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Dr. Nicholas Smith

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Choosing A Non-Tranposing Mute
Mute Acoustics

HISTORY OF THE HORN MUTE

Introduction

This article is a revision of a dissertation I completed in May of 1980

for my DMA at the Eastman School of Music. When I was first looking for a
topic, a colleague in the Oklahoma City Symphony jokingly suggested I do a
paper on the Horn Mute. I laughed, but after some thought, decided to
include it, along with two other topics, on a list that I presented to Verne
Reynolds at Eastman. Mr. Reynolds was also amused, but after his initial
reaction subsided, felt that I should write it up and send it to the dissertation
committee. They saw nothing humorous about it, and in fact approved the
topic, which proves that either dissertation committees have no sense of
humor, or that there were no horn players in the group.
Two other chapters from the paper will be offered to the Horn Call
for publication. The second concerns the acoustics of how the mute works
(or as many players would contend, doesn t work), and the third a catalog
of currently available mutes as well as suggestions for choosing one.
Early History. There is no record of the first use of the mute for
horn, or for that matter, any other brass instrument. For the horn, the first
usage is said to have been well before 1750. [1] A typical early example is
found in Buxtehude s Cantata, Ihr lieben Christen, freut euch nuin, which
calls for two Clarini in Sordini.

Ex. 1. Muted clarini passage from Ihr lieben Christen, freut euch
nun, bu Dietrich Buxtehude.

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During the first half of the eighteenth century, horn mutes were most
likely of similar design as trumpet mutes, like the ornate example in Figure
1.

Fig. 1. Trumpet mute of the eighteenth century.

The only difference between the horn and trumpet mute was merely the
larger size of the horn mute due to the larger throat of the horn bell. One
writer described the mutes as being made of wood in the form of a
truncated cone with a hole in the bottom through which the sound issued.
[2] Their performance is said to have been poor. The contact between
wood and brass produced an unpleasant buzzing. To remedy this problem,
mutes of cardboard were made and used, although their tone quality was
also poor. [3]
It was at an unknown date during the years 1748-1760 that J.J.
Hampl formulated the hand technique which revolutionized horn playing.
Initially he began his research to improve the facility of existing mutes.
Though we have little description of Hampl s research, Domnich mentions
that when Hampl inserted a wooden cone or plug in the bell, it lowered the
pitch a semitone, besides changing the timbre. However, when this cone
was hollowed out and slightly enlarged, the pitch was not lowered and the
desired effect was achieved. [4] So in addition to the Inventionshorn and
hand technique, Hampl is also credited with producing the first non-
transposing mute. Gerber mentions that Hampl devised mutes which
neither raised nor lowered the horn s pitch. [5] Hampl s design was
purportedly popular, especially with soloists and duettists of that period. It
is unfortunate there are no examples of this mute in existence. However,
Gerber describes this mute as a simple cone made of sheet brass covered
with leather, and having an opening at the upper end. [6] Gerber s
source for this description as well as his other information on the horn came
from the celebrated hornist Carl Thurrschmidt (1753-1797). Thurrschmidt
came into contact with Hampl s mute through the Boeck brothers. They
used this mute as early as 1775 when they began their careers as duettists.
As in all products hand-made, a certain degree of variance is expected,
which might account for the lack of any written dimensions. It is this
writer s belief that these mutes must have been quite large in relation to the
size of the horn bell to prevent any alteration of the pitch. An apt
comparison would be the relation of the size of a trumpet straight mute to
the trumpet bell. All mutes must account for end correction, which is an
acoustical phenomenon common to all brass instruments. [7] For the sake
of portability, most modern horn mutes have an inner shaft which acts as a
tube lengthener. This explains the smaller size of the modern horn mute
relative to the size of the bell.

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Fig. 2. Cutaway of a modern de Polis type mute.

As mentioned before, the echo or muted effect became quite popular
with soloists and duettists during the last quarter of the eighteenth century
and early years of the nineteenth century. However, all mutes had one
serious drawback. While the mute was being used, the player could never
use his hand technique to chromatically alter the natural harmonic series of
the valveless horn. In other words, he could never play stopped notes,
which were essential if he were to play anything other than the open notes of
the harmonic series. This was quite limiting, but a solution to the problem
was found by the aforementioned Car Thurrschmidt. Descriptions of this
mute are vague. Frölich describes it as:
. . . a papier-mâché ball, about six inches across, with an open
end to be inserted into the bell of the horn. Inside this ball was
another covered with leather and with a cord attached to it which
hung down from the bell. With this, the neck could be more or
less fully occluded at will, in the same way as by hand stopping.
[8]

Fig. 3. Cross section of stopping mute according to Frohlich.

Another source is the Bernsdorf Tonkunst. The mute is described
as:
. . . a hollow ball or sphere of papier-mâché covered with cloth
approximately six inches in diameter to which an open tube is
attached which fits into the bell. Inside the ball is a wire with a
disc by which the opening of the tube can be covered, so the
hornist can stop the horn even while muted. The wire has a
handle which projects from the lower side of the ball. [9]

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Fig. 4. Cross section of stopping mute according to Bernsdorf.

Though the mute was often used by soloists, there are few, if any,
orchestral examples of its application until after the beginning of the
nineteenth century. However, soloists such as the Boeck brothers,
Thurrschmidt, the celebrated unto, and Nicolaus Simrock, who later became
the famed publisher, influenced young composers such as Beethoven and
von Weber to use the muted effect. In particular, Simrock is known to have
influenced Beethoven s writing in the Rondino in Eb for Eight Instruments
which has a muted passage with a stopped f in the first horn part.

Ex. 2. Muted passage with stopped notes from the Rondino in Eb

for Eight Instruments by Ludwig van Beethoven, op. posth.

Simrock probably possessed one of the Thurrschmidt chromatic Mutes as

in Fig. 3 or 4, and Beethoven found the effect usable. However, Beethoven
rarely wrote for the muted horn and used the effect only twice in his large
orchestral works. One example is found in the Sixth Symphony at the end of
the last movement.

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Ex. 3. Muted horn passage from the Sixth Symphony, op. 68, by
Beethoven.
The other passage is found in the Concerto for Violin, op. 61, at the end of
the second movement. This short passage is an echo of an identical
open passage at the beginning of the movement.

Ex. 4. Muted horn passage from the Concerto for Violin, op. 61, by
Beethoven.
An excellent example of how von Weber used the mute is found in his
Concerto in Eb major for Clarinet.

Ex. 5. Muted passage for three horns found in the Concerto in Eb

for Clarinet by Carl Maria von Weber.

French School. By 1820, the French school of horn playing was

becoming a dominant musical force with the Paris Conservatory producing
scores of fine players who influenced horn playing in many ways. The
French perfected the hand horn technique begun by Hampl, Leutgeb, and
Punto of the previous century. Fortunately, tutors of books on how to play
an instrument had become popular, and through them we have a glimpse of

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the techniques used by musicians of the last century. The first horn tutor
was published in 1803 by Frederic Duvernoy and was called simply,
Méthode pour le Cor. [10] The next was Heinrich Domnich s already-
mentioned tutor, published in 1808 and called Méthode de Premier et de
Second Cor. [11] This book codified all the basic principles of the French
school of playing, and also offered the first real history of the horn up to that
time. The best tutor, however, was written by Louis Francois Dauprat and
was published in 1824. [12] It is superlative in stressing the development of
good musicianship and taste, and although written for the hand horn,
contains much information which is valuable to the modern horn player.
Among his comments are several statements about mutes and muting which
show a gradual decline in the use of the mute in France.
Since good artists are coming to modify the tones of the horn
almost at will by the hand, lips, and breath, they no longer use the
sourdine and it is no longer in favour. Without doubt, one obtains
with it the effect of pianissimo which can surprise, but this foreign
body changes the quality and timbre of the tones, and lowers
sensibly their pitch when placed in the bell which it fills up almost
completely.
The double echo above all, being priceless, becomes
useless. When one has need of this effect, as in the overture of
Le Jeune Henri, for example, we have seen that two horns at a
distance and well hidden, will produce a better and more natural
effect than that which comes from a piece of wood, pasteboard or
elastic rubber inserted in the bell of the instrument. [13]

So, it would seem that the mute was considered merely a bother and was
discarded by many players by the middle of the last century.
More information on nineteenth century use of the mute comes from
the first tutor for the valve horn. Although the French were reluctant to
adopt the valve horn, in 1833 a class of valve-horn students was begun at
the Paris Conservatory under the instruction of Pierre Joseph Emile
Meifred. His tutor was aptly called Méthode de Cor Chromatique ou á
Pistons, and was published in 1841. [14] By this time, the French must
have practically forgotten the mute as Meifred remarks the hand, in this
circumstance, replaces the old sourdine, today totally abandoned. [15]
The fact that mutes were unreliable in pitch and were also another added
piece of equipment to carry contributed to their demise.
Germany & Austria. The Germans and Austrians appear to have
also given up the mute by 1840. [16] However, Richard Wagner revived its
use in the 1860 s. Because of his demands for a large orchestra, he
probably felt that both hand muting and stopping were not loud enough and
he reintroduced mutes to allow the players to be heard more easily.

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Ex. 6. Muted horn passages from Götterdämmerung by Richard

Wagner.
These mutes were still made of turned wood or papier-mâché, and
were not a big improvement over earlier models. Oscar Franz describes
them in his Complete Method for Horn:
Mutes made of wood or pasteboard are ...employed by placing
them inside the bell, but their use is not very convenient as they
must be held in place by the hand. In these echo effects, the
purity of intonation must be carefully considered, especially as
some intervals become higher and others lower. As this impurity
is detrimental to the effectiveness of the echo, the lips must force
those notes which are too low and relax upon those which are too
high. [17]

The musical effects created by Wagner were also used by other

German romantic composers. The following examples illustrate muted
passages in works by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.

Ex. 7. Muted horn passage from Symphony Number 5 by Gustav

Mahler.

Ex. 8. Muted horn passage from Don Quixote, op. 35, by Richard
Strauss.
The passage from Don Quixote must be played fortissimo and brassy , an
effect which could not be produced properly by hand muting. Even today,
players need a special loud mute for this passage.
The muted passage found in the works of Strauss and Mahler are
numerous and, in fact, more numerous than muted passages found in works
by most twentieth-century composers. Exceptions to this last statement
would be Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and Bela Bartok.
Schoenberg, Berg and Webern wrote passages for the muted horn
which are probably some of the most difficult ever written. All three
composers wrote muted horn parts at extreme dynamic levels and in the
extreme registers of the instrument. The following solo passage from the
first act of Wozzeck by Alben Berg is typical.

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Ex. 9. Muted horn passage from Wozzeck, Act I, bar 239.

Even harder is their writing for a section of horns. In this difficult
passage from Passacaglia by Webern, horns I, II, III & IV play in unison.
Already difficult on the open horn, this is more taxing when muted, even if
the players used identical horns and mutes.

Ex. 10. Muted horn passage from Passacaglia, Op. 1. 4th bar of 6
It is fortunate for horn players that the music of these composers
has never been popular with audiences. Although Berg s operas are
enjoying some artistic success, most works by these three composers have
relatively few performances.
The compositions of Bela Bartok, on the other hand, have remained
popular with audiences, and the hornist will note his generous usage of the
muted horn. Bartok s writing for muted horn may be exposed, but it is far
more idiomatic then the muted writing by Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.
The biggest problem to be solved by the player is the sudden or almost
immediate change from open to muted or visa versa.
French Romantics and Impressionists. Works by the French
romantic and impressionist composers abound with writing for muted horn.
They are, however, different from the German passages. The French
passages more often evoke a far-away, distant quality, rather than the
steely , edge-like sound of the German romantics. These passages were
also much easier to play with the hand-mute technique. An echo was the
desired quality, which made hand-muting ideal. Therefore, mutes never
gained favor with the French players. The following illustrations are typical
of French muted passages.

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Ex. 11. Muted horn passage from Prelude to the Afternoon of a

Faun by Claude Debussy.

Ex. 12. Muted horn passage from The Sorcerer s Apprentice by

Paul Dukas.
Twentieth Century. During the first quarter of the Twentieth century,
composers used the muted effect quite often. However, most players were
still using the hand instead of actual mutes. This tradition survived well into
the middle of the century. The late Wendell Hoss, one of America s well-
known hornists, mentioned to the writer that non-transposing mutes were
little used and that players chiefly depended on hand-muting or the
transposing type mute. [18] Mr. Hoss mentioned that the first big innovation
in non-transposing mutes was a design by Parduba in New York. A set of
these mutes was made for Bruno Jaenicke and the Schultz brothers, who
were all members of the New York Philharmonic horn section during the
1920 s. The mutes were made of brass and weighed about four pounds,
which is quite heavy by today s standards. They were conical in shape with
an inner shaft which was adjustable in length for tuning purposes. The inner
shaft consisted of two parts, an upper part which protruded from the upper
end of the mute and a lower part which fit into the upper part as in the
following illustration.

Fig. 5. Inner shaft of the Parduba mute.

The lower part of the shaft also had notched rings around it for
reference in correct pitch placement. The upper section, with lower section
attached, could be pulled from the neck of the mute to produce different tone
qualities.
With the adjustable inner shaft, these mutes were supposed to be
able to produce a mellow, plaintive quality as well as a coarse, raspy sound.
However, Mr. Hoss mentioned that they tended to be coarse, loud-sounding
mutes. Despite their sound quality, they were a big innovation and seem to

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have affected the design of all succeeding mutes. Gunther Schuller

mentioned to the writer that these mutes were still being used by horn
players in the Metropolitan Opera as late as 1960.

Fig. 6. Parduba Mute, cross section.

Although Parduba mutes were a breakthrough in the design of non-
transposing mutes, they were never made in great quantities, and most
players never came into contact with them. For professional players there
was little to choose from in the way of a mute and many players designed
their own from various materials such as bottles, gourds, the common papier
-mâché, and wood. Because of this, there was never a great deal of
consistency as far as muted sound, even with players in the same horn
section. There were attempts by a number of players to manufacture their
own design, but none of them enjoyed the success of Frank de Polis.
de Polis Mute. Frank de Polis was born in Sulmona, Italy, in April of
1891, and studied trumpet initially before switching to the horn. He attended
Rome University where he continued further study on the instrument before
coming to America. After his arrival in the United States, he studied with the
long-time principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Anton Horner. After
serving with General Pershing s band during World War I, de Polis played
is some of the leading movie houses in New York City. In 1921, he became
assistant principal horn of the Cleveland Orchestra, and later played with the
Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Fox Theatre Orchestra. In the 1940 s, he
was a member of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and the ABC Radio
Orchestra. [19] He began making mutes after experiencing dissatisfaction
with what was then available. He experimented with various designs until he
got the results he wanted. His colleagues were impressed with the quality of
his mutes and began requesting them for themselves. The mutes can
generally be described as being a cone on top of a short cylinder with an
inner shaft running from the open top to the bottom of the mute. They were
all made of fiberboard with a thin wooden bottom. Figure 7 is a cutaway
diagram of this mute.

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Fig. 7. de Polis mute.

The mutes became very popular with orchestras such as the Philadelphia
Orchestra and the NBC Symphony which had their entire sections use them.
At the time of his death in 1962, de Polis mutes were probably the most
popular of any in use and the design has been widely copied.
Although maintaining the same general shape, his mutes often
differed with regard to specific dimensions. Figure 8 shows the differences
within the basic design. These variations were necessary due to the
differences in the design of horns for which the mutes were made. For
example, Figure 8C was designed specifically for the large-belled Conn 8D
horns used by the Cleveland Orchestra horn section.

Fig. 8, Variances in mute design by de Polis.

After de Polis death, the mutes were manufactured for a number of
years by Ted Griffith, a trombonist with the Toronto Symphony, who had
worked with de Polis. Lack of time forced Mr. Griffith to stop producing the
mute and to sell the production rights to Walter Lawson and William Cook of
Aulos, Inc., in Baltimore, Maryland.
Other Contemporary Designs. The de Polis Mute has remained one
of the most popular designs with professional players, but several other
mute makers deserve mention. Horn mutes by the Humes and Berg
Company are some of the most popular mutes sold. Their availability and
very reasonable cost have made the mutes one of the most widely used in
America, especially by younger students. According to Milan Yancich, Carl

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Geyer designed this mute which was first manufactured in 1942. The Humes
and Berg mute has the same basic design as the de Polis mute, although its
upper cone part is made of molded fiberboard. Like the de Polis mute, it
also has an inner shaft and a wooden bottom.
Lorenzo Sansone (1881-1975) designed and manufactured three
different non-transposing mutes. One had a simple come shape, much like a
trombone straight mute. Another was made of spun aluminum and could be
tuned by turning the screw mechanism at the top of the mute.

Fig. 9. Cross section of a Sansone aluminum mute.

Sansone s third, and most successful design was similar in shape
to the de Polis mute, although it had an inner shaft that could be pulled out
to adjust the pitch. It was also made of fiberboard, including the bottom.
The mute was last manufactured and sold by the Giardinelli Band Instrument
Company of New York City.

Fig. 10. Cross section of Sansone fiberboard mute.

In surveying today s professional players as to what their mute
preference is, the name Eugene Rittich of Toronto, Canada seems to be
mentioned more than any other. Mr. Rittich has been for many years Co-
Principal of the Toronto Symphony and his experimentation with mutes
began as a result of his dissatisfaction with what was available.
He began working in 1962 to try and achieve better intonation and
response from the then popular cone on cylinder mute shape. This failed to
produce the results he wanted, so he experimented with a simple cone
shape which achieved better results. Before long, he was receiving so many
requests for copies of his design, that he decided to produce them for sale.
Since that time (1967), he has worked to find the best combination of the
many variables found in a mute s dimensions. These include taper and
length of the cone, top hole diameter, diameter of the inner cylinder,
placement, width, and thickness of corks, and the materials from which the
mute is made.
The Rittich mute has an adjustable length inner cylinder for fine
tuning the mute to any horn. Although this feature isn t new, it is probably
the most successful application of a tunable mechanism on a mute to date.

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The success of his design is evident by the large number of copies being
presently produced by other manufacturers.
Conclusion. Changes and improvements in mute design have
usually occurred because of dissatisfaction with what was currently
available. Continuing research to improve the various playing qualities of
present designs will always be greeted with much enthusiasm by all players.

[1] R. Morley-Pegge, The French Horn (London, 1960), p. 139.

[2] Heinrich Domnich, Méthode de Premier et de Second Cor (The French
Horn) (Paris, 1808) trans: Morley-Pegge (London, 1960), p. 139.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ernst Ludwig Gerber, Neus Historisch-Biographisches Lexicon der
Tonkünstler (Leipzig, 1813), ii, p. 439.
[6] Ibid.
[7] At the open end of an air column containing a standing wave, the air is
moving in and out of the open end, and its motion actually extends a little
way past the end. This makes the tube appear longer than it actually is by
an amount called the end correction. John Backus, The Acoustical
Foundations of Music (New York: W.W. Norton, 1969), p. 65.
[8] Joseph Frohlich, Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, vol. 6, p. 325, quoted in
R. Morley-Pegge, The French Horn p. 140.
[9] Evard Bernsdorf, Universal-Lexicon, p. 225.
[10] Frederic Duvernoy, Méthode pour le Cor, Gravée par Mme. le Roi
(Paris, 1803).
[11] Domnich, Méthode de Premier et de Second Cor.
[12] Francois Dauprat, Méthode de Cor alto et Cor Basse, chez Zetter et Cie
(Paris, 1824).
[13] Francois Dauprat, Méthode, Part II, pp. 151-152, trans: Birchard Coar, A
Critical Study of Nineteenth Century Horn Virtuosi in France (DeKalb,
Illinois, 1952), p. 87.
[14] Pierre Joseph Emile Meifred, Méthode de Cor Chromatique ou á
Pistons, chez S. Richault (Paris, 1841).
[15] Meifred, Méthode, Part II, p. 42, trans: Coar, A Critical Study, p. 122.
[16] Horace Fitzpatrick, Letter to the Author, March 3, 1977. Dr. Horace
Fitzpatrick is a noted horn historian who has greatly researched the
development of the natural , valveless horn. He has published a number of
articles and a book on the subject and is very active in teaching the natural-
horn technique at Oxford and the Guildhall School of Music in London.
[17] Oscar Franz, Complete Method for Horn, (Carl Fischer, New York,
1906), p. 59.
[18] Hoss, Letter to the Author, March 9, 1977.
[19] Norman Schweikert, Letter tot the Author, September 7, 1976.
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