In writing this dissertation, it is my goal to create not only an awareness for this style of French horn playing, but to educate other musicians and potential audience members about Julius Watkins, his professional accomplishments and performance style, and this rare artistic form.

A rich and fascinating account of one of music history's most ancient, varied, and distinctive instruments From its origins in animal horn instruments in classical antiquity to the emergence of the modern horn in the seventeenth century, the horn appears wherever and whenever humans have made music. Its haunting, timeless presence endures in jazz and film music, as well as orchestral settings, to this day. In this welcome addition to the Yale Musical Instrument Series, Renato Meucci and Gabriele Rocchetti trace the origins of the modern horn in all its variety. From its emergence in Turin and its development of political and diplomatic functions across European courts, to the revolutionary invention of valves, the horn has presented in innumerable guises and forms. Aided by musical examples and newly discovered sources, Meucci and Rocchetti's book offers a comprehensive account of an instrument whose history is as complex and fascinating as its music.

For hundreds of years the French horn was a symbol of aristocracy in Europe, not for its affiliation with concert music, but for its use by huntsmen. When American sons of European immigrants sponsored hunting parties on their estates, enslaved persons performed the duties of huntsmen. George Washington, the quintessential Founding Father, enslaved a huntsman named William Lee who served at his side during the Revolutionary War. A horn made by George Henry Rodenbostel currently resides at Mount Vernon, purportedly having belonged to Washington. The horn is an interesting artifact in the history of horn playing in America. /DISS_para DISS_paraFrench horn player, bandleader, and bugler Francis Johnson established the beginning of the African American brass band tradition in the early 19th century. The United States Colored Troops were formed during the Civil War, and bands played an important role in the USCT, but the horn's importance had declined. Postbellum minstrel bands brought the French horn back into widespread use, by African American and white people. The years between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement saw a great deal of musical expression and experimentation from African American musicians; French horn players like Julius Watkins and Willie Ruff created opportunities in the jazz idiom. In the late 20th century, Robert Watt and Jerome Ashby opened the door to full-time orchestral jobs for African American horn players. African American musicians were fettered for over a century with Jim Crow, segregation, and institutional structures that did not allow them to succeed or to pursue success. This document fills in gaps in historical knowledge, and provides a narrative for the history of African American horn playing.