MUSICAL COMPOSITION

102 MUSICAL COMPOSITIONthe other hand, the crooks whereby they can changetheir key must be chosen suitably to the key of themovement they play, so as to give them the maximumof scope; the particular quality given individually bythe crooks themselves must also be known andweighed. The difference of tone-colour in the variouscrooks is not so marked in the trumpet as it is in thehorn, and sufficient stress is not laid in the treatisesupon this most important but very subtle distinctionof quality. Even in the modern orchestra, wherenearly everything, unfortunately, is played upon theF horn, that laziness has involved great loss of colourin the music written for the natural horn with crooks.In Beethoven's Symphony, No.7, it is practically impossibleeven nowadays to play the horn parts exceptupon the very characteristic A crook; but his EroicaSymphony is usually played on the F horn instead ofthe E fiat, for which it is written, with the result thatthe pile of the velvet is scraped off. A student ofWagner's full scores will notice that the crooks of thehorn parts are constantly changed to suit the tonalityof the passage in which they occur. Whether theprinted directions of the composer are attended to ornot is no concern of his. His experience of thevarious colours will only be gained by asking afriendly horn-player to play a given passage on thedifferent crooks. His practice in writing for theinstrument must tally with that of the player. Everygood horn-player is trained at first on the natural hornwithout the use of valves. His ear will thus getaccustomed to the roundness of tone which is soessential to its character, and he will endeavour topreserve the same quality when he adds the valves.