Editing Alphorn (section)

== History ==

The alphorn may have developed from instruments like the {{lang|la|[[lituus]]}}, a similarly shaped [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] instrument of [[classical antiquity]], although there is little documented evidence of a continuous connection between them. A 2nd century Roman mosaic, found in Boscéaz, depicts a shepherd using a similar straight horn. The use of long signal horns in mountainous areas throughout Europe and Asia may indicate a long history of cultural cross-influences regarding their construction and usage.<ref name="Cambridge-2019"/>

The first documented use of the German word {{lang|de|Alphorn}} is in a payment recorded in the 1527 accounts ledger of [[Saint Urban's Abbey]] in [[Pfaffnau]]. Swiss naturalist [[Conrad Gessner]] used the words {{lang|la|lituum alpinum}} for the first known detailed description of the alphorn, in his ''De raris et admirandis herbis'' (1555); in his time, the word ''lituus'' was used for several other wind instruments, like the [[natural horn|horn]], [[crumhorn]], or [[cornett]].
In the early 17th century, music scholar [[Michael Praetorius]] in his treatise ''[[Syntagma Musicum]]'' (1614–1620) depicts an alphorn-like instrument he called a {{lang|de|Hölzern Trummet}} ("wooden trumpet"), noting they are used by shepherds.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y |wstitle=Alpenhorn, Alphorn |volume=1 |page=723 |first=Kathleen |last=Schlesinger |author-link=Kathleen Schlesinger}}</ref>

From the 17th to 19th century, alphorns were used in rural areas of the Alps, for signalling between high pastures across the valleys and to communities on the valley floor. The alphorn sounds can carry for several kilometres, and were even used to collect together dispersed herds. Although use by herdsmen had waned by the early 19th century, a revival of interest in the musical qualities of the instrument followed by the end of the century, and the alphorn became important in tourism, and inspired Romantic composers such as [[Beethoven]] and [[Gustav Mahler]] to add alphorn, or traditional alphorn melodies, to their pieces.<ref name="Cambridge-2019"/>