bout the Gemshorn
As indicated by its name, the gemshorn was originally made from the horn of the gems or chamois.
In the latter middle ages and renaissance it was usually made from ox horn.
Less common materials included the horns of goats and those of the ibex.
Despite its overall appearance, the gemshorn is a wind instrument that is in many ways similar to the recorder. They both have seven finger holes on the front of the instrument and a thumb hole on the rear. They also both produce sound by means of a whistle. Air is directed from the mouthpiece, across a thin plate, which creates vibrations in the airstream. Like some early recorders, some gemshorns included a metal ring that could be slid over the whistle. By partially obstructing the whistle you can adjust the tuning of the instrument. Recorders and gemshorns also suffer from some of the same deficiencies, such as limited dynamic range, and poor performance outdoors due to wind blowing across the whistle.
One difference between the recorder and the gemshorn is that the latter does not have an outlet for the airstream other than the fingerholes and whistle.
Thus the gemshorn sounds more like an ocarina than a recorder.
The gemshorn overblows at the 14th, rather than at the octave like the recorder.
For practical use the gemshorn has usable range of a ninth.
Gemshorn were made in a variety of sizes from soprano through bass.
Instruments were usually tuned so that the lowest note was an F or a C.
(The instrument shown to the right is an alto gemshorn in F.)
Ensembles of gemshorns can be used to play a large amount of medieval and renaissance music.
They also blend quite well with recorder consorts.
The early history of the gemshorn, like that of the recorder, is not well known.
Obviously horns had been used as instruments for many thousands of years.
However, it is quite difficult to fabricate the whistle on a gemshorn.
By the fourteenth century the gemshorn was well established.
Although it declined in use during the sixteenth century, it lives on in the form of an organ stop that is common to this day.
Current luthiers that advertise gemshorns for sale or take commissions to make them:
I have heard a set of his gemshorns. They sound beautiful and are of the highest quality.
The workshop of Caleb Byerly in North Carolina. He has the least experience of the makers listed here.
Maker of plastic gemshorns. Available in many colors.
Peter Weiner
Based in Germany Experienced maker of gemshorns.
An experienced luthier dedicated exclusively to making gemshorns. Based in Leipzig Germany. Runs the website gemshornbau.de and also sells on Etsy
Used Instruments:
Used gemshorns are sometimes sold by music shops such as the Early Music Shop, Lazars Early Music, or Von Huene. Such stores are a true resource for the community. They each have been around for more than a generation and have a great deal of experience. They have supported the community by having instruments in stock, so that we do not have to wait for one to be custom built.
Gemshorns occasionally come up on classified ads.
https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/early-instrument-exchange/
Social selling sites such as Facebook group are another place to look.
Used Early Instruments North America
Used Baroque and Early Music Instruments Europe
Sometimes they surface on large traditional auction houses. Most instruments sell for a fraction of their worth on such sites, as many people who have an interest simply are not aware of the auction. If you are considering selling an instrument, I would not recommend going with such auction houses. The instruments are simply too unusual to obtain a reasonable market value.
Retired Luthiers
A German music company specializing in brass instruments. They still make brass instruments, but they have stopped making gemshorns. Musica Antique of Iowa State University have a bass in E flat that they identify as being made by Finke.
Horace Fitzpatrick
Active in the 1970s. Wrote a journal article on reconstructing a gemshorn. Some of his instruments had a metal band between the window and the ‘mouth piece’ This matches the illustration in Virdung’s and Agricola’s texts One is pictured here https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/MINIM_UK_4308
Meinl and Lauber
Famous makers of brass instruments Had a metal band between the window and the ‘mouth piece’ Musica Antique of Iowa State University have a tenor in B flat
Reiner Weber
German maker active in the 1960s
Some of his gemshorns are shown on the musical instrument museum online website:
https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_SMS_MM_POST_2764
https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_SMS_MM_POST_2765
https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_SMS_MM_POST_2766
Soprano https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_MDMB_309521
Tenor https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_MDMB_309522
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