The steerhorn is an extremely long medieval bugle horn

Bugle (instrument)

The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure, since the bugle has no other mechanism for controlling pitch. Consequently, the bugle is limited to notes within the harmonic series...

. The instrument has been used both orchestrally and in war.

The steerhorn has a straight tube with an exact conical bore and no bell flare.

The steerhorn is used in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...

 as the score requires one steerhorn in Die Walküre and four in Götterdämmerung. Today, many orchestras substitute the trombone or bass trombone. The Solti

Georg Solti

Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...

 recording, the Golden Ring, had a steerhorn specially made as American soldiers carried off Bayreuth's steerhorns after the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.