Adolf Borsdorf

Who was Adolf Borsdorf?

Adolph Borsdorf, was a German player of the French horn.

Borsdorf was born in Saxony in 1854. He studied the French horn at the Conservatoire in Dresden and played in a military band. In 1879 he moved to England where he stayed for the rest of his life, becoming the most important horn player in England. The conductor Hans Richter offered him at job in the orchestra at Covent Garden. In 1904 he joined the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra. The four horn players in that orchestra were excellent players and were often called “God’s Own Quartet”.

Borsdorf and his colleague Franz Paersch had learned to play on horns that were made in Germany. These had a wide bore. However, both players changed to playing instruments made in France by a horn-maker called Raoux. These instruments had a narrower bore. They were not quite as powerful but gave a particularly clear sound.

Borsdorf became professor at the Royal College of Music when it was founded in 1882. He also taught at the Royal Academy of Music. He soon became the best horn player in London. He was playing principal horn in the orchestra which Henry Wood conducted at the very first Promenade Concert in the Queen’s Hall in 1895.