I had the recent honor of hosting
an alphorn and French horn duet.
That's Tim Dyess of Durham on alphorn
(click to view video)
and Sandy Svoboda playing French horn.
Shepherds in mountainous regions of Europe
used the instrument to herd cattle.
(It attracts cows.)
The first written reference to the alphorn
appeared in 1527, but scholars believe
villages in earlier times used it to signal each
other and as a substitute for church bells.
The world's longest alphorn
is 154 feet, eight inches long.
Actually, there are two
built by competing instrument makers.
