Many horn players are least familiar with one or two works by Alec Wilder – most likely his three sonatas for horn and piano or the Suite for Horn and Piano – but he also wrote many other works featuring the horn as either a soloist or as part of a chamber ensemble. The following list of Alec Wilder’s works with horn is taken from Alec Wilder: A Bio-Bibliography, by David Demsey and Ronald Prather, Greenwood Press, 1993. If you already know Wilder’s sonatas and the suite, track down a copy and recording of some of the following works – any of them would make a great addition to your next recital or chamber music concert.
Horn Alone/Horn and Piano
Four Easy Pieces for Horn and Piano (1966)
Little Detective Suite No.1 (1978), horn
Little Detective Suite No. 2 (1980), horn
Little Detective Suite No. 3 (1979), horn
Six Short Studies for Horn
Sonata No. 1 for Horn and Piano (1958)
Sonata No. 2 for Horn and Piano (1964)
Sonata No. 3 for Horn and Piano (1970)
Suite for Horn and Piano (1960)
Twelve Etudes for Solo Horn (c. 1976)
Mixed Ensembles
Air for Saxophone with Brass Septet (1972) alto saxophone, 3 horns, 3 trombones, tuba
Around the Horn, oboe, 4 horns, harpsichord, guitar, bass, drums
Horns and Oboe, oboe, 4 horns, harpsichord, guitar, bass, drums
Moosacaglia (1974), oboe, bassoon, horn
Concerto No. 1 for Horn and Chamber Orchestra (1954)
Concerto No. 2 for Horn and Chamber Orchestra (1960)
Entertainment No. 4 for Horn and Chamber Orchestra (1972)
Five Love Songs for Horn and Chamber Orchestra (1980)
John Barrows: French Horn and Chamber Orchestra (1980)
Slow Dance (1945), woodwind quintet and orchestra
Suite for Brass Quintet and Strings (1963)
Suite for Horn and Strings (1966)
Theme and Variations (1945), woodwind quintet and string orchestra
Quintet for Horn and String Quartet (1967)
Seven Duets for Horn and Bassoon (1969)
Sextet for Marimba and Wind Quintet (1978)
Six Duets for Horn and Cello
Solo Suite for Horn and Improvisatory Percussion (1954)
Suite for Baritone Sax, Horn and Wind Quintet (1971)
Suite for Baritone Sax, Woodwind Sextet, Bass and Drums (1971)
Suite for Clarinet, Horn and Piano (1964)
Woodwind Quintet
Woodwind Quintet Nos. 1-13
The World’s Most Beautiful Girls (arrangement)
Brass Ensembles
Brass Quintet Nos. 1-8
Eight Studies for Three Horns (c. 1968)
Elegy (1976), solo tuba, 3 trumpets, 3 horns, 3 trombones
Four for Four (1962), 4 horns
Four Studies for Four Horns (1962)
Fourteen Duets, 2 horns
Jazz Suite for Four Horns (1951), 4 horns, harpsichord, guitar, bass, drums
Nonet (1969), 8 horns, tuba
Short Suite, 4 horns
Six by Four, 4 horns
Six Trios, 3 horns
Suite for Horn and Tuba (1978)
Suite No.1 for Four Horns
Suite No. 1 for Horn, Tuba and Piano (1962)
Suite No. 2 for Horn, Tuba and Piano (1971)
Trio for Brass (c. 1970), trumpet, horn, trombone
Twenty-two Duets (1968), 2 horns
Two Simple Studies (1968) 4 horns