Jazz | Definition, History, Musicians, & Facts | Britannica
Jazz grew from the African American slaves who were prevented from maintaining their native musical traditions and felt the need to substitute ...
horn
Jazz grew from the African American slaves who were prevented from maintaining their native musical traditions and felt the need to substitute some homegrown form of musical expression. Such composers as the Brazilian mulatto José Maurício Nunes Garcia were fully in touch with the musical advances of their time that were developing in Europe and wrote music in those styles and traditions. American slaves, by contrast, were restricted not only in their work conditions and religious observances but in leisure activities, including music making. Although slaves who played such instruments as the violin, <anchor>horn</anchor>, and oboe were exploited for their musical talents in such cities as Charleston, South Carolina, these were exceptional situations. By and large the slaves were relegated to picking up whatever little scraps of music were allowed them.
Horn | Brass, Woodwind & Natural Horns | Britannica
Horn \| Brass, Woodwind & Natural Horns \| Britannica

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[horn](https://www.britannica.com/art/horn-musical-instrument-group)

Table of Contents


Introduction
[References & Edit History](https://www.britannica.com/art/horn-musical-instrument-group/additional-info) [Quick Facts & Related Topics](/facts/horn-musical-instrument-group)

[Images](https://www.britannica.com/art/horn-musical-instrument-group/images-videos)

[![orchestral horn](https://cdn.britannica.com/39/133039-004-BCBB9965/horn-valves.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/39/133039-050-5A4B7410/horn-valves.jpg)[![post horn](https://cdn.britannica.com/73/118573-004-C35F420E/Post-horn.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/73/118573-004-C35F420E/Post-horn.jpg)

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[Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz](/quiz/sound-check-musical-vocabulary-quiz)

[![Gong. Closeup of a khong wong gong circle chime. Thai classical musical instrument, part of piphat ensemble. (percussion, music)](https://cdn.britannica.com/36/152736-131-0D36C79D/Closeup-gong-circle-chime-wong-part-Thai.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop)](/quiz/music-quiz)

[Music Quiz](/quiz/music-quiz)

Related Questions


- [Who was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?](/question/Who-was-Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart)
- [How old was Mozart when he began playing music?](/question/How-old-was-Mozart-when-he-began-playing-music)
- [What are Mozart’s most famous compositions?](/question/What-are-Mozarts-most-famous-compositions)
- [What did Mozart contribute to Western music?](/question/What-did-Mozart-contribute-to-Western-music)

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[10 Classical Music Composers to Know](/list/10-classical-music-composers-to-know)

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Contents


[Entertainment & Pop Culture](/browse/Entertainment-Pop-Culture)[Musical Instruments](/browse/Musical-Instruments)

# horn

musical instrument group



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Also known as: cor


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[Article History](https://www.britannica.com/art/horn-musical-instrument-group/additional-info#history)


Table of Contents


[![orchestral horn](https://cdn.britannica.com/39/133039-050-5A4B7410/horn-valves.jpg?w=400&h=300&c=crop)](https://cdn.britannica.com/39/133039-050-5A4B7410/horn-valves.jpg)

orchestral horn

[See all media](https://www.britannica.com/art/horn-musical-instrument-group/images-videos)

French: Cor_(Show more)_

German: Horn_(Show more)_

Key People: [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](/biography/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart)_(Show more)_

Related Topics: [horn](/art/horn-musical-instrument)[alphorn](/art/alphorn)[post horn](/art/post-horn)[cornu](/art/cornu)[mellophone](/art/mellophone)_(Show more)_

[See all related content →](/facts/horn-musical-instrument-group)

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**horn**, in [music](https://www.britannica.com/art/music), any of several wind instruments sounded by vibration of the player’s tensed lips against a mouthpiece and primarily derived from animal horns blown at the truncated narrow end or, as among many tropical peoples, at a hole in the side. Metal construction, at first imitating natural shapes, dates as far back as the Danish [Bronze Age](https://www.britannica.com/event/Bronze-Age) _lur_ s, cast in the shape of mammoth tusks, and the Roman _buccina_ and semicircular [cornu](https://www.britannica.com/art/cornu). Instruments of horn were known in [ancient Egypt](https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Egypt), Mesopotamia, Israel (the shofar), Greece, and throughout South and West Africa and continue to be played by shepherds in Scandinavia, the Balkans, parts of Spain, and Sudan.

[Medieval](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Medieval) European [ivory](https://www.britannica.com/topic/ivory) horns, imported from Byzantium in the 10th century, were associated with royalty; these ivory (sometimes bone) horns, often richly carved, were called [oliphants](https://www.britannica.com/art/oliphant). The oxhorns of medieval huntsmen and watchmen sounded but one or two notes of the natural harmonic series— _i.e.,_ the notes produced on a horn or [trumpet](https://www.britannica.com/art/trumpet) without finger holes or valves, caused by the air column vibrating in fractional segments (as for the fundamental note C: c–g–c′–e′–g′–b♭′ \[approximate pitch\]–c″–d″–e″, etc.). From these instruments later modern metal horns were developed. This process included refining the [bore](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/bore) profile (which remains mainly conical except where impractical, as through the [valve](https://www.britannica.com/art/valve-music) mechanism) and the bell form, and the prolongation of the bore to lower the fundamental pitch so as to bring higher notes of a tube’s natural series within the upper sound-wave frequency limit of a player’s lip vibration, thereby extending the instrument’s melodic possibilities. Horns retaining the curved shape but with lengthened tube include the 18th-century [bugle](https://www.britannica.com/art/bugle) horn. An English straight-built group, derived from early 19th-century hunting horns, includes the brass [post horn](https://www.britannica.com/art/post-horn) (employing harmonics 2–5, written c′–g′–c″–e″ but sounding a sixth higher); the copper coach horn; and the 20th-century English hunting horn, a reduced version with one note only.

[![Young girl wearing a demin jacket playing the trumpet (child, musical instruments, Asian ethnicity)](https://cdn.britannica.com/30/254330-131-1B200240/young-girl-playing-trumpet.jpg)\
\
Britannica Quiz\
\
Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz](/quiz/sound-check-musical-vocabulary-quiz)

[Accommodation](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/Accommodation) of increased length by making one or more coils in the tube was well known in the 16th century, both in small once-coiled horns that led to continental hunting and post horns (whence the cornet) and in close-coiled helical horns with 5 or more feet (about 1 1/2 metres) of tubing. The large circular French hunting horn, the _trompe_ (or _cor_) _de chasse,_ appeared in about 1650; the modern orchestral, or French, [horn](https://www.britannica.com/art/horn-musical-instrument) derives from it. Still played in modern France and Belgium by huntsmen, brass bands, and horn-playing clubs, it varies in diameter and number of coils but is often about 15 inches (38 centimetres) across, coiled three times, with 15 feet (4 1/2 metres) of tubing. It is held on the player’s arm with one hand alone; the harmonics most used are numbers 4 to 12 (written in C but sounding in D a seventh lower), though numbers 2 and 3 are used as bass notes when the horns are played in harmony. _See also_ [French horn](https://www.britannica.com/art/horn-musical-instrument); [mellophone](https://www.britannica.com/art/mellophone); [saxhorn](https://www.britannica.com/art/saxhorn).

This article was most recently revised and updated by [Amy McKenna](/editor/Amy-McKenna/6443).