Post horn

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German Letter box with an old Post horn with flashs of the Deutsche Bundespost and the new Post horn from the Deutsche Post AG

real Post horn

Post horn logo from Sweden.

muted post horn from The Crying of Lot 49.

The Post horn (also posthorn, post-horn, or coach horn) is a valveless cylindrical brass instrument used to signal the arrival or departure of a postrider or mail coach. It is associated with the postilions of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The instrument has a circular shape with three turns of the tubing. Mozart, Mahler, and others incorporated the instrument into their orchestras for certain pieces. On such occasions, the orchestra's horn player usually plays the instrument. One example of post horn use in modern classical music is the famous off-stage solo in Mahler's Third Symphony. Due to the scarcity of this instrument however it is usually played on a trumpet or flugelhorn.

The cornet was developed from the post horn by adding valves.

[edit] See also

• Horn (instrument)
• Little Post Horn Squid
• The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon

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