The Alpine Horn

The Alpine Horn

The Alpine Horn or Alforn in Swiss, It is an original musical instrument of the Swiss tradition. Its existence has been known since ancient centuries. For many times this instrument was essential to Swiss pastoral life. Years later when the romanticist movement exploded in the s. XIX, and later with the rise of tourism and commercialization in the s. XX, the Alpine horn was revived and gained a place in Swiss folklore and tradition.

The Alpine horn is an instrument made of natural wood. It is a tube that can be one and a half meters or even three meters long, with a nozzle and a rounded end. The use and existence of the alpine horn is documented since the s. XVI, his image has been found in old paintings as well as buried in old farmhouses. Swiss shepherds used the Alpine trunk to organize cattle, herd them and make them move.

But this instrument also took part in some more formal and religious rituals. Each shepherd's house had an alpine trunk, as this was the most efficient way of communicating with the animals. but also with the people of the region. It was like a rather more rudimentary telephone.

Currently its communicational use does not make sense, however, the trunk of the Alps has been recovered for the music and folklore of the country and at the moment it is in itself a very appreciated tourist attraction and visible everywhere.


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