In 1784, the established music scholar and composer Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart within his famous writing “Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst” calls the French horn a “celestial instrument”, which during the 18th century (as well as the trumpet) gained – despite technical deficiency – a strong position within musical practice. During the era of romanticism the instrument remarkably developed and established a unique position within the concert repertory as well as in the sphere of opera and chamber music.
Musical highlights of this era are presented by the renowned Leipziger Hornquartett which, founded in 1951, is the oldest still active French horn quartet in the world.
In front of different stylistic and geographical backgrounds Constantin Homilius, Gioachino Rossini, Antonio Richter, Wilhelm Albrecht Lütgen, Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow and Jacques-François Gallay set their unique sound worlds dealing with the technical possibilities of the French horn of their times and thus challenging and furthering the development of its technical standard. This kind of literature represents a great opportunity for the Leipziger Hornquartett to prove once more its unique and celebrated musical quality.