Corno

As Printed on a Score

Corno (plural Corni) labels the horn staff, abbreviated Cor. or Cn., almost always with a key: Corni in F, Corno in Es (E-flat), Corno in B basso. Classical scores pair horns on one staff with I., II., a 2; later scores add III. IV. on a second staff. The notes are written in C and sound lower — a perfect fifth for horn in F. Corno inglese is a different instrument, the cor anglais.

Abbreviations: Cor., Cr., Cor

Also spelled: Corni

How Composers Use It

Natural horns, before about 1850, had to be crooked in the key of the piece, so Classical horn parts stay on the notes of the harmonic series and change crooks between movements. Valve horns in F made every note available, and the horn became the orchestra’s great binding voice: warm sustained harmony, heroic calls, soft pedal notes beneath the strings. Write horns in F, a fifth above sounding, and mark stopped (+) or muted passages explicitly.

Example

Mozart, Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, first movement: two separate staves, “Corno in B.” and “Corno in G.” — one natural horn crooked in B-flat, the other in G.