I am indeed around but my computer has been 'poorly'!
Not wishing to take issue with you, dear HS, but I do truly believe that Dukas did really want a 'mute' rather than hand-stopping in the A flat major ( concert pitch) version of the 2/2 theme.
Admittedly there are only 4 bars rest ( filled in by the piano) to pick up the mute and insert it, but it's astonishing how many piano accompanists fail to notice the 'ritardando' which - if done - makes these 4 bars last long enough to get the mute in!
Rather trickier is the action of removing the mute but if you have a chair, next to the music stand, to put the mute on, there's just about enough time.
Equally problematic is the section about a minute earlier where the horn has to play an 'echo' version of one of the introduction's slow motifs over a piano 'tremolo'. 90% of the time one hears the horn player using the 'hand-stopping' / 'gestopft' technique described by Hornspieler . A nasal, stifled and rather harsh sound.
Sadly this is quite wrong since Dukas specifically asks the player to 'take a fingering a SEMITONE HIGHER ( my capitals) than the printed notes.'
So, in this instance, the less-fully-inserted right hand LOWERS the pitch of a given harmonic, giving a sort of veiled, soft, non-directional sound. This is the true 'echo' effect that one can also hear ( if played correctly) about 20 bars into 'L'Apprenti Sorcier' . His precise instruction in French is 'prenez le doigté un demi-ton au dessus'. This instruction is also found in 'Villanelle'.
In practical/ perfomance terms the problem of execution ( in both L'Apprenti and Villanelle) is compounded by the fact that the modern wide-belled horn simply will not allow the hand to FLATTEN these pitches enough to get them to be in tune!
The type of horn in use in France 100-odd years ago had a much smaller bell and bell 'throat' ( where the hand goes) giving access to much more 'pitch manipulation' .
The 'purpose' of 'Villanelle' was as an exam piece for Paris Conservatoire students to show their profiency on firstly the 'natural' , valveless 'hand horn' in the introductory slow section, and then to switch ( without changing instruments) to valve technique; 'avec les pistons', as Dukas requests at the start of the 'allegro' section.
As an exam piece surely its piano accompaniment was the 'original' rather than a transcription of an orchestral score ( the latter - if it ever existed - was presumably consumed in flames at the time of the notorious Dukas bonfire...?
Not wishing to take issue with you, dear HS, but I do truly believe that Dukas did really want a 'mute' rather than hand-stopping in the A flat major ( concert pitch) version of the 2/2 theme.
Admittedly there are only 4 bars rest ( filled in by the piano) to pick up the mute and insert it, but it's astonishing how many piano accompanists fail to notice the 'ritardando' which - if done - makes these 4 bars last long enough to get the mute in!
Rather trickier is the action of removing the mute but if you have a chair, next to the music stand, to put the mute on, there's just about enough time.
Equally problematic is the section about a minute earlier where the horn has to play an 'echo' version of one of the introduction's slow motifs over a piano 'tremolo'. 90% of the time one hears the horn player using the 'hand-stopping' / 'gestopft' technique described by Hornspieler . A nasal, stifled and rather harsh sound.
Sadly this is quite wrong since Dukas specifically asks the player to 'take a fingering a SEMITONE HIGHER ( my capitals) than the printed notes.'
So, in this instance, the less-fully-inserted right hand LOWERS the pitch of a given harmonic, giving a sort of veiled, soft, non-directional sound. This is the true 'echo' effect that one can also hear ( if played correctly) about 20 bars into 'L'Apprenti Sorcier' . His precise instruction in French is 'prenez le doigté un demi-ton au dessus'. This instruction is also found in 'Villanelle'.
In practical/ perfomance terms the problem of execution ( in both L'Apprenti and Villanelle) is compounded by the fact that the modern wide-belled horn simply will not allow the hand to FLATTEN these pitches enough to get them to be in tune!
The type of horn in use in France 100-odd years ago had a much smaller bell and bell 'throat' ( where the hand goes) giving access to much more 'pitch manipulation' .
The 'purpose' of 'Villanelle' was as an exam piece for Paris Conservatoire students to show their profiency on firstly the 'natural' , valveless 'hand horn' in the introductory slow section, and then to switch ( without changing instruments) to valve technique; 'avec les pistons', as Dukas requests at the start of the 'allegro' section.
As an exam piece surely its piano accompaniment was the 'original' rather than a transcription of an orchestral score ( the latter - if it ever existed - was presumably consumed in flames at the time of the notorious Dukas bonfire...?
Ditto HS 
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