Musicology Annotation << Back On the history of the French horn: versions, guesses, interpretations Ivan V. Semeriaga The relevance of the study and its scientifi c novelty are characterized by the fact that it attempts to analyze the unusual cases of using or not using the French horn in certain works and to fi nd explanations for these facts. The history of the origin and evolution of the French horn is an important and interesting aspect of instrumental science in general. According to the connoisseurs of the orchestra, the French horn has a huge sound palette and wide imaginative expressiveness, therefore it causes some surprise that sometimes composers, as if deliberately exclude it from the score or extremely restrict its use. The object of our study were two similar examples from the history of music, namely: "Requiem" V. A. Mozart and the "High Mass" I. S. Bach. The purpose of this work is an attempt to answer the question: why sometimes composers use the French horn very much in a work or refuse it altogether. Keywords: French horn, Alfred Einstein, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Xaver Sussmire, "Requiem" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, "High Mass", Albert Schweitzer, Franz Anton von Spork. Contacts: E-mail: Hohhorn85@gmail.com Pp. 42-46.