The Development of the Orchestral Horn. A Brief History

[MrGongGong]

Depends on what you mean by "Top Line"

Esa-Pekka Salonen is fairly "top line" IMV

[Hornspieler]

It must be heartening to have such a distinguished former horn player as a conductor fast approaching the top rank as Sebastian Weigle, MD at the Frankfurt Opera and recent success at Bayreuth, the former 1st horn at the Berlin State Opera. Not enough orchestral musicians seem to make it into the top flight.
Kempe was one (Oboe) and Giulini (viola) was another, but I can't remember a premiere horn player that went onto becoming a top line conductor. were there any others?

A few names ...

Norman del Mar
Maurice Handford
Eric Wetherall
Anthony Halstead

... and of course, shortly before his tragic death, Dennis Brain.

HS

BTW I believe that I am right in saying that Hans Richter was actually a trumpet player. Didn't Wagner write a special part for him in his Siegfried Idyll?

[MrGongGong]

Steve Bell is also doing a fair bit of conducting these days

[slarty]

A few names ...

Norman del Mar
Maurice Handford
Eric Wetherall
Anthony Halstead

... and of course, shortly before his tragic death, Dennis Brain.

HS

BTW I believe that I am right in saying that Hans Richter was actually a trumpet player. Didn't Wagner write a special part for him in his Siegfried Idyll?

Thank you, I had forgotten Norman Del Mar and did not know of the others.
I could not list Dennis Brain as we have no way of knowing really what kind of career he might have developed had he lived and moved on from horn playing, but he was certainly moving in that direction.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

BTW I believe that I am right in saying that Hans Richter was actually a trumpet player. Didn't Wagner write a special part for him in his Siegfried Idyll?

IIRC, Richter learnt to play the Trumpet specifically in order to play the part in the Siegfied Idyll (he had to practice away fom the Wagner family home, so that Cosima wouldn't hear him and start asking questions - "Why are you learning the Trumpet? What's that piece you keep playing?")

Not perhaps (I've never heard his work in this capacity, so I can't comment) a "Top Rank" conductor, but hasn't Barry Tuckwell taken up the baton on quite a few occasions? Oh, and Roger Montgomery was conductor of Jane's Minstrels for its first decade.

[Pabmusic]

A few names ...

Norman del Mar
Maurice Handford
Eric Wetherall
Anthony Halstead

... and of course, shortly before his tragic death, Dennis Brain.

HS

BTW I believe that I am right in saying that Hans Richter was actually a trumpet player. Didn't Wagner write a special part for him in his Siegfried Idyll?

No, he was a horn player, but he played the (tiny) trumpet part in the first performance of the Idyll. He also prepared and conducted it.

[Hornspieler]

Forgive me if this has been marked in another thread, but Nicholas Busch former LPO principal horn for many years, died last Wednesday at the age of 73. He'll be remembered for many things - I've always had a soft spot for his Britten Serenade (with Ian Partridge) and the Strauss Last Songs (Lucia Popp/Tennstedt). There's also a nice story of him "returning to the scene of the crime" to do a patch in the Barbirolli Mahler 5 - years after the event
. R.I P.

Nick was a fine hornplayer. 100% reliable and admired by his colleagues for his quiet efficiency.

A terrible shock for his wife Maggie and I extend my deepest sympathy.

There but for the Grace of God ...

RIP Nick. You leave behind much for us to remember you by.

HS