G

In Nuremberg, Germany, the Jagdhorn in G is a brass hunting horn made by Jacob Schmidt around the early eighteenth century. The horn remains in original condition, with a metal ring for a leather strap. Cast game animals decorate its garland, identifying the object as equipment for the hunt.

Jacob Schmidt, born in 1642, established a Nuremberg trumpet workshop carried on by Johann Jacob and Paulus for about a century. Only six Schmidt instruments are known to survive. An inscription reads “macht Jacob Schmidt in Nurnberg”, beside a bird-shaped master’s mark bearing the monogram JS. Hunting choirs played such horns with oboes and bassoons, while later forms entered opera and concert orchestras. Around 1680, a large one-and-a-half coil suited regal hunts, and by 1700 softer orchestral versions had emerged. Its pitch is G, while the cast animals keep the horn’s hunting purpose visible.