The traditional line-up of the brasses is: Horns, Trumpets,
Trombones, Tubas. The numbers and combinations of these
instruments vary greatly according to historical period,
geographical location and, of course, composer choice. Probably
the most common orchestral combination is: but there are
numerous variations on this, including massively expanded
groupings where required. Horns are often used in combination
with woodwind, and generally have a weaker sound than the other
brass. The convention when writing for four horns is to give
high parts to horns 1 and 3, and low parts to 2 and 4 (with 1
taking the highest, and 4 taking the lowest). A fifth horn may
well be used even when only four are required by the score, to
cover the less important passages in the Horn 1 part, allowing
the principal to concentrate on important solos. A quartet of
horns will be very effective and unobtrusive when carrying the
harmonic background to a passage. Use the various collections of
clips in this section to listen to different