"Ut" and "La" notation on horn and cornet instruments in orchestral score?

Question

I'm looking at an orchestral score from the late 1800's (well, OK, it's "The Mikado" by Arthur Sullivan).

In the portion of the score that I am looking at, the non-transposing instruments all have no key signature (a key of C-Major, I presume).

For the "Horn in F" part, he has no key signature, but the notation "Ut" above the staff.

For the "Cornet in B-flat" part, he has an E-flat key signature (three flats) and the notation "La" above the staff.

Here's an image:

I know both the Horn in F and the Cornet in B-flat are transposing instruments, but I'm not entirely sure what he's trying to represent here.

Could someone please explain what "Ut" and "La" mean in this context, and what is the meaning of the seemingly-odd key signatures for these instruments?

Answer 1

The issue is your assumption that the horn and trumpet are in fact in F and B-flat. Trumpets can be pitched in a variety of keys, and horn historically has played in one harmonic series or another without the use of valves, but by using crooks to pitch the instrument in one key or another.

In this case, the horn part is written in C and the trumpet part is written in A. Modern-day players reading this music would need to transpose to the key of the instrument they have, or use an instrument with the matching key. Modern-day horn players are VERY adept at this kind of transposition as the classic horn parts come in a wide variety of keys, and professional trumpet players will typically have a few different instruments on hand; but if the trumpet player doesn't have an A trumpet, he or she should be comfortable doing the half-step transposition to B-flat.

More likely in this particular case, however, is that only the public-domain score you are looking at has the odd-transposition brass parts -- the individual instrument parts you'd rent to perform The Mikado would almost surely be available in the more typical transpositions of F and B-Flat.

The syllables of Ut and La here come from traditional fixed-do solfege as seen historically in European classical music. Wikipedia

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The key signature issue can be explained as follows: The key of the piece is C Major (or A minor -- but that's moot here), so for the trumpet playing in A to sound up a minor third in C (sounding), the written key needs to move from C up a minor third to Eb, which is a key signature of 3 flats.

Answer 2

Composers could not predict the actual concert pitch of the horn, whose length was intentionally variable. The composer would state his preference as to pitch (e.g. "Horn in G") and, in every bar, add a flat or a sharp to the first occurring of any accidental notes. This was to direct the player note by note whether he was to play a diatonic note or an accidental note. A key signature might merely add to his workload.

The absence of notes in this horn extract prevents any direct question as to its home key. The references to instrument pitch are probably based on the Tonic Solfa, or Doh Ray Me based on the diatonic scale of C major (white keys of the piano). Lah is therefore the pitch of A. If the A cornet plays this part (in "his" E flat), the piano accompaniment will be in C. "Ut" is the French word for Doh, so the part is for Horn in C. A pianist could play it without transposing, as could the horn player deploying a C crook.