Thanks to this research, I have now a better idea of what kind of instrument Mozart and Leutgeb may have known, and how different the playing esthetic may have been like at the time.
The horn had an incredibly rich evolution throughout the XVIIIth century (not to mention the important changes of the XIXth century). In spite of our ever-growing knowledge of early horn, there is still a cloak of uncertainty on important details and entire periods of its history and developement. But we know for sure that Mozart’s horn was a very different instrument than what is commonly seen in concert halls today (romantic French hand horns) ; with this research, I believe I made a step further towards interesting leads.
Even if there are still several possibilities for which horn Leutgeb played for Mozart (transitional terminally-crooked horn or Kirchenhorn, Kerner or Starzer…), it is obvious that his instrument was smaller, lighter, with a brighter sound and a « need » for definition and articulation : esthetical aspects from which all horn players (historical or modern) may benefit from. My experimentation also ended in a sort of « justification » of why we should play Mozart on a historically accurate horn : the music suddenly makes sense and finds its inherent esthetic when played on the corresponding intrument. This is of course true for any repertoire and not only for horn. The instrument is the best urtext one can benefit from.
This research is of course an unfinished business, as there are many other paths to explore. I truly believe that investigating the horn manufacturer Carl Starzer would lead to interesting discoveries. Also, the question of which mouthpiece to use is an interesting one. During my experimentation on the 1760 Kerner, I played on a modern mouthpiece (L’Olifant’s C10 cup and CR1 rim), but also on a more historically shaped one (L’Olifant’s RC historical cup and CR1 rim). When using a historical cup, the accuracy, definition and all the particulrities of the Kerner described in this work were highly increased. The horn reacted to the mouthpiece the way music reacted to the horn. It is astonishing to see how music and material are bounded.
I can only encourage horn players to investigate the past of their instrument, with or without any research question, with or without focusing on a particular period of time. We can only learn from its richness and become better players and musicians because of it. This work is only a small brick in the wall ; there still is a lot to discover.