What is Adolf Borsdorf?
'''Adolph Borsdorf''' (born Dittmansdorf, [[Saxony]], 25 December 1854; died [[London]], 15 April 1923), was a [[Germany|German]] player of the [[French horn]]. Borsdorf was born in [[Saxony]] in 1854. He studied the [[French horn]] at the [[Conservatoire]] in [[Dresden]] and played in a military band. In 1879, he moved to [[England]] where he stayed for the rest of his life, becoming the most important horn player in England. The [[Conducting|conductor]] [[Hans Richter]] offered him at job in the orchestra at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]]. In 1904, he joined the newly formed [[London Symphony Orchestra]]. The four horn players in that orchestra were excellent players and were often called “God’s Own Quartet”. Borsdorf and his colleague Franz Paersch had learned to play on horns that were made in Germany. These had a wide bore (the hole through the tube). However, both players changed to playing instruments made in France by a horn-maker called Raoux. These instruments had a narrower bore. They were not quite as powerful but gave a particularly clear sound. Borsdorf became professor at the [[Royal College of Music]] when it was founded in 1882. He also taught at the [[Royal Academy of Music]]. He soon became the best horn player in [[London]]. He was playing [[principal]] horn in the orchestra which [[Henry Wood]] conducted at the very first [[The Proms|Promenade Concert]] in the [[Queen’s Hall]] in 1895 (the fourth horn was [[Alfred Edwin Brain Sr.|A.E.Brain]], grandfather of [[Dennis Brain]]). He was also in the orchestra when [[Richard Strauss|Richard Strauss’s]] ''Till Eulenspiegel'' was given its first performance in [[England]] in 1896 with the composer conducting. In 1913, he became ill and had to have [[tooth|teeth]] removed. There was also another problem for him: [[World War I]] broke out in 1914 and there was a lot of anti-German feeling in England. After the war he rarely played in public. Borsdorf died in 1923. He had done more than anyone else to improve the standard of ho