This content was published on
After 1900, another accompaniment of natural yodeling became popular in Appenzell and Toggenburg: a practice called coin-rolling. A five-franc piece is rolled around the inside of an earthenware bowl, which is held on the palm of one hand and slowly rotated. Three bowls of different diameter, used simultaneously, produce a sound reminiscent of distant cowbells,…
This content was published on
The ranz des vaches or Kühreihen is a herdsman’s song without any accompaniment. The alpine cowherds used to sing it in order to call the cattle from the pasture when it was time for them to be milked in the stables. It has the same function as alphorn tunes used to have. And, just as…
This content was published on
By the beginning of the 19th century the yodel had gained popularity and had been introduced to the cities by travelling Alpine singers from the Tirol, Styria and Carinthia. Later national singing societies founded by immigrants from Switzerland in North and South America spread the yodeling style. Owing to international cultural contacts, the presence of…
This content was published on
In Alpine regions, such as the Muotatal in Canton Schwyz, the Appenzellerland and the Austrian district of Scheibbs, one to five-voice yodels without words can be heard. The Muotatal Jüüzli has two to three voices. In the Muotatal and in the regions of Appenzell the fourth level of the major scale is still sung as…
This content was published on
There is a young woman among the most famous Swiss alphorn players: Eliana Burki. The daughter of a physician at Feldbrunnen (Canton Solothurn) wanted to take alphorn lessons when she was six years old. She was lucky with her teacher, Hans-Jörg Sommer, one of the most talented traditional blowers.But Eliana, who charmed her public as…
This content was published on
In order to enhance the alphorn tradition the organizers of the first Herdsmen’s festival near Interlaken invited every player of the alphorn to a competition on August 17, 1805. The festival’s board performed the duties as a jury, and valuable trophies were prepared by the governor’s wife. But only two candidates applied. At the 1808…
This content was published on
Independently of the alphorn’s promotion by the Yodeling Association, the old herdsmen’s tool has also become a solo instrument in art music since the 1970s. In contrast to the few 19th century compositions for the alphorn in art music, a new era began in 1972 with Jean Daetwyler’s Concerto pour cor des alpes et orchestre.…
This content was published on
It is astonishing: although the alphorn’s use changed several times between the 16th and the 20th centuries, this instrument’s basic shape didn’t change. The alphorn today is still a long conical tube, bent at the end like a knee. Until the 1930s, a young pine tree, which had grown curved on a hillside, was felled…
This content was published on
Since primeval times cowherds have been making musical and signal instruments out of material available. The alphorn, the traditional herdsman’s instrument, became rare in Switzerland after 1800. In 1805, at the first herdsmen’s festival on the Unspunnen meadow near Interlaken, only two candidates appeared for the alphorn competition. And at the 1808 herdsmen’s festival there…
