This article is based on materials published in The Horn Call Annual 8 (1996). It was for many years posted on the Horn Articles Online website, presented here with several minor updates.
Schubert composed his famous song with horn obbligato, Auf dem Strom, D. 943 (1828) specifically for performance by the young J. R. Lewy [Deutsch, Thematic, 461]. In this work Schubert placed much greater demands upon the instrument. Not only was a much wider individual range called for (although never outside the range of the Cor basse), but the horn writing was also much more melodic. Was Auf dem Strom actually written specifically for the valved horn? This work has been cited as the first work by a major composer for the valved horn (for example, Morley-Pegge, 2nd ed., 106), but no contemporary source indicates that this work was composed specifically for the valved horn.
The work opens as follows.
Example 3. Schubert, Auf dem Strom, mm. 1-17.
There is nothing in the opening section which would preclude performance on the natural horn. As with Nachtgesang im Walde, the central performing issue is that of producing all of the notes requested in the low range of the horn. The most difficult passage is the following.
Example 4. Schubert, Auf dem Strom, mm. 129-135.
When performed on the natural horn there are several low heavily stopped notes to be dealt with, the most difficult pitches being the written f, a, and c-sharp’. While difficult on the natural horn, the way in which these pitches are used by Schubert permitted effective performance: that is, the difficult heavily stopped notes in the low range passages are pianissimo and double the vocal line, and thus do not require a great deal of projection. [NOTE: For those interested in performing this work on the natural horn, it must be noted that an historically accurate instrument and mouthpiece is of great importance in obtaining these low, “factitious” notes, as greater flexibility of pitch is required than would be desired on horns and mouthpieces of more modern design]. Written a-flat is also requested in this passage; this note can be performed playing g and opening the bell very widely.
With regard to range, the work is primarily written in the middle range of the horn, with the exception of the last pitch of the work, written C. While more suitable for a Cor basse, the work could also have been performed by a high horn player of the period with a good low range. Judging from his later etudes, J. R. Lewy must have had a very wide range and would have had no trouble performing this work. While he made his career as a high hornist, it would appear that he was a strong performer in both ranges.
A final question is the possibility of the horn writing in this work being idiomatic for the horn with two valves. A performer of Auf dem Strom does not need more than two valves to play every written pitch as an open tone. The only pitch seen outside of those available with true fingerings on the two-valved horn is a-flat, and this pitch can be performed either by raising the g with the hand or by lowering the a with the hand. Thus, this work is easily playable on the two-valved horn, and it is possible that this is the type of instrument that J. R. Lewy actually used in this period.
Written for valved horn, but very playable on natural horn
While everything in this 1828 work is playable on the natural horn, it has been noted that J. R. Lewy was performing on the valved horn by 1826. Auf dem Strom lies very well for the valved horn crooked in E, the same instrument that Schubert had called for in Nachtgesang im Walde. It is not known whether J. R. Lewy performed this work on the valved horn or the natural horn, but it seems likely that he would use the new instrument in performances of this new work. It would appear, however, that Schubert did not want to commit himself to the new instrument, and wrote Auf dem Strom in a way that it would still be playable on the natural horn. So while perhaps easier to perform on the valved horn crooked in E, it has been demonstrated by modern natural horn artists that Auf dem Strom can be performed very successfully on the natural horn.
SOURCES
W. F. H. Blandford, “Studies on the Horn. III. The Fourth Horn in the ‘Choral Symphony,'” part 1, The Musical Times 66 (January 1, 1925), 29-32.
Otto Erich Deutsch, The Schubert Reader (New York: W. W. Norton, 1947), translated by Eric Bloom.
________, Schubert: Thematic Catalogue of all His Works (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1951).
Gottfried Weber, “Ueber Ventilhorn und Ventiltrompete mit drei Ventilen” [Valved Horn and Valved Trumpet with Three Valves], Cäcilia 17 (1835), 73-105.
