The Alphorn through the Eyes of the Classical Composer

‘Many thanks for your wonderful work’.

Professor Dr Raymond Ammann

Center for Music Research, University of Lucerne, Switzerland

‘It is all so very well written. I am sure many will enjoy reading it’.

Clive Fairbairn

Editor, Double Reed News, Journal of the British Double Reed Society

‘It is very readable as well as being fascinating. The broadness and depth of the research is most impressive. It looks to me like the definitive work and fills a gap in the literature’.

Dr John Middleton

freelance horn player, Cheshire, UK

‘Groundbreaking’, ‘a distinguished contribution to musicology’, ‘expertly and meticulously presented’ and ‘the history books must now be rewritten’.

PhD thesis examiners (University of Hull, UK)

We get a confident description of the alphorn, its context, organology, terminology, and playing technique.

Detail throughout the book is rich without being overwhelming. It is scholarly yet accessible to differing kinds of reader with differing levels of expertise.

The historical background is well handled and informative.

Professor Christopher R. Wilson

University of Hull

Frances Jones’s groundbreaking book is a detailed, ambitious and essential contribution to our knowledge of the alphorn and its contexts. Written by an expert in the field, whose work is informed by international performance experience, it includes plentiful images and unpublished musical works. It offers a valuable and enlightening perspective on the semiotic identity of the alphorn in western art music.

The text is written with precision and persuasively situates the alphorn within its various geographical and cultural contexts whilst navigating its distinct identity against other instruments based on the harmonic series. It will be of benefit not only to alphorn enthusiasts but to the wider fields of musicology and historically informed performance practice. It is a distinguished contribution to knowledge of the alphorn and its heritage.

Dr Simon Desbruslais

School of Arts, University of Hull

Meticulously researched from original sources and profusely illustrated with musical examples and photographs, “The Alphorn through the Eyes of the Classical Composer” details the centuries-long role the alphorn and its traditional melodies have played in the European classical music tradition. Frances Jones begins with the peculiar features of this unusual instrument before exploring the connotative function of Alphorn-derived melodies in an impressive range of repertoire extending from the early Christmas-themed Pastorella through the classical and romantic eras and into the contemporary scene. The engaging discussion benefits from the author’s unique insight as a performer in equal measure to her impressive scholarship. Dr Jones uncovers what for many will have been unnoticed connections between the melodies of many famous and familiar works with their less familiar Alpine origins and traditions. “The Alphorn through the Eyes of the Classical Composer” surely stands as the definitive musicological statement in English on this neglected but profoundly influential musical instrument.

Dr Timothy Wise

The School of Arts & Media

University of Salford