German translation issue

Hi, its me again with another comment to the german translation of Dorico.

This episode is about the translation of the fingering terms for french horns.
In the german translation of Dorico the high f horn and high b horn (as part or a triple horn or standalone instrument) are translated as »Althorn«. »Alt« comes from »alto« which means »high« but doesn’t mean »high« french horns. In german Althorn means a totally different instrument which is called »tenor horn« in english (Althorn – Wikipedia).
So, I would suggest to use the common german term for high f horn and high eb horn, which are »Hoch-F-Horn« (short »Hoch F«) or »Hoch-Es-Horn« (short: »Hoch Es«) in order to avoid confusion and head shaking in the horn community.

In german Althorn means a totally different instrument which is called »tenor horn« in english (> Althorn – Wikipedia> ).

Just to confuse matters, while tenor horn is what the British use, the Americans call it the alto horn. Tenor horn - Wikipedia

David

:slight_smile:

If the German Althorn is the English Tenor Horn, what’s the German Thenorhorn called? :open_mouth:

Yes, this is quite a rabbit hole: A friend of mine in America who is often engaged to play the Tenorhorn part in Mahler VII, does so on a Baritone.

There is a German Wikipedia entry for Tenorhorn Tenorhorn – Wikipedia, but no equivalent English page.

It seems this is a cul de sac.

David

… and the trransposition for the (German) Tenorhorn is still wrong in Dorico 3.5. It has been mentioned several times since Dorico 1, but so far there have been no changes. Let’s hope for Dorico 4!

As far as I know, in Austria this is an Althorn:
cah_502g.jpg
Thank God it is extinct … It has nothing to do with french horn. Decades ago the old guys in brass bands played this instrument instead of the french horns. It was ok for the offbeat umpa-umpa in marches and polkas, played with some kind of a too big trumpet mouthpiece, no chance even for rough tuning or some kind of beauty in sound. I think it belongs to the trumpet family. Some kind of a lower trumpet in horn shape …

This is a Tenorhorn:


And this is a Bariton:

No matter for Tenorhorn and Bariton if the bell is curved or straight upwards. Both played in wind bands with u-shaped mouthpieces. Trombone players have to learn Tenornhorn as well.
The wagner tuba looks almost the same like a tenorhorn but has a different diameter and is played with a french horn funnel shaped mouthpiece by french horn players.

Tenorhorn is traditionally notated with a treble clef in Bb, Bariton with a bass clef in C.

(The number of valves is not a distinction between Tenorhorn and Bariton. There are a lot of “Tenorhörner” available, which also have 4 valves.)

In British Brass Bands, the baritone is transposing and written in the treble clef, like most of the instruments in that ensemble – even the BB-flat tuba! The system is quite easy to get used to.

David