Double Horn in F / B-flat 1904 - 1919

This is a horn made by Eduard Kruspe at the end of the 19th century. Look at it, all these curls and turns! It’s a bit like a drawing, isn’t it? It makes me think about what it’s like to make a painting. I imagine Kruspe bending and shaping each piece of brass. Each curve must have been a decision, a negotiation with the material, slowly building up the form, figuring out the connections and how the sound would move through it. Does the material dictate the form or is it the artist’s imagination? I can almost feel the weight of the horn, the coolness of the metal, the warmth of the breath that would travel through it, and the echoes of all the music it has made over the years. Kruspe’s horn reminds me that art is a conversation that spans through time.