crooks, is written as for the alto horn in C of 8 ft.
tone, which forms the standard of notation. Notes written in the bass
clef are generally, for some unexplained reason, placed an octave
lower than the real sounds.
[Illustration]
All the crooks, a list of the principal of which is appended,
therefore necessarily give real sounds _lower_ than the above series
according to their individual length.
_Table of Principal Crooks now in Use._[17]
+---------------+------------------+-------------+----------+-----------------+
| Key of | Actual Sounds of | | Length of| |
| Crook. | Range of Useful | | Crook in | Transposes to |
| | Harmonics. | | Inches. | |
+---------------+------------------+-------------+----------+-----------------+
| B[flat] alto | [music notes] | 2nd to 10th | 16 | major 2nd lower |
| A[natural] | [music notes] | 2nd to 10th | 22(1/2) | minor 3rd " |
| A[flat] | [music notes] | 2nd to 10th | 29(1/2) | major 3rd " |
| G | [music notes] | 2nd to 12th | 36(3/4) | perfect 4th " |
| F | [music notes] | 2nd to 16th | 52(1/2) | perfect 5th " |
| E | [music notes] | 2nd to 16th | 61 | minor 6th " |
| E[flat] | [music notes] | 2nd to 16th | 70(1/4) | major 6th " |
| D | [music notes] | 2nd to 16th | 80 | minor 7th " |
| C basso | [music notes] | 3rd to 16th | 101 | 8^ve " |
| B[flat] basso | [music notes] | 3rd to 16th | 125 | major 9th " |
+---------------+------------------+-------------+----------+-----------------+
The practical aggregate compass of the natural horns from B[flat]
basso at the service of composers therefore ranges (actual sounds)
from [music notes] or with 3 valves from [music notes] By means of
hand-stopping, i.e. the practice of thrusting the hand into the bell
in order to lower the sound by a tone or a semitone, or by the
adaptation of valves to the horn, this compass may be rendered
chromatic almost throughout the range.
The principle of the valve as applied to wind instruments differs
entirely from that of keys. The latter necessitate lateral holes bored
through the tube, and when the keys are raised the vibrating column of
air within the tube and the ambient air without are set in
communication, with the result that the vibrating column is shortened
and the pitch of the note raised. The valve system consists of valves
or pistons attached to additional lengths of tubing, the effect of
which is invariably to lower the pitch, except in the case of valve
systems specified as "ascending" tried by John Shaw and Adolphe Sax.
Insuperable practical difficulties led to the abandonment of these
systems, which in any case were the exception and not the rule. The
valves, placed upon the U-shaped slides in the centre of the horn, are
worked by means of pistons or levers, opening or closing the wind-ways
at will, so that when they are in operation the vibrating column of
air no longer takes its normal course along the main tube and directly
through the slides, but makes a detour through the extra length of
tubing before completing its course. Thus the valves, unlike the keys,
do not open any communication with the ambient air. Even authoritative
writers[18] have confused the two principles, believing them to be one
and the same.
French horns are made with either two or three valves. To the first
valve is attached sufficient length of tubing to lower the pitch of
the instrument a tone, so that any note played upon the horn in F
while the first valve is depressed takes effect a tone lower, or as
though the horn were in E[flat]. The second valve opens a passage into
a shorter length of tubing sufficient to lower the pitch of the
instrument a semitone, as though the instrument were for the time
being in E. The third valve similarly lowers the pitch a tone and a
half. It will thus be seen that the principle applied in the crook and
the valve is in the main the same, but the practical value of the
valve is immeasurably superior. Thanks to the valve system the
performer is able to have the extra lengths of tubing necessary to
give the horn a chromatic compass permanently incorporated with the
instrument, and at will to connect one or a combination of these
lengths with the main tube of the instrument during any interval of
time, however short. The three devices, crooks, valves and slides, are
in fact all based upon the same principle, that of providing
additional length of tubing in order to deepen the pitch of the whole
instrument at will and to transpose it into a different key. Valves
and slides, being instantaneous in operation, give to the instrument a
chromatic compass, whereas crooks merely enable the performer to play
in many keys upon one instrument instead of requiring a different
instrument for each key. The slide is the oldest of these devices, and
probably suggested the crook as a substitute on instruments of conical
bore such as the horn.
The invention of the valve, although a substantial improvement, was
found to fall short of perfection in its operation on the tubes of
wind instruments so soon as the possibility of using the three valves
in combination to produce six different positions or series of
harmonics was realized, and for the following reason. In order to
deepen the pitch one tone by means of valve 1, a length of tubing
exactly proportional to the length of the main tube must be thrown
into communication with the latter. If, in addition to valve 1, valve
3 be depressed, a further drop in pitch of 1(1/2) tone should be
effected; but as the length of tubing added by depressing valve 3 is
calculated in proportion to the main tube, and the latter has already
been lengthened by depressing valve 1, therefore the additional length
supplied by opening valve 3 is now too short to produce a drop of a
minor third strictly in tune, and all notes played while valves 1 and
3 are depressed will be too sharp. Means of compensating slight errors
in intonation are provided in the U-shaped slides mentioned above.
The _timbre_ of the natural horn is mellow, sonorous and rich in
harmonics; it is quite distinctive and bears but little resemblance to
that of the other members of the brass wind. In listening to its
sustained notes one receives the impression of the tone being breathed
out as by a voice, whereas the trumpet and trombone produce the effect
of a rapid series of concussions, and in the tuba and cornet the
concussions, although still striking, are softened as by padding. The
timbre of the hand-stopped notes is veiled and suggestive of mystery;
so characteristic is the timbre that passages in the _Rheingold_ heard
when the magic power of the Tarnhelm reveals itself sound meaningless
if the weird chords are played by means of the valves instead of by
hand-stopping. The timbre of the piston notes is more resonant than
that of the open notes, partaking a little of the character of the
trombone, which is probably due to the fact that the strictly conical
bore of the natural horn has been replaced by a mixed cylindrical and
conical as in trumpet and trombone.
The form of the mouthpiece (q.v.) at the point where it joins the main
bore of the tube must also exercise a certain influence on the form of
vibration, which it helps to modify in conjunction with the
conformation of each individual horn-player's lip. In the horn the cup
of the mouthpiece is shaped like a funnel, the bore converging
insensibly into the narrow end of the main conical bore without break
or sharp edges as in the mouthpieces, more properly known as
cup-shaped, of trumpet and bombardon.
The brilliant sonorousness and roundness of the timbre of the horn are
due to the strength and predominance of the partial tones up to the
7th or 8th. The prevalence of the higher harmonics from the 10th to
the 16th, in which the partial tones lie very close together,
determines the harsh quality of the trumpet timbre, which may be
easily imitated on the horn by forcing the sound production and using
a trumpet mouthpiece, and by raising the bell, an effect which is
indicated by composers by the words "Raise the Bells."[19]
History.
The origin of the horn must be sought in remote prehistoric times, when,
by breaking off the tip of a short animal horn, one or at best two
notes, powerful, rough, unsteady, only barely approximating to definite
musical sounds, were obtained. This was undoubtedly the archetype of the
modern families of brass wind instruments, and from it evolved the
trumpet, the bugle and the tuba no less than the horn. The common
characteristics which link together these widely different modern
families of instruments are: (1) the more or less pronounced conical
bore, and (2) the property possessed in a greater or lesser degree of
producing the natural sounds by what has been termed overblowing the
harmonic overtones. If we follow the evolution of the animal horn
throughout the centuries, the ultimate development leads us not to the
French horn but to the bugle and tuba.
Before civilization had dawned in classic Greece, Egypt, Assyria and
the Semitic races were using wind instruments of wood and metal which
had left the primitive ram or bugle horn far behind. Even in northern
Europe, during the Bronze age (c. 1000 B.C.), prehistoric man had
evolved for himself the prototype of the Roman _cornu_, a bronze horn
of wide conical bore, bent in the shape of a G. One of these
instruments, known among the modern Scandinavian races as _luurs_ or
_lurs_, found in the peat beds of Denmark and now preserved in the
Museum of Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen, has a length of 1.91 m.
(about 6 ft. 4 in.). The U-shaped mouthpiece joint is neatly joined to
the remainder of the crescent-tube by means of a bronze ring; the
bell, which must have rested on the shoulder, consists merely of a
flat rim set round the end of the tube. There is therefore no graceful
curve in the bell as in the French horn. An exact facsimile of this
prehistoric horn has been made by Victor Mahillon of Brussels, who
finds that it was in the key of E[flat] and easily produces the first
eight harmonics of that key. It stands, therefore, an octave higher
than the modern horn in E[flat] (which measures some 13 ft.), but on
the _lur_ the fundamental E[flat] can be reached owing to the wider
calibre of the bore.[20]
Among the Romans the wind instruments derived from the horn were well
represented, and included well-developed types which do not differ
materially from the natural instruments of modern times. The buccina
developed directly into the trumpet and trombone during the middle
ages, losing no characteristic of importance but the bent form, which
was perforce abandoned when the art of bending hollow tubes was lost
after the fall of the Roman Empire. The name clung through all the
changes in form and locality to the one type, and still remains at the
present day in the German _Posaune_ (trombone). There were four
instruments known by the name of _cornu_ among the Romans: (1) the
short animal horn used by shepherds; (2) the longer, semicircular
horn, used for signals; and (3) the still longer _cornu_, bent and
carried like the buccina, which had the wide bore of the modern tuba.
But whereas on the buccina the higher harmonics were easily obtained,
on the cornu the natural scale consisted of the first eight harmonics
only. The cornu, although shorter than the buccina, had a deeper pitch
and more sonorous tone, for, owing to the wider calibre of the bore,
the fundamental was easily reached. In the reliefs on Trajan's Column,
where the two instruments may be compared, the wider curve of the
buccina forms a ready means of identification. In addition to these
was (4) the small instrument like the medieval hunting-horn or
post-horn, with the single spiral turn similar to one which figures as
service badge in many British infantry regiments,[21] such as the
first battalion of the King's Own Light Infantry. A terra-cotta model,
slightly broken, but with the spiral intact, was excavated at Ventoux
in France and is at present preserved in the department of Greek and
Roman antiquities at the British Museum, having been acquired from the
collection of M. Morel.
The _lituus_, or cavalry trumpet of the Romans, consisted of a
cylindrical tube, to which was attached a bent horn or conical bell,
the whole in the shape of a J. The long, straight Roman tuba was
similar to the large, bent cornu so far as bore and capabilities were
concerned, but more unwieldy. All these wind instruments seem to have
been used during the classic Greek and Roman periods merely to sound
fanfares, and therefore, in spite of the high degree of perfection to
which they attained as instruments, they scarcely possess any claim to
be considered within the domain of music. They were signalling
instruments, mainly used in war, in hunting and in state or civic
ceremonial. Vegetius (A.D. 386) describes these instruments, and gives
detailed instructions for the special traditional uses of tuba,
buccina and cornu in the military camp: "Semivocalia sunt, quae per
tubam, aut cornua, aut buccinam dantur. Tuba quae directa est
appellatur buccina, quae in semet ipsam aereo circulo flectitur. Cornu
quod ex uris agrestibus, argento nexum, temperatum arte, et spiritu,
quem canentis flatus emittit auditur."[22] It will be seen that
Vegetius demands a skilled horn-player. These service instruments may
all be identified in the celebrated bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column[23]
(fig. 1) and of the Triumphal arch of Augustus at Susa.[24]
Interesting evidence of a collegium cornicinum (gild of horn-players)
is furnished by an altar stone in the Roman catacombs, erected to the
memory of one "M. Julius victor ex Collegio Liticinum Cornicinum," on
which are carved a lituus, a cornu and a pan's pipe, the cornu being
similar to those on Trajan's Column.
All three Roman instruments, the tuba, the buccina and the cornu, had
well-formed mouthpieces, differing but little from the modern
cup-shaped form in use on the trumpet, the trombone, the tubas,
&c.[25] It would seem that even the short horn in the 4th century was
provided with a mouthpiece,[26] judging from a carved specimen on an
ivory _capsa_ or _pyxis_ dating from the period immediately preceding
the fall of the Roman Empire, preserved among the precious relics at
Xanten.
[Illustration: From Conrad Cichorius, _Die Reliefs der Traiansaule_,
by permission of Georg Reimer.