Why is the french horn called the french horn?

well, I play the french horn, and everyone believes that its called the french horn because supposably it was generated in france but thst not true. the french horn comes from a long tradition of instruments first used in china, egypt, and scandinavia. These instruments were used for signaling and ceremony. However, because they had no valves, only few notes could be played. By Roman times, and for centuries thereafter, valveless ‘natural’ horns were common at military and civilian events. In the 1600’s, the natural horn was used in the royal mounted hunt. The instrument was colied and fit over the arm of the player were rode with the hunt, playing fanfairs and horn calls.

The horn became a regular member of the orchestra during the 1700’s. Early in the century, a horn pitched in F was made in Vienne. This instrument had five detachable pieces of tubing called crooks. Crooks lengthened or shortened the horn so it could be played in best key for the music. By employing crooks and using the right hand in the bell to stop certain notes, a skilled musician could play any note on the scale.

The invention of valves in 1815 made the awkward crooks obsolete. Two types of valves were developed: rotary (revolving cylinder) valves, and piston (up and down) valves. The French made smaller bored horns with piston valves, while the Germans created larger bored horns with rotary valves. It is the German version that is reffered to in America, as a French horn.

As I understand it in most of the world the instrument is simply called “horn” and only Americans call it french. When I studied music in college I mostly heard the instrument refered to as “horn” and only was called “french” when necessary to distintuish it from horn as a general term for any brass instrument.

The hunting horns used in France are a predecessor of the modern horn; perhaps that is where the national designation came.

Early horns were “natural” horns that could only play notes in the overtone series (similar to the way a valveless bugle is played). In order to play in different keys horn players inserted crooks. The first valved horns were used so musicians wouldn’t have to deal with multiple crooks. The French version of the valved horn was a small horn with piston valves; the German version was a larger horn with rotary valves. The large rotary valved German horn is what we think of as a modern horn so it would probably be more accurate to call it German than French.