The Cor Solo: History and Characteristics

The cor solo, a French version of the German Inventionshorn, enjoyed a period of popularity at the end of the eighteenth and in the first half of the nineteenth century. In its most common form it was pitched in 11-ft G with alternative tuning-slide crooks for F, E, E-flat and D. Thirty extant examples (by the Raoux family, Courtois, Jahn and Sax) have been studied and measured along with examples of the Inventionshorn for comparison. This paper presents an analysis of contemporary references to, and illustrations of, the cor solo, a comparative account of models produced by the Raoux family as the instrument’s principal makers, detailed bore comparisons, and players’ observations on the relative merits of the orchestral horn of the period with terminal crooks.