Music For Horns

Ave Maria was composed in memory of Holst’s mother for two female choirs (with 2 sopranos and 2 altos each). The original is in E flat major, a key that generally works very well for horn choirs, but this arrangement is in F major (C major in horn pitch), a tone higher. Since the range would have been limited upwards (f2) as well as downwards (c), this decision is a curious one.

The arrangement method is a straight transcription from the choral score, with horn 1-4 playing voices 1-4 (in the original order), and 5-8 the same with choir 2. The original setting is a classic, and since horn ensembles represent the human voice well, and this is basically a copy of Holst’s version, it does extremely well in concerts.