Minor additions to and variations on his key system are common, but the acoustical structure of the tube remains almost exactly as he designed it. The dimensions and key system of the modern western concert flute and its close relatives are almost completely the work of the great flautist, composer, acoustician, and silversmith Theobald Boehm, who patented his system in 1847. With the romantic era, flutes began to lose favor: Symphony orchestras rather featured brass and strings. Conical bores giving a penetrating sound were used in Vienna, English flutes had a range to low C and played best in flat keys, French flutes gave a softer tone, and German flutes blended best with orchestras. The early 19th century saw a great variety of flute designs. Around this time, Friedrich Dülon was one of the best-known flautists in Germany while, in England, Charles Nicholson was considered a super star. Throughout the rest of the century, the interest in flutes increased and peaked in the early half of the 19th century. The orchestras formed in the last half of the 18th century included flutes which were featured in symphonies and concertos. The end of this era found the publication of Essay of a Method of Playing the Transverse Flute by Quantz. The 1730s brought an increase in operatic and chamber music feature of flutes. In 1707, Jacques Martin Hotteterre wrote the first method book on playing the flute: Principes de la flûte traversière. These included Praetorius, Schütz, Rebillé, Descoteaux, Quantz, Bach, Telemann, Blavet, Vivaldi, Handel and Frederick the Great. With this, composers wrote music for the flute. In the Baroque era, flutes became used in the scores of opera, ballet and chamber music. In addition to chamber music, the traverso began to be used in orchestral music. The conical bore design gave the flute a wider range and more penetrating sound without sacrificing the softer, expressive qualities. Now often called the traverso (from the Italian), it was made in three or four sections or joints with a conical bore from the head joint down. As a result, this flute had a rather soft sound and limited range and was used primarily in compositions for the "soft consort".Ī modern copy of an 18th-century French traverso, by flute-maker Boaz Berneyĭuring the Baroque period, the transverse flute was redesigned. At this stage, the transverse flute was usually made in one section (or two for the larger sizes) and had a cylindrical bore. ĭuring the 16th and early 17th centuries in Europe, the transverse flute was available in several sizes, in effect forming a consort in much the same way recorders and other instruments were used in consorts. This made transposition necessary, which led flautists to use Guidonian hexachords (used by singers and other musicians since their introduction in the 11th century) to transpose music more easily. However, flutes varied greatly in size and range. These flutes were often used as the tenor voice. In the late 16th century, flutes began to appear in court and theatre music (predecessors of the orchestra), and the first flute solos.įollowing the 16th-century court music, flutes began appearing in chamber ensembles. The Swiss army used flutes for signalling, and this helped the flute spread to all of Europe. After this, a period of 70 years follows in which few references to the flute are found.īeginning in the 1470s, a military revival in Europe led to a revival in the flute. The first literary appearance of the transverse flute was made in 1285 by Adenet le Roi in a list of instruments he played. It would not spread to the rest of Europe for nearly a century. The flute became used in court music, along with the viol, and was used in secular music, although only in France and Germany. These flutes became known as "German flutes" to distinguish them from others, such as the recorder. The transverse flute arrived in Europe from Asia via the Byzantine Empire, where it migrated to Germany and France. Throughout the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, transverse flutes were very uncommon in Europe, with the recorder being more prominent. During the Baroque era the traditional transverse flute was redesigned and eventually developed as the modern traverso. "Six-finger" D is the most common pitch for keyless wooden transverse flutes, which continue to be used today, particularly in Irish traditional music and historically informed performances of early music, including Baroque. Problems playing these files? See media help.
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