The alphorn, sometimes called the alpenhorn, is a trumpet-like musical instrument made of wood.

Similar to the view of Leopold Kronecker that " God made the integers ; all else is the work of man ," musicians drawn to the alphorn and other instruments that sound the natural harmonics, such as the natural horn, consider the notes of the natural harmonic series — particularly the 7th and 11th harmonics — to be God's Notes, the remainder of the chromatic scale enabled by keys, valves, slides and other methods of changing the qualities of the simple open pipe being an artifact of mere mortals.

Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann that the inspiration for the dramatic entry of the horn in the introduction to the last movement of his First Symphony was an alphorn melody he heard while vacationing in the Rigi area of Switzerland.

Finally, the prologue to Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, played on horn without the use of valves but equally suited to the alphorn, is a beautiful, inspired example of the lyric possibilities of natural harmonics.

The oldest known document using the German word Alphorn is a page from a 1527 account book from the former Cistercian abbey St. Urban near Pfaffnau mentioning the payment of two Batzen for an itinerant alphorn player from the Valais.

The alphorn is carved from solid softwood, generally spruce but sometimes pine.

The well-known " Ranz des Vaches " ( score ; audio ) is a traditional Swiss melody often heard on the alphorn.

The use of the alphorn is seen mainly in mountainous regions, can be very popular in some areas, and like yodeling or the accordion, it has become an emblem of traditional Swiss music.

He is barely remembered, mostly for his largely forgotten works for alphorn inspired by Josef Molnar beginning in 1970.

AD 1400, include wooden labrophones in their stretched form, like the alphorn, or coiled versions, such as the '" Büchel " and the " Allgäuisches Waldhorn " or " Ackerhorn ".

The alphorn has no lateral openings and therefore gives the pure natural harmonic series of the open pipe.

Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner used the words lituum alpinum for the first known detailed description of the alphorn in his De raris et admirandis herbis in 1555.

* Bucium, a type of alphorn used by mountain dwellers in Romania.

* Concerto for alphorn and orchestra ( 1970 ) by Jean Daetwyler

* Concerto for alphorn No. 2 ( with flute, string orchestra & percussion ) ( 1983 ) by Daetwyler

* Dialogue with Nature for alphorn, flute & orchestra by Daetwyler

Eliana Burki playing the alphorn at the Bardentreffen festival in Nuremberg 2009.

D ' Dieß ' ner alphorn players.

For a long time, scholars believed that the alphorn had been derived from the Roman-Etruscan lituus, because of their resemblance in shape, and because of the word liti, meaning Alphorn in the dialect of Obwalden.

In former times the alphorn maker would find a tree bent at the base in the shape of an alphorn, but modern makers piece the wood together at the base.

An alphorn made at Rigi-Kulm, Schwyz, and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, measures 8 ft. in length and has a straight tube.

The Swiss alphorn varies in shape according to the locality, being curved near the bell in the Bernese Oberland.

Rossini introduced the " Ranz des Vaches " into his masterpiece William Tell, along with many other delightful melodies scattered throughout the opera in vocal and instrumental parts that are well-suited to the alphorn.

* Kuhreihen, a type of melody played on an alphorn.

Thus one finds brass instruments made of wood, like the alphorn, the cornett, the serpent and the didgeridoo, while some woodwind instruments are made of brass, like the saxophone.

Transhumance contributes much to traditional Swiss culture, for example yodeling, alphorn and Schwingen ( wrestling ) are closely connected to Alpine pastures.

Traditional instruments included alphorn, hammered dulcimer, fife, hurdy-gurdy, rebec, bagpipe, cittern and shawm.

They use unique musical instruments, including the " trembita " ( trâmbiţa ), a type of alpenhorn of Dacian origin, as well multiple varieties of the fife, or sopilka, that are used to create unique folk melodies and rhythms.

Although not precisely definable as music, there are signals played on the trembita ( a type of alpenhorn, to signify death, birth, a marriage or another significant event ) by the Hutsuls in the Carpathian mountains.

* Trembita, an Ukrainian alpine horn made of wood.

The arctic fox has a circumpolar range, meaning that it is found throughout the entire Arctic, including the outer edges of Greenland, Russia, Canada, Alaska, and Svalbard, as well as in Subarctic and alpine areas, such as Iceland and mainland alpine Scandinavia.

The climate is hot and humid in the river basin and cool and dry in the southern highlands, with a cold, alpine climate in the Ruwenzori Range.

Romansh came to be a written language, and therefore it is recognized as a language, even though it is very close to the Lombardic alpine dialects.

Slalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles ( gates ) spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.

The treeline is at approximately 950 meters, above which is alpine shrubland and grassland, dominated by temperate Magellanic vegetation such as Acaena, Dicksonia, Drimys, Empetrum, Gunnera, Myrteola, Pernettya, and Ugni.

Transport in Kyrgyzstan is severely constrained by the country's alpine topography.

Then there is a cold zone to ( treeline ), a subarctic or alpine zone to and fully arctic climate above that.

The climate of New Mexico is generally semi-arid to arid, though there are areas of continental and alpine climates, and its territory is mostly covered by mountains, high plains, and desert.

The Pyrenees are relatively as rich in endemic species as the Alps, and among the most remarkable instances of that endemism is the occurrence of the monotypic genus Xatardia ( family Apiaceae ), only on a high alpine pass between the Val d ' Eynes and Catalonia.

Franco-Provençal is also spoken by another minority in the alpine heights of the Province of Turin.

Torsion box designs continue to dominate cross-country ski designs, but is less common for alpine and ski touring.

The Alpine touring ski is a modified lightweight downhill ski with an alpine touring binding.

The type of ski is mainly used with alpine touring boots, which are rigid but lighter than downhill skiing boots, but may be fixed with a binding suitable for skiing in technical mountaineering boots.

Of the agricultural land, 4. 6 % is used for growing crops and 12. 9 % is pastures and 22. 9 % is used for alpine pastures.

Damage usually derives from a common underestimation of mud-debris flows: in the alpine valleys, for example, bridges are frequently destroyed by the impact force of the flow because their span is usually calculated only for a water discharge.

The butterfly loop, also known as lineman's loop, butterfly knot, alpine butterfly knot and lineman's rider, is a knot used to form a fixed loop in the middle of a rope.

The climate of Epirus is mediterranean along the coast and alpine in the interior.

Alternatively, alpine skiers may pursue the sport in less controlled environments ; this practice is variously referred to as ski touring, backcountry skiing, or extreme skiing.