The Gemshorns
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Divje Babe "Neanderthal" flute, c.55,000 BC
A History of the Gemshorn
by Hall Train
It seems civilization managed to get along without gemshorns for about 400 years before the present century. Gemshorns might have been around for quite a while before that, but then they simply disappeared from the music scene … or did they?
The instrument belongs to a specific group of flutes that are end-blown, as opposed to transverse flutes which are blown through an aperture at the side. Recently, remains of the end-blown style of flute have been found with Neanderthal remains, from about 45,000 years ago. Those flutes, along with later similar finds, were all made from animal bones. It is possible that instruments were also made from animal horns at roughly the same time, but there is no physical evidence because horn decays, unravels, and becomes undetectable over time.
Heidelberger Totentanz, Germany, 1488.
The first tangible evidence of a gemshorn was found in the twentieth century, in the remains of a fourteenth-century house in Germany. This particular instrument was in fact made of clay, but descriptions from the period indicate these instruments were usually made from animal horns. There exist images spanning two hundred years of gemshorns from the 14th to 16th centuries.
Sebastian Virdung’s Musica Getutscht und Ausgezogen, 1511.
It is likely the gemshorn was considered a folk instrument, but royalty also apparently amused themselves with consorts of gemshorns. Household records contain evidence of purchases of professionally made gemshorns, in assorted sizes.
The most interesting evidence of the popularity of, or at least familiarity with, the instrument lies in the existence of the gemshorn stop found on church organs. It does in fact make the organ sound like a gemshorn -- a really big one!
Audio recordings of the gemshorn were not made until the late 1960s, when Dr. Rene Clemencic and David Munrow both recorded medieval pieces on their very influential albums.
Yet the instrument remained obscure until quite recently. The author (myself) appeared on YouTube playing my homemade gemshorns a decade ago. The only other gemshorn YouTube videos before my recording were from a German television show, of a family of musicians seated around a table, blowing away on what appeared to be commercially-made gemshorns with plastic mouthpieces. This indicated there was already a ‘gemsmovement’ ahead, signalling the resurrection of a very worthy, mellifluous instrument.
If you’d like to join the movement, you can make your own gemshorn, but alternatively you might think of buying one, as nowadays there are numerous, very reliable makers.
While it takes a village to raise a child, it can take a herd of cattle to make your first gemshorn in A440.
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