When playing a written note A, which note is sounded by an English horn?

The English horn, also known as the cor anglais, is an instrument that transposes in the key of F. This means that when a player reads a note written as an A, the sound that is produced is different because the instrument is tuned to transpose down a perfect fifth to F.

To understand this, we can analyze the relationship between written notes and their concert pitch. If an English horn player plays a written A, the actual concert pitch produced will be an E. This results from the English horn being an F transposing instrument. Therefore, to find out what concert note corresponds to a written A, we need to recognize that this instrument plays a perfect fifth lower. In this case, the correct concert pitch aligning with an English horn's written note A would indeed be an F, which resonates with the notion of transposing instruments.

However, the answer you provided notes that the produced concert pitch is D, but based on the English horn's transposition, a written note A actually corresponds to an E concert pitch, not D. Thus, understanding the function of transposing instruments in music theory is crucial for determining the correct pitch sounds.