18 August 08 - 19:49An American's View

David McCormick writes of his introduction to The Russian Horn Capella:

We took the overnight train to Saint Petersburg [from Moscow]. Upon arrival, Sergey Peschansky appeared at our compartment, took us in hand and saw that we got settled into the hotel. Mr. Peschansky is a horn player by profession. After a twenty-five year career in the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet Orchestra, he had decided to find a new challenge, which led him in 2001 to revive the Saint Petersburg Horn Cappella, a unique ensemble. It had existed under the Czars from 1751 to the early nineteenth century, and had gone dormant for two centuries. Seventeen professional musicians each play two to five instruments (a total of seventy-two for the full ensemble) ranging in size from 3.94 inches (10 cm) to 8 feet 2.5 inches (2.5 m). Each instrument is a copper cone, with no cylindrical portion, which creates a unique sound, not that of our modern orchestra horn. Since each can produce only pitches of the overtone series, diatonic passages require separate instruments for each pitch (like a handbell choir). Yet the repertoire ranges widely, including fast passages. The smallest instruments sound like a cross between a brass instrument and zinke, the largest like something between an organ pipe and a baritone or bass saxophone. The conductor, Dmitry Russo, kindly came to our hotel and shepherded me to rehearsal. At intermission, I visited the shop that exists solely to make and maintain these instruments. After decades of having seen history book pictures of the Czar’s Russian Horn Band as a singular historical event, I was amazed to see and hear it in person.

David C. McCormick, a band director and university adminstrator, was a Founder and Vice President of the United States National Band Association. He and his wife Connie live in Fort Myers, Florida.