Editing Alphorn (section)

== Construction and qualities ==

[[File:Seealpsee Juni2018 Alphorn.jpg|thumb|upright|Alphorn bell detail]]

The alphorn is carved from solid [[softwood]], usually [[pine]] or [[spruce]]. Traditionally, the alphorn maker would find a tree growing on a slope and bent at the base providing the curved shape for the bell. The long trunk would be cut in half longways, the bore hollowed out, then glued and bound back together with outer layers of stripped bark. Modern instruments are made in several sections for more convenient handling and transport, each turned and bored from solid blocks of spruce. An integrated cup-shaped mouthpiece was traditionally carved into the narrow end, while modern instruments have a separate removable mouthpiece carved from hard wood.<ref name="Cambridge-2019"/>

An alphorn made at Rigi-Kulm, Schwyz, and now in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], measures {{convert|8|ft|m}} in length and has a straight tube. The Swiss alphorn varies in shape according to the locality, being curved near the bell in the [[Bernese Oberland]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

The alphorn is a simple tube with no lateral openings or means of adjusting the pitch, so only the notes of the [[Harmonic series (music)|natural harmonic series]] are available.<ref name="EB1911"/> As with other natural labrosones, some of the notes do not correspond to the Western [[equal temperament|equal tempered]] [[chromatic scale]], particularly the 7th and 11th partials.

[[Image:Harmonic Series.png|thumb|center|600px]]

Accomplished alphornists can command a range of nearly three octaves, consisting of the 2nd through the 16th partials. The availability of the higher tones is due in part to the relatively small diameter of the bore of the mouthpiece and tubing in relation to the overall length of the horn.

The well-known "[[Ranz des Vaches]]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/19980214205945/http://www.lyoba.ch/culture/desalpe/ranz.htm#PARTITION score]; [http://www.bavarianinfo.ch/eng/bavarianinfo.html?sid=7020216&cKey=1183635931000&ty=st&rubricId=25004&siteSect=25001 audio]{{Dead link|date=February 2023}}) is a traditional Swiss melody often heard on the alphorn. The song describes the time of bringing the cows to the high country at milk making time.{{clarify|date=October 2023}} [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]] introduced the "Ranz des Vaches" into his masterpiece ''[[William Tell (opera)|William Tell]]'', along with many other melodies scattered throughout the opera in vocal and instrumental parts that are well-suited to the alphorn. [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] wrote to [[Clara Schumann]] that the inspiration for the dramatic entry of the horn in the introduction to the last movement of his [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|First Symphony]] was an alphorn melody he heard while vacationing in the [[Rigi]] area of Switzerland. For Clara's birthday in 1868 Brahms sent her a greeting that was to be sung with the melody.