natural horn

A natural horn is a brass instrument without valves or keys, producing notes solely through changes in lip tension and hand position in the bell.

Players access different pitches by selecting from a set of crooks—curved tubes of varying lengths that alter the instrument's fundamental key.

The natural horn was standard in orchestras until valved horns emerged in the nineteenth century: Mozart wrote for natural horn.

Modern performers use it for historically informed performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire.