"Baltimore Rhapsody" Block #9 - the French Horn

My original pattern series, "Baltimore Rhapsody," is continuing to grow (you can read the back story here).  The French horn is my favorite brass instrument.  My younger brother, Riley, played French horn and now my daughter does too.  I never get tired of hearing her practice!

As with all the blocks of this series, this one finishes 15 inches square.  Even though I choose to hand applique, they can be done by machine.

Embroidery details make the fuchsia blossoms come alive!

The French horn got it's characteristic shape from it's ancestor, the hunting horn, and even before that, the conch shell.  If you were to straighten out all the tubing, you would end up with a horn of 12 - 16 feet in length...not very convenient to play at high speed from horseback while signaling the hunters!  Some unknown genius solved this problem by winding the tubing around his shoulder and under his arm.

Early "natural horns" had no valves.  To slightly change pitches, the player would loosen or tighten his lips, or simply stuff his hand a little further into the bell of the instrument.  In order to play in more than one key, the player had to stop and insert another "crook," which helped to make the tubing just enough longer or shorter to change all the pitches on the horn (the virtuoso of the time carried many with him).  Later these inconvenient crooks were replaced with valves.

When the French horn started showing up in symphonies, the French people thought it originated from Germany and called it the German horn, and the German people thought it came from France and called it the French horn.

French horn building...tubing and valves.

Bach and Vivaldi first infused their music with the French horn, followed by Haydn and Mozart.  Because it blends beautifully with strings, woodwinds, and other brass, the horn became widely popular in both symphonic and chamber music.  The low tones are deep and solemn, the middle range is rich and mellow, and the high range can be brassy and brilliant.

The characteristic beautiful tone is still being employed by composers (lots of nice horn "licks" in the soundtracks of all the "Harry Potter" movies...).


Bird building 101...

I am making up birds and flowers right and left in this quilt!!  I was looking at pictures of Paradise birds when dreaming this one up...kind of small, exotic birds with pretty head feathers.  I'm just a modern-day Darwin...

I am still working on the pattern printing.  I hope to have the first dozen patterns available on my web site soon, either individually or in discounted bundles.  I am now thinking about sashing for the first 16 blocks...traditional tiny sawtooth sashing or simple strips...hmmm...

Then, on to the borders!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)