Performances
Sheet Music
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General Information
Work Title
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The Bohemian's Horn
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Alternative. Title
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a German melody
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Composer
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Egan, Charles
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I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No.
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ICE 1
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Key
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C major
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Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's
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5 sections (introduction, air, 3 variations)
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First Publication.
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1830 ca.
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Dedication
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Princess Augusta
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Composer Time PeriodComp. Period
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Classical
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Piece Style
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Classical
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Instrumentation
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harp
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Navigation etc.
Scathingly reviewed in The Athenæum, No.131 (1 May 1830):
- The following note which accompanied the melody will offer the best account of its origin :— “The roads in various parts of Germany being too narrow to allow the passage of more than one carriage at a time, it is usual for the carriage which has entered at one end, to warn off, by certain sounds of a horn, any carriages that may be approaching at the other. These warning sounds, though few and simple, are exquisitely sweet, and never fail to excite mingled pleasure and surprise in the weary and unexpecting traveller. The musical reader who has travelled in Germany will recognize, in the elements of the above Air, the simple sounds of the Bohemian’s Horn.” Our German neighbours are, even to their peasantry, notoriously more musical than ourselves; but before we had perused the above anecdote, we had no idea that the carriages themselves were capable of musical composition and performance. Certainly, the exquisite melody is so simple, that a pair of good ungreased wheels might almost produce as interesting a combination of warning sounds. The arrangement is nearly as good as the theme.