In this list you'll find recent music by lesser-known independent composers, as well as famous published works. The list emphasizes music written since 1980, although there are some earlier pieces too. The list covers works that use one horn in non-standard ensembles from solo to trio (no brass or woodwind quintets or multi-horn pieces).

For this list, composers submitted information about their music and I got some information from other sources. I asked composers to provide data on range and difficulty as well as how to get the music.

This list is a snapshot of music available in 2002. I'm not adding to it at this time and composer information may not be current. It's still worth pursuing this music to discover something new!

PDF version for printing

Unaccompanied Horn & Horn and Recorded Sound

Go to:   With Keyboard   With Other Instrument   Mixed Trios

Matthew Van Brink, Horn O' Plenty

for solo horn

Duration: 8 minutes

Comments: Several short character pieces spanning the instrument's range of expression.

Availability: from the composer, 1277 Commonwealth Ave. #212, Allston, MA 02134

(617) 782-2229, mvanbrin@alumni.indiana.edu

John Ferguson, Concert Piece for Song Lee Halbeisen

for solo horn

Duration: 12 minutes

Comments: Virtuosic piece in four sections, large range, leaps, long muted tones, fast repeated notes, glissandi

Availability: from the composer, 19 Colliston Road #2, Brighton, MA 02135 USA johfergu@yahoo.com

Cost: $10

John Ferguson, Cadenza to Mozart horn concerto No. 4

for solo horn

Duration: 2 minutes

Comments: idiomatic, Mozartian, effective cadenza

Availability: from the composer, 19 Colliston Road #2, Brighton, MA 02135 USA johfergu@yahoo.com

Cost: $5

Ari Frankel, [how to] Handle Handel

for solo horn

Duration: app. 1'40", less then 2 minutes

Comments: only moderately difficult, and jumping ranges, this is an appropriate "showoff" piece: short, concise, moving from tonal to non-tonal and back. Tempo is mostly quarter=120 with many eighth note triplets.

Availability: from the composer, see it online at http://www.arifrankel.com/handle.html or contact the composer at Cameral Music, 617 469 3963 or 917 348 0760.

Cost: none

Kenneth A. Jacobs, NIGHT COVERS ALL (1992)

for Horn and Synthesized Sound

Duration: 21 minutes

Movements: (can be played separately) "Death", "Valediction", "Purification", and "Transfiguration".

Comments: The middle two are difficult, the outer movements very difficult, especially the last. Range is to high C. Recorded by Calvin Smith on Zyode DS1014 compact disc.

Availability: Score with synthesized accompaniment on CD from the composer, School of Music, University of Tennessee, 1741 Volunteer Boulevard, Knoxville, TN 37996-2600, kjacobs@utk.edu, 865-974-7556 office, 865-539-6159 home.

Cost: not specified

Dennis Leclaire, Five Miniatures

for solo horn

Availability: Contact the composer for information, 2039 Bay Road, Sharon, MA 02067

Pamela J. Marshall, Colored Leaves (1994)

for solo horn

Duration: 6 minutes

Movements: 1. Crisp and Cool, 2. Aria - Whistling Wind

Comments: Moderate difficulty. Arpeggios must be played fluidly. Composed for low horn players, range to G Student contents requirement at the Southeast Horn Workshop in 1996. Movements can be performed separately.

Availability: Spindrift Music Company. 38 Dexter Road, Lexington, MA 02420, www.spindrift.com, pmarshall@spindrift.com, 781-862-0884.

Cost: $6

Pamela J. Marshall, Jazz-Inflected Etudes (1998)

for trumpet or any treble-clef instrument

Duration: 6 minutes

Movements: 1. Hearth, 2. Skyscape, 3. I Mourn

Comments: The player is invited to bend tones, add ornaments, use mutes, and interpret the music as they see fit. It's fun to do on horn. Movements can be performed separately.

Availability: Spindrift Music Company. 38 Dexter Road, Lexington, MA 02420, www.spindrift.com, pmarshall@spindrift.com, 781-862-0884.

Cost: $6

Pamela J. Marshall, Miniatures for Unaccompanied Horn (1973)

for solo horn

Movements: 1. March, 2. Motion, 3. Lament, 4. Song, 5. Echoes

Comments: Character pieces of moderate difficulty, with some effects such as tapping on the mute and singing while playing. A subset of movements can be played.

Availability: Raoul R. Ronson, Seesaw Music Corp., 2067 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, (212) 874-1200

Thea Musgrave, The Golden Echo I (1986)

for horn & tape

Also: The Golden Echo II, hn., 16 accomp. hns

Availability: Novello

Lior Navok, Six pieces for Solo Horn (1995)

for solo horn

Total duration: 15 min.

Comments: Six character miniatures

Availability: From the composer, 617-867-9303, liornavok@hotmail.com, http://www.liornavok.com

Cost: $5 (to cover copying and shipping)

Elizabeth Raum, Idiom for French Horn

for solo horn

Duration: 6 minutes

Comments: Written for Philip Myers of the New York Philharmonic. It is fairly difficult but can be played by a good student. The piece incorporates the idioms the French horn is often required to play (hunt scenes and such).

Availability: Free loan or purchase from the Canadian Music Centre at www.musiccentre.ca or phone: 416-961-6601. The Canadian Music Centre is a lending library of the works of associate composers.

Erika Raum, The Confessions of St. Augustine

for solo horn

Duration: 6 minutes

Comments: Commissioned by Jane Aspnes for premiere on December 29, 2000 at the Donne in Musica concert series in Rome for the Jubileaeum A.D.2000. A tone poem to be played freely much as a fantasy with the dynamics and phrasing more suggested than imposed. The scenes depicted in music of the life of St. Augustine go from the Youth and Pagan Beginnings to the Debate at the Baths of Sozius. The piece is quite difficult.

Availability: Contact Elizabeth Raum at elizraum@sk.sympatico.ca.

Antoine Tisne, Monodie V Pour Un Espace Sacre (For a Sacred Space)

for solo horn

Duration: ca 7.00

Comments: Antoine TisnŽ's music is inspired by mystical subjects (in the manner of a Jolivet or Messiaen). The work is an introspective work which seeks to create a "sacred sound space" in the place it is played. Medium difficulty, with one passage which requires the player to play and sing at the same time.

Availability: Musik Fabrik Music Publishing 18, rue Marthe Aureau 77400, Lagny sur Marne FRANCE http://perso.chello.fr/musik

Cost: $8.95

Michael Weinstein, Sonata (1997)

for solo horn

Michael Weinstein, Three Pieces (1981)

for solo horn

Availability: Micha Music, 752 Old Marlboro Road, Concord, MA 02174, 978-369-1854

Horn and Keyboard

Go to: Unaccompanied    With Other Instrument   Mixed Trios

Adrienne Albert, Four Movements Minus One (2001)

for horn & piano, formerly Climate Control

Duration: ca 13:00

Movements: 1. SPRING TIME, 2. DEWPOINT, 3. WINDSWEPT

Comments: Somewhat challenging. Since each piece may be performed individually, difficulty ranges from moderate (Dewpoint) to moderately difficult (Spring time and Windswept). Movements may be played individually.

Commissioned by Jeannie Pool. "Spring Time" is a play on the words and a work which is sprightly and springy like a child's Slinky toy. "Dewpoint" has a brooding, moody quality which is like mist on a landscape. In the final movement, the piano has a cascading motif of triplets and swirls like a great "Windswept" pattern across the plains.

Availability: Kenter Canyon Music (ASCAP). For more information, contact composer at: adrienne@adriennealbert.com and http://www.adriennealbert.com

Cost: not specified

Kenneth Amis, Preludes 1-5 for Horn (2000)

for horn & piano

Duration: 20.5 minutes

Comments: For the intermediate to advanced player (collegiate- professional). Range from concert Eb below middle C to concert high F). Movements can be performed separately. The music is tonal. The composer plays tuba for Empire Brass.

Availability: www.AmisMusicalCircle.com. For a free catalog write to Amis Musical Circle, 282 Pleasant Street, Norwood, MA 02062-4229 or call 888-299-3791

Cost: $22.00

Violet Archer, Sonata (1965)

for horn & piano

Availability: Canadian Music Centre at www.musiccentre.ca or phone: 416-961-6601.

Elizabeth R. Austin, PRAGUE SONATA (2000)

for horn & piano

Duration: 12:00 ca

Movements: I. in time..chronos.. , II. Light streaming..outside of time..kairos, III.Villanelle

Comments: Of advanced medium-difficult level

Availability: American Composers Alliance or from the composer, 9 Eastwood Road, Storrs, CT 06268-2401, ginkgi@msn.com, Tel. 860-429-1279

Cost: $10

James Bohn, Sonata #1 for Horn and Piano

for horn & piano

Duration c. 5'

Movements: 1 Allegro (or faster), 2 Slowly, 3 Adagio (or faster)

Comments: intermediate collegiate level (written E4-B5)

Availability: From the composer:, Music Department, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747

508.999.8570, jbohn@umassd.edu, http://www.mp3.com/jbohn, http://www.umassd.edu/music/jbohn

Cost: $1

James Bohn, Sonata #2 for Horn and Piano

for horn & piano

Duration c. 5'

Movements: 1 Adagio, 2 Largo, 3 Allegro

Comments: intermediate collegiate level (written G3-A5)

Availability: From the composer, Music Department, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747

508.999.8570, jbohn@umassd.edu, http://www.mp3.com/jbohn, http://www.umassd.edu/music/jbohn

Cost $1

Edith Borroff, Sonata

for horn & piano

Duration: ca 13 minutes

Movements: I. Rhapsody, II. Scherzo, III. Sarabande, IV. Estampie

Comments: Recorded by Cynthia Carr on "Images: Music for Horn and Piano" .

Availability: Robert King, www.rkingmusic.com

Cost: $13.80

Hayg Boyadjian, Ode à Nayiri (1986)

for horn & piano

Duration: 6 minutes

Comments: Medium difficulty. The music has an Armenian influence.

Availability: From the composer, 43 Fern St., Lexington, MA 02421, haygboya@rcn.com, 781-862-9395

Cost: $5

Andrea Clearfield, Songs of the Wolf (1994)

for horn & piano

Duration: 16 minutes

Movements: I. Wolf Night, II. La Loba

Comments: Commissioned by Froydis Ree Wekre. This piece utilizes many of the colors and effects of the horn, as well as its entire range. There are both lyrical and rhythmic passages. The piece has been described as mythic, beautiful and intense. The first movement was inspired by the haunting poem, "Songs of the Wolf", by Manfred Fischbeck (reproduced on the inside cover of the published copy). The second movement is drawn from the story "La Loba" by Clarissa Estes from her book Women Who Run With the Wolves. Moderately difficult, with ossias provided for ease of playing.

Recorded by Cynthia Carr on "Images: Music for Horn and Piano" .

Availability: JOMAR PRESS, email: mschultz@jomarpress.com

Cost: not specified

Carson P. Cooman, Of Ice and Silver Swans (2001)

for horn & piano

Duration: 4 minutes

Comments: The work is an accessible duo, making use of some ad libitum techniques. Gives the horn a number of lyric movements.

Availability: MMB Music, Inc. (St. Louis, MO); www.mmbmusic.com

Cost: $9.95

Jean Coulthard, Fantasy Sonata

for horn & piano

Duration: c. 12 minutes

Comments: moderately advanced difficulty; one continuous movement beginning Moderato grazioso

Availability: loan from the Canadian Music Centre at www.musiccentre.ca or phone: 416-961-6601.

Cost: not known

JOHN DIERCKS. Suite on Ton-Y-Botel

for Horn and Organ

Comments: Commissioned by Ralph Lockwood.

Availability: From the composer's Crystal Spring Music Publishers, Inc., 250 OHUA Avenue #10, E. Honolulu, HI. 96815

Donald C. Dilworth, Seven Attitudes for Horn

for horn & piano

Duration: ca 9 minutes altogether

Comments: The music has no passages of serious technical complexity, although the entire range of the horn is used, and there are many wide leaps.

Availability: From the composer, dilworth@gwi.net, 207-633-4045 in Maine.

Cost: no charge

John Ferguson, Five Pieces for Eric Ruske (currently in progress)

for horn & piano

Duration: 10 minutes

Comments: moderately difficult piece in five contrasting movements

Availability: From the composer (soon) , 19 Colliston Road #2, Brighton, MA 02135 USA, johfergu@yahoo.com

Cost: $10

Erika Foin, The Empire of Lights

for horn & piano

Duration: 12 minutes

Comments: It is a medium-to-hard piece with a moderate tessitura.

Availability: From the composer, efoin@earthlink.net

Cost: Copying cost

Jorge Villavicencio Grossmann, Insecta Musicalis

for horn & piano

Duration: 6 minutes

Comments : medium difficulty, leaps, some high writing

Availability: From the composer: e-mail: jorgevg@bu.edu; webpage: people.bu.edu/jorgevg

Cost: none

Kenneth A. Jacobs, RIVULET (1988)

for horn & piano

Duration: 4 1/2 minutes

Comments: Moderately Difficult. Recorded by Calvin Smith and Fay Adams on Zyode DS1016 compact disc.

Availability: From the composer, School of Music, University of Tennessee, 1741 Volunteer Boulevard, Knoxville, TN 37996-2600

kjacobs@utk.edu, 865-974-7556 office, 865-539-6159 home

Dennis Leclaire, Nocturne

for horn & piano

Dennis Leclaire, Episode

for horn & piano

Dennis Leclaire, Three Fairy Tales

for horn & piano

Availability: Contact the composer for information, 2039 Bay Road, Sharon, MA 02067

Thea Musgrave, Music for Horn and Piano (1967)

for horn & piano

Duration: 14 minutes

Comments: Difficult. Recorded by Gail Williams on a Summit Records CD.

Availability: Chester Music

Cost:

Judith Olson, Four Fables

for horn & piano

Duration: Approx 7 minutes

Movements: Four, untitled

Comments: Recorded by Cynthia Carr on "Images: Music for Horn and Piano" .

Availability: Hornseth Music

Cost: not known

Kay von Randow, Laudamus te (1981)

for horn & organ

Duration: ca. 2 minutes.

Movements: One: Adagio - wie von ferne (as from afar )

Comments: Level is lower intermediary. Working range is a - e2. The music sounds beautiful wafting through a cathedral.

Availability: Inner Spheres Music, inner-spheres-music@nexgo.de

Cost: $ 9.50

Kay von Randow, SeaDream (1980)

for horn & piano ( version with Organ available )

Movements: 1. con expressione, 2. tempo giusto

Duration ca. 6 minutes

Comments: Level is Intermediary. Working range is a - g2, + pedal A. This is the first of several pieces written for friends David and Helen Woodgates, and reflects differing aspects of the sea.

Availability: Inner Spheres Music, inner-spheres-music@nexgo.de

Cost: $12.50

Kay von Randow, ...als die Stille starb (...when inner peace died ) (1999)

for horn & piano ( version with Organ available )

Movements: 1. quasi recitativo; pesante, passionato, 2. quasi recitativo; wie im Traum (dreamlike), 3. quasi recitativo; tranquillo

Duration: ca. 14 minutes

Comments: Advanced, Working range: d - g2, + pedal A1. First conceived for Horn/Organ, and inspired by the horn player Felicitas Lehmann, the music embodies my emotional reaction to the plight of the Kosovo Albanians in 1999. It relates, in particular, to the total destruction of the human dignity of the individual, and of the stability and security of daily life. Each of the three movements begins with an outcry like the voice of someone who is overcome by the terrible fate of his people.

Availability: Inner Spheres Music, inner-spheres-music@nexgo.de

Cost: $ 16.50

Kay von Randow, 6 pieces in Music for Young Players  Series Vol. 1 (2002)

for horn & piano

Duration: ca 14 minutes

Movements: 1. Clara's Blues, 2. Columbine, 3. LightDream 2, 4. Pinocchio, 5. Rübezahl, 6. Salomons Eiland

Comments: equivalent to Grade 4 - 6 of the English ABRSM. Range: f -f2. These are, quite simply,  FUN !

Availability: Inner Spheres Music, inner-spheres-music@nexgo.de

Cost: $ 16.50

Elizabeth Raum, Sherwood Legend

for Solo Horn & Orchestra (piano reduction available)

Duration: 25 minutes

Movements: 1. The Swashbuckling Hero, 2. The Pensive Romantic, 3. The Unabashed Scoundrel

Comments: Commissioned by Kurt Kellan and the Calgary Philharmonic. As Kurt Kellan is a long time fan of movie music, this concerto is based on the legend of Robin Hood and is, in effect, movie music without the movie. It is fairly difficult requiring a professional soloist. Hear excerpts on Elizabeth Raum's web site (www.elizabethraum.com).

Availability: Free loan or purchase from the Canadian Music Centre at www.musiccentre.ca or phone: 416-961-6601.

Elizabeth Raum, Romance

for Horn & Piano , also available for French Horn & Chamber Orchestra

Duration: 5 minutes

Comments: Commissioned by the Concours de Musique du Canada as the test piece for French Horn. It is very melodic and romantic but not technically difficult. It was originally for horn and piano but the composer's husband requested that she write a version for trombone and orchestra, so there are now versions for trombone, bassoon, and cello as well as the original for horn.

Availability: Free loan or purchase from the Canadian Music Centre at www.musiccentre.ca or phone: 416-961-6601.

Cost: not specified

Elizabeth Raum, Fantasy

for horn & piano

Duration: 7 minutes

Comments: This piece was originally for trombone and piano but on the request of hornist, Kurt Kellan, it was transcribed for horn and piano. It is of moderate difficulty, very melodic and romantic.

Availability: Warwick publishers

Cost: not specified

Michael Weinstein, Sonata #2 (1991)

for horn & piano

Michael Weinstein, Sonata #1 (1985)

for horn & piano

Availability: Micha Music, 752 Old Marlboro Road, Concord, MA 02174, 978-369-1854

Horn and One Other Instrument

Go to: Unaccompanied   With Keyboard   Mixed Trios

John Ferguson, Melody

for horn and violin

Duration: 3 minutes

Comments: Moderately easy piece, horn and violin double in octaves, some special effects.

Availability: From the composer, 19 Colliston Road, #2, Brighton, MA 02135 USA johfergu@yahoo.com

Cost: $8

Lene Grenager, Nachts

for horn & percussion

Duration: 10'

Availability: Contact Norwegian Music Information Centre.

Cost: not known

David Macbride, Elegy (2001)

for horn & percussion

Comments: Written for Adrienne Bonner Wiggins, horn and Tracy Wiggins, percussion. Premiere Monday, April 22, 2002 8 PM Berkman Recital Hall, Hartt School, University of Hartford.

Availability: For further information, call (860)768-5566

Cost: not specified

Rosemary Sugden Waltzer, Suite

for horn & trumpet

Movements: 1. Moderato, 2. Playfully, lilting, 3. Cantabile, legato, 4. Molto espressivo, freely (horn alone), 5. March

Duration: 10 minutes

Comments: Horn range G - b flat''; C Trumpet range f - g''; Trumpet part printed in C

Availability: From the composer, RosesCorF@aol.com or 16 Sandusky Road, New City NY 10956

Cost: $10

Beth Wiemann, Skin and Bones

for horn & flute with computer-generated sound (played from compact disc)

Duration: 8 minutes

Comments: Electronic sound provides a rhythm-track for 2/3rds of the piece, with the horn and flute parts trading notated solos over the track for the beginning of the piece, and later playing homophonically. Moderate difficulty.

Availability: From the American Composers Alliance or the composer, 131 West Broadway, Bangor, Me 04401, 207-581-1244, beth.wiemann@umit.maine.edu

Cost: $15 for parts and CD, with demo CD of premiere performance

Maria Newman, Kestral and Leonardo (1996)

for Soprano & Horn

Comments: On Poems of Susan Musgrave

Availability: Contact the composer at phone 818-951-1139, e-mail thatchers@earthlink.net

Mixed Trios with Horn

Go to: Unaccompanied   With Keyboard   With Other Instrument

Gia Comolli, Horn Trio (2000)

for horn, violin, piano

Duration c. 25 minutes

Movements:  I. Maestoso II. Bouncy III. Andante and IV. Vivace.

Comments: The piece is accessible for (good) players and listeners.

Availability: From the composer at giamuse@verizon.net, www.gia-comolli.com

Cost: $35 plus shipping and handling.

Dennis Leclaire, Diana's Nocturnal Hunt

for voice, horn, piano

Availability: Contact the composer for information, 2039 Bay Road, Sharon, MA 02067

Pamela J. Marshall, Watchmen for the Morning (1975)

for voice, horn, piano

Movements: 1. March, 2. Motion, 3. Lament, 4. Song, 5. Echoes

Comments: Texts from Psalms.

Availability: Raoul R. Ronson, Seesaw Music Corp., 2067 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, (212) 874-1200

Cost: not known

Pamela J. Marshall, Waves and Fountains

for oboe, horn & piano

Duration 8 minutes

Comments: Commissioned by Trio Arundel. Rhythmically intricate and melodically expressive piece. The piano part is the most challenging. The music is filled with water images: flowing, trickling, dripping, churning.The piece grew from a fountain motive from her opera "Melete": a rushing upward scale followed by flowing lines that move both up and down. The diminished scale influenced the melodies and enriched the harmonies, providing mixed major and minor sounds.

Availability: Spindrift Music Company, 38 Dexter Road, Lexington, MA 02420, www.spindrift.com, pmarshall@spindrift.com, 781-862-0884

Cost: $16

Donald Wheelock, Fantasy (1974)

for horn, violin, piano

Duration ca. 10 minutes

Comments: The piece, while chromatic and quite difficult, is tonally oriented, quasi-impressionistic and, for much of its length, contrapuntal. While the instrumentation is obviously reminiscent of Brahms, the music in no way resembles the music of that composer. The music is a piano score plus two violin/horn double parts.

Availability: From the composer, Music Department, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063. dwheeloc@smith.edu, (413) 585-3187

Cost: $20, negotiable.

Elizabeth Raum, Pantheon

for violin, horn, piano

Duration: 12 minutes

Movements: 1. Eos: Goddess of the Dawn; 2. Fates (Moirae); 3. Aphrodite; 4. Zeus and Hera; 5. Artemis (Diana) Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt; 6. Hermes (Mercury) of the Winged Sandals (for horn and violin along); and 7. Apollo.

Comments: Commissioned by the Scotia Festival in 1999 for premiere by Erika Raum, violin, Philip Myers, horn, and Peter Allen, piano. It is fairly difficult requiring at least university level students to professionals. Part of Aphrodite can be heard on Elizabeth Raum's web page.

Availability: Free loan or purchase from the Canadian Music Centre at www.musiccentre.ca, 416-961-6601.

Cost: not specified

Paul Schulz, ELEMENTS

for horn, bass clarinet, organ

Movements: AIR-FIRE-EARTH and WATER

Availability: From the composer, 5610 37th Avenue S., Minneapolis, Minn. 55417

Cost: not specified

Michael Weinstein, Four Rilke Songs (1992)

for soprano, horn, piano

Availability: Micha Music, 752 Old Marlboro Road, Concord, MA 02174, 978-369-1854

Michael Weinstein, Trio (1993)

for violin, horn, piano

Duration: ca 16 minutes

Availability: Micha Music, 752 Old Marlboro Road, Concord, MA 02174, 978-369-1854

Cost $15

Yehudi Wyner, Horntrio (1997)

for violin, horn, piano

Duration: ca 25 minutes

Movements: I. Maestoso; subito animato, II. Molto sostenuto, III. Presto Precipitoso

Comments: Written as a consortium commission organized by Jean Rife for 30 groups, and subsequently nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Very difficult and dramatic.

Availability: not known

Cost: not known

 

List compiler Pamela J. Marshall is a composer and horn player. She is a member of the Concord Orchestra and Just In Time Composers and Players (www.justintimecomposers.org). See her music at spindrift.com.