"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
A "cor" is the name commnonly used by musicians to
denote a French horn,

Well, actually, in UK orchestra slang "cor" almost always refers to cor
anglais. Horn is horn. In European languages, different story, hence
how it's marked on scores.

Andy, I covered the slang eventuality when I stated that a
saxophone was not a horn either (though the word is often
used in slang for both saxophone and trumpet) As a jazz player
you will be familiar with the term.

The only book on orchestration and notation to I have to hand,
is Davidson, "The Instruments of the Orchestra". It states:
"Cor. The pitch of the instrument should be specified at
the start of the first stave i.e Cor Bb"

This cannot possibly refer to the cor Anglais which is
a transposing instrument in the key of F (i.e. one plays the
note C to reproduce F concert) So the part must be written
a perfect fifth higher than it is to sound.

Just as you say, there are bound be variants of usage. I some
countries, what we call the viola is known as the alto-violin.
The musical scale in German notation contains the note "H" !!

So that the standard annotation of A, Bb, B, C becomes
in German nomenclature ABHC. Students of Bach all
recognise the frequent use of the four note B-A-C-H
motif in the Art of Fuge which the composer used to spell
his name.

Music should be fun!

But, let's not take this all too seriously. It's purely
academic. But then, on second thoughts, Jim *is*
an academic:-)

Regards to all
Iain