Cannot STAND sound of French horn --

[alzado]

My wife has a peculiar problem.  She simply cannot STAND the sound of a French horn. 

Multiply this by several times if an orchestra section of French horns comes in.

On one occasion, she fled out of a concert hall in tears, hands covering her ears.  This was during a performance of Swan Lake.

What is the cause of this?  What should she do?

We were thinking of a kind of therapy where she begins listening to quiet pieces played by English horns, and then slowly tries to tolerate baritone solos ("Asleep in the Deep") and finally attempts to endure the sound of a French horn -- initially for a few seconds, perhaps, and then building up resistance.

Really, one must question why any composer would want to write for French horns anyway.  They are almost unendurable. 

Any advice appreciated . . .

[pianistimo]

well, according to this article:  www.navyband.navy.mil/horn2_art.htm

"the horn itself faces the wrong way...forcing the players to play louder, more on top of the note, and with clearer articulation."

"after all this - there remains one important question - why do horn players miss so many notes?" ... (as i understand this article - the range of a french horn exceeds four octaves - yet they normally only play the higher range from Bb to c2 which is in the high range of their own overtone series - thus the notes they play end up being much closer together than other instruments).

and of course, my own theories - french horn players are notoriously good looking and therefore a bit on the snobby side.  but, really good french horn players are probably irresistable (like the ones in the philadelphia orchestra).  maybe your wife is really picky about french horn players and has yet to hear a good one.  she must have a good ear!

[Dazzer]

how do you know if you're going out with a french horn player?

They're always horny, and when you kiss them their hand is up your ass.

[stevie]

how do you know if you're going out with a french horn player?

They're always horny, and when you kiss them their hand is up your ass.

[Tash]

we used to have a girl in our music class who played the french horn, except she never practiced. so we had to go play at some function for some retirement home and she was playing, quite badly, and we were all trying not to piss ourselves laughing, it was quite hilarious no offence to her!

but yeah french horns can sound pretty bad if they're not played well

maybe it's part of some disturbing part of her childhood?

[Bob]

My wife has a peculiar problem.  She simply cannot STAND the sound of a French horn. 

Multiply this by several times if an orchestra section of French horns comes in.

On one occasion, she fled out of a concert hall in tears, hands covering her ears.  This was during a performance of Swan Lake.

What is the cause of this?  What should she do?

We were thinking of a kind of therapy where she begins listening to quiet pieces played by English horns, and then slowly tries to tolerate baritone solos ("Asleep in the Deep") and finally attempts to endure the sound of a French horn -- initially for a few seconds, perhaps, and then building up resistance.

Really, one must question why any composer would want to write for French horns anyway.  They are almost unendurable. 

Any advice appreciated . . .

Is this serious?  It can't be.  Maybe someone could have a hearing issue with horns, but... building tolerance listening to an English horn?  That's a double reed.

Any instrument can be played badly.  You have to have good ears for the horn.  The harmonics are so close it's easy to miss notes if you don't hear them right and if you don't practice them right.

Wide range compared to most instrument.  A plus for the horn.

Very dark sound.  Blends well with brass or woodwinds.

Unfortunately it's the "alto" instrument and gets stuck with static repetivie parts a lot.

I like the sound of the French horn myself.  Played well of course.

And of course you can't have the same effect in a movie, shock and surprise, without French horns.

It's a different creature, but it wouldn't be around if there was something to it.  There are plenty of other instruments that "almost" made it, but aren't around much anymore.

[allthumbs]

My wife has a peculiar problem.  She simply cannot STAND the sound of a French horn. 


Any advice appreciated . . .

Get her some bagpipe music and make her listen for a couple hours straight. The French horn will sound pretty good after that.

(My appologies to you concert bagpipe players.)


Cheers

allthumbs

[allthumbs]

Hey, how did these popup ads get in here?

[squinchy]

French horn sounds like a fluffy bear with a stuffy nose schoopling around, humming or something.

On another point, when I went to music camp, the horn players were so...weird! There was this girl who always wore a black cape, black pants, and shirts/berets that matched--she had lime green berets! And they all sat together at the same table with their little orange flag with a horn on it and hung out in the "horn room" and made a "corny horn pickup jokes" poster...

But the bassonists were weird too. They had hot pink "Reeding is essential" shirts made for them. o_0

[quantum]

I'm not a French Horn player, but I love the sound of the instrument.  It has an additional woodwind quality to it which differs from other brass instruments. 

I like Mozart's Horn Concertos better than some of his piano music. 

[gkatele]

https://freespace.virgin.net/andy.callard/Brassplayingmishaps.htm

[alzado]

Someone asked if this post was serious.

Well, pretty much so.  My wife will not tolerate classical music if it features french horns in any significant way.  She really despises the sound of this instrument.  I believe it is fair to say that she truly DETESTS the sound of the french horn.

I appreciated the posts from several individuals suggesting the french horn players lack a good moral character.

But I think it is -- rather -- that odious, bugling, burbling sonority of the french horn.  The sound may have a valid use for setting an atmosphere of gloom and despair, perhaps hinting of the infernal regions.  The sound of a french horn tends to drive all joy from the human heart.  Case in point . . . .   I believe there's lots of french horn in the score of Rachmaninoff's "Isle of the Dead" as well as in Moussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain."  How about "March to the Scaffold" ?  I would have to refresh my memory on some of this.

But I agree, bagpipes are even worse.

[tompilk]

Cannot STAND sound of French horn

Can anyone?


 

[g_s_223]

Steer clear of the works of Richard Strauss then, the horn parts are many, various, and highly prominent, e.g. Don Juan, Ein Heldenleben, Eine Alpensinfonie (24 horns!!!), two Horn Concertos, ....

I LOVE Richard Strauss and his horn writing!

[4tissimo]

You didn't mention what orchestral pieces' French horn parts had so offended her ears, but I think if she were to hear some of THE best excerpts in the repertoire, perhaps that would help; e.g., 2d movement solo in Tchaikovsky's 5th Sym., Scherzo trio from Beethoven's 5th, 2d move. of Dvorak's 7th, or any of Mozart's concertos. 

The suggestion of hearing an Eng. hrn. softly for initially short periods might actually help but a hecklephone would probably be nearer hrn tone color/tessitura. 

And if she could steel herself to tolerate bagpipes or maybe accordions, then hrns would probably be easier to take. 

[alzado]

A poster writes, "And if she could steel herself to tolerate bagpipes or maybe accordions, then hrns would probably be easier to take."

How about the Norwegian "fleugelhorn" ?  I heard one played years ago, and it made me almost suicidal.

Many years ago, when I was a college student, I really adored the Mozart horn concerti. 

I have kept this from my wife all these years.   To save our marriage.

---------------------

We have had a bit of good fun and humor here at the expense of the French, who invented the damn thing.  To the unending DISMAY of the musical world.

But tell me -- if any readers of this thread are French by ancestry, aren't you all a little ASHAMED that you unleashed this travesty on the orchestral world?

[pianistimo]

my great grandfather was married to a french woman by the name of helene laflamme.  she had a sister and they immigrated to NYC around the turn of the century.  anyway, that makes me 1/6th or something, french. 

the french horn, played by a good player, isn't that terrible is it?  it just seems to take a lot of breath and really precise ear.  glad you saved your marriage by not promoting the horn music though, if she really hates it.

[arensky]

  HAH!!!! arensky angry at all of you!!  arensky love the horn particularly in Liszt's Piano Concerto #2 !! Is very beautiful, and difficult! Try it! You may fail! HAAAHH!!!!

arensky have horn, want to play but have no time...   it is difficult...piano goes in a row, horn is worse than guitar goes all over the place, makes no sense like piano. Can hire person to tune piano, horn must be tuned by you! Very difficult to get good sound; arensky have good sound, but it's hard to tune....more gigs on piano, too....

RESPECT THE HORN!!!! IT"S VERY ******* BEAUTIFUL  ****** !!!!!! 


                                                           

[arensky]

OH and BRAHMS!!!!! Brahms makes piano in his PIANO Concerto #2 ACCOMPANY the HORN!! At BEGINING!!  If Brahms like it SO SHOULD YOU!!!!! HAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

SCRIABIN use the horn in his CONCERTO, A LOT!!!! What do you have to say now, piano horn haters?? arensky winning hahahahaha hehehehe HOHOHOHOHOOOOOOOOOO..........