In Search of the Baroque Flute: The Flute Family 1680-1750

Author(s): Christopher Addington

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Early Music, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Feb., 1984), pp. 34-47
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3127151 .
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ChristopherAddington
In

search

of

the

Baroque
The flute family 1680-1750

flute

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1 Frontispiece to M. Marais, Pieces en trio (Paris,1692):engraving by C. Simonneau (Paris,Biblioth6que Nationale)

The'Baroqueflute' is now a familiarsight in the concert

hall: it is readily identifiable as the type of instrument
popularized by Quantz in the mid-18th century. This
became the standardflute of the late 18th and early
19th centuries, and was the kind that was massproduced in England by Richard Potter and Henry
Cahusac. Thus most of the instruments we know as
'Baroqueflutes' are actually of a type prevalent50 or a
hundredyearsafterthe time of BachandTelemann.Itis
open to question, then, whetherthey arerepresentative
of the instrument for which those composers wrote.
Paradoxically,many flutes from afterthe late Baroque
period survive(and may still be bought quite cheaply),
despite the fact that flute music from about 1750
onwardswas in a state of decline. Yetonly a few dozen
survive from the period which ends with Quantz's

principlewe areno morejustified in identifyingthe true

Baroque flute with the instrument played in the late
18th centurythan we wouldbe in identifying it with the
cylindrical Boehm-type flute. Before examining the
flute as it existed in the firsthalf of the 18thcentury,we
must clear our minds of three 20th-century preconceptions.
First,we are used to regarding'the flute' as a single
instrumentratherthan as one member of a family of
instruments. This results from the standardizationof
the orchestral flute sounding d' with all seven holes
closed (or'in D', and so on for flutes of other pitches).
Butin the 16th and early 17th centuries the term'flute'
-usually 'Germanflute'-denoted any member of a
consort of instruments ranging from descant to bass,
with the bass a particularlyprominentmember.Thereis
Versuchof 1752.
evidence that this usage continued into the 18th cenThis imbalance may not be entirely accidental. One tury far more widely than is generally appreciated.
A second source of misunderstandingresults from a
of the first principles of the search for 'authenticity'in
music is that in dealing with a single historical period Darwinian attitude towards old instruments, which
we should not rely on certaintiesof a laterdate:thus in tend to be evaluatedin termsof theirsurvivalrate.Thus,
34

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984

if an instrumentonce existed in two versions, that now

represented by the larger number of museum specimens is often regardedas the 'standard'one, and the
other is treated as a deviation. But the preservationof
instrumentsis a haphazardaffair:20 years after their
manufacture, for instance, one model may become
fashionable while another, now unsuitable for more
recent music, will be discarded (especially if it is very
difficult to play) I believe this is precisely what
happened in the case of the Baroqueflute. Historical
factorsand geographicalaccident also have to be taken
into account: the British,for example, are a nation of
collectors, whereas the French have been extremely
unsuccessful in preservingtheirold instruments,largely
because of the Revolution.' This is particularlyunfortunate in view of the fact thatthe flutes playedin France
show a much greater variety and sophistication than
those of any other country:in the history of the flute,
France occupied the centre of the stage during the
whole of the period under examination,while England
lurkedvery much in the wings.
The third preconception concerns pitch. We have
become accustomed to the idea of an international
pitch standardbased upon a value for a' that is defined
in terms at least as fine as one vibration per second.
Performersof Baroquemusic have tended to settle on a
pitch standardexactly a semitone below this (a'=415)
as being 'correct'for the music they play. But all the
evidence from the period shows that pitch varied
wildly,at least froma'=350 to a'=500. Thisvariation,of
about a 5th, arose from various factors.
Accordingto Quantz,national pitch variedby almost
a 5th, with three main standards:the medium'German'
pitch, which itself variedby six commas(two-thirdsof a
tone);'Frenchchamberpitch',a minor3rdbelow it;and
the high 'choir pitch', a minor3rd above it, which was
used especially by the Venetians.
There were also pitches proper to certain instruments. Instrumentstended to become fixed at particularpitches-the 18th-centuryGermanorgan,for example, was often in choir pitch. We knowfromQuantzthat
there was a similar association between wind instruments and Frenchchamberpitch. Chamberandorchestral music may each have had an appropriatepitch.
Throughoutthe late Baroquethere was a movement
towards a rationalization of pitch and its notation.
Corelli,Couperin,Bach,Rameauand Quantzhimself all
played a leading partin the development of a fixed, internationalpitch. However,the process was necessar-

ily slow, as can be seen from Quantz'sdescription of a

prevailingsituationthat by our standardswas chaotic.
The question of pitch is particularlyimportant in
relation to wind instruments, since they almost alone
have a fixed sounding-length, and their 'voice' is
defined entirely by that length. In the case of the flute,
pitch is not merelya technical matter,since a difference

r,

I,

I?

2 Five 18th-century ivory flutes (Paris, Musee Instrumental du

ConservatoireNational Superieurde Musique)

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984

35

of even a semitonewill alterthe timbrequitenoticeably,

while largervariations involve a degree of difference
comparable to that between a soprano and an alto
singer. What then was the true Baroqueflute like?
It is clear fromwrittenand--occasionally--musical
sources of the time thatthe followingtypes of flute were
played in the first half of the 18th century:
1 Highoctave flute (flautopiccolo, sopranino,'flutet').
In D, an octave above the 'ordinary'flute.
2 Fife or 'Swiss Pipe'. In B flat, a militaryinstrument.
3 Descant flutes. Quantzmentions a 'little quartflute'
in G, a 4th above the 'ordinary'flute; there was also
certainly a high quint flute in A.
4 Flauto terzetto. A medium-high flute in D at choir
pitch, playing at about a'-480-500. This would have
sounded a minor 3rd above the pitch of most harpsichords and orchestras.The terzettowas the ancestor of
the later 'flute in F'but seems to have been of slightly
different construction.
5 Concert flute. Known to Quantz as the 'ordinary'
flute, this was usually in D, but that D itself was highly
mobile,varyingat least froma standardof a'=390 to one
of a'=450.2

6 Flute d'amour,flauto d'amore. An alto instrument

tuned to D at Frenchchamberpitch (abouta'=350) and
thus sounding a majoror minor 3rd below the normal
pitch of harpsichords, and played at either of these
transpositions.It was treatedas an instrumentin either
B or B flat; in the latter pitch it was known as the flute
pastourelle.3
7 Tenoror intermediate bass flute. Quantzmentions a
low quartflute in A, but a more common instrument
seems to have been the bass flute in G, that is, the low
quint flute, based on the 6' organ pipe.
8 Octavebass flute. In the D below that of the concert
flute.
Specimens of most of the flutes listed above survive
(and can be identified with survivinginstruments)with
the exception of the descant flutes and also possibly
the original flauto terzettoand the low quart flute.
Bearing in mind the critical importance of a flute's
length, a good idea of the varietyof instrumentsplayed
in the 18th century may be gained from illus.2, which
shows ivory flutes in the instruments museum of the
ParisConservatoire.(This by no means covers the full
rangeof flutes in that collection; there is one flute with

Table 1 Baroque flute tunings.

Bass flutes
Octavej Quint I Quart

Flfite d'amour
in Bb
in B

in C

Concert flute
in D
in D

I in E

Terzetto Descant flutes

in F
Quart Quint

Piccolo
in 8a

Clef and key

transpositions:
Open

(c)

(B>
)

(F)

C#

F#

G#

A#

CO

Cx

F0

G#

B0

C#

F0

F
A

Fo

-7

B6

Bottom note

(D fingering):

()E

Closea
-

FX

G#

C#

G
E

D#

_1_1
_~-

'
This table is based on the flute methods of Quantz, Hotteterreand Corretteand sources of music by Hotteterre,Couperin, Philidor,Bach, Telemann, Quantz, Graupnerand Molter.

36

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984

_Brjbd
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aa
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re.

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3 Opening of a brunette from Jacques Hotteterre's collection Airs et brunettes . . tirez des meilleurs autheurs (Paris, 1721) (Paris,
Bibliotheque Nationale)

a sounding length four times that of the smallest shown

here and thus pitched two octaves lower.)
Composers hardly ever specified the type of flute
they were writingfor; and the boundariesbetween the
different types were blurred. Since the playing pitch
both of other instruments and of the individual flute
was so variable,manyinstrumentscould have playedas
different kinds of flute in different performances.The
problemis one of notation, since all flutes werewritten
least duringthe first quarterof
as if they were in
D--at
the 18th century--whatever
pitch they played at. The
note played with all finger-holes closed was writtenas
d' and called re even in music for the bass flute in G.
Thusit is often extremelydifficult to judge simplyfrom
the score which flute the composer had in mind.
In discussing this wide range of flutes I shall begin
with the three types in the middle range (nos.4-6) and
then go on to describe briefly the distinctly high- and
low-voiced varieties.
The middle range
As if the multiplicity of pitches were not complication
enough, there are two quite different designs of flute.
One,constructed in three pieces, was played in the first
quarterof the 18th century;the other, in four pieces,
superseded it in the second quarter.
Thethree-piece flute. The conical one-keyed flute was
invented in France in the second half of the 17th
century,probablyby membersof the Hotteterrefamily.
Forseveral decades the Frenchhad a virtualmonopoly
in flute making.Thefrontispiece(illus.1)of a collection
of triosby Maraisforflute orrecorder(Paris,1692)is the
earliest representation known to me of the new flute
design. Some of the surviving specimens, however,

such as the Chevalier(Boston,Museumof FineArts)are

thought to be of an earlierdate. The first compositions
scored specifically for the flute areLaBarre'sfive Pidces
pourla fltltetraversiere
(Paris, 1702).
Overa dozen survivingspecimens of this instrument,
all made either in France or by Frenchmen living
abroad, have now been identified. The design is distinctive and appears to be quite homogeneous, apart
from small variations in external appearance and
criticaldifferences in the all-importantmatterof pitch.
The exteriorconsists of two long, plain tubes connected to three ornatelyturnedsmallerparts:the distinctive
cap to the headpiece (usually very long); the socket
connecting the head with the single middle joint; and
the foot joint (often of ovoid design).Themountingsare
usually made of ivory. Otherfeatures distinguish this
flute acoustically from the later four-piece model: its
generally wider, less regular bore; larger and less
undercut mouth-hole; heavierwalls; and largerfingerholes placed further down the flute. Of particular
interest is the fact that the end appears originally to
have been stopped with wood ratherthan cork.4These
apparentlysmall details combine to make a decisive
difference to the player's technique and the instrument's sound.
But most of the interest in this flute has focused on
the question of pitch. In his Versuch,Quantz several
times mentions the low pitch that was a distinctive
featureof the earlyFrenchflute:'Indeed',he says of the
entire new generation of wind instrumentscreated by
the French,'they owe their existence to the low pitch.'
His identification of Frenchchamber pitch as being a
minor3rd below the Germanstandardof his own day is
supportedby the most famous of all the players of the
three-piece flute, Jacques Hotteterrehimself. InL'artde
EARLYMUSIC FEBRUARY1984

37

?LY-,
r

4 Agroupof Frenchmusicians:
detail froma paintingby Robert
Tournieres (1667-1752) (London, National Gallery)

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F
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re

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preluder,written in 1719, he devotes a whole chapter

(chap.x) to flute transpositions. One of these, which
involves the overplayingof the twoGclefs, he considers
crucial to flute technique 'because it enables one to
play tunes in their true tonality [or'pitch'-the French
ton could mean either], and in unison with the voice'.
This can mean only that the flute was not normallyin
unison with the voice, but played a 3rd below. (Foran
example of this overplayingtechnique, see illus.3,from
Hotteterre'sAirset brunettes(Paris, 1721).)
Thesurvivingexamplesof this flute areto be found in
38

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984

museumsandcollections acrossthe world;and although

their makers were French, nearly all of them seem to
have been owned by people living outside France.
Those that have survived in Britain have pitches of
about a'=405-1 5, while those in the German-speaking
countriesarelower,at abouta'=390. However,that may
be an indication of the pitches prevailing in the
countrieswherethe purchasers,ratherthan the makers,
lived. Onlyone of these instrumentsremainsin France,
and it was almost certainlyplayed in France:the flute
made by Naust(Strasbourg,c 1700)and now in the Paris

Conservatoire.This is pitched at about a'=360, which

corresponds closely enough to Quantz's description.
Thereis one other survivinginstrumentwhich may be
at an even lower pitch: the flute by Du Mont (Paris,
cl 692) in the DaytonC. MillerCollection, Washington,
DC.These two instrumentsare, I believe, the only surviving true representativesof the famous Frenchflute
that createdsuch a sensation in the early 18th century.
We have strong pictorialsupportfor this view in the
well-known groupportrait,attributedto RobertTournieres and now in the National Gallery,London (illus.4),
which shows four musicians, thought to include La
Barre,Hotteterreand Marais,grouped around a piece
by La Barre.The ivory instrumentheld, with apparent
pride, by the player seated in the foregroundis almost
entirely visible. Fromthe proportions of the picture,
this flute is extremelylong (andthereforelow-pitched),
even longer perhaps than the Naust. Furthervisual
evidence is providedby the two offset holes in the third
and sixth positions, which are clearly visible in the
painting and have long puzzled writers.The principal
problemin the makingand playingof long, low-pitched
flutes is that on any instrumentlargerthan the concert
flute the distance between the finger-holes stretches
the hand to its limits, particularlyas regardsthe third
and sixth holes. In the Naust flute, for example, each
hand must stretch about 15mm further than on the
average concert flute. On my own copy of this instrument I have brought these two holes within reach by
drilling them slightly high, in an offset position. I
believe this is the explanationof the extraholes in the
'LaBarre'flute: the thirdand sixth holes wereoriginally
so widely spaced that the player had them filled with
waxand new holes drilledin a moreaccessible position.
Most convincing, however,is surelythe sound of the
instrument.It is difficult to believe that the instrument
that took Franceby stormand inspired an entirely new
form of musical composition was the rather blandsounding Baroqueflute heardin the concert hall today.
The sound of the alto-voiced Naust flute is quite different:it has a farricher,moreeloquent sound than any
other flute I have heard;and it is perfectly suited to the
music composed by the great flautists of the day, La
Barre,Hotteterreand Philidor.Not only is it tuned to a
very low pitch, but it is designed to play particularly
strongly in its lower range. Thus it sounds at its best
playingthe notes at the bottom of the staff, which were
much favoured by those composers. It also has the
plaintive quality considered so typical of Frenchflute
music.

The four-piece flute. Quantz, writing in 1752, tells us

that the four-piece version of the flute came into use
'about 30 years ago'. Naturally,the changeover from
one design to the other did not take place overnight.
Some early versions of the four-piece design, such as
those by Thomas Stanesby (i) and P. J. Bressan, date
from around 1720 and have some transitionalfeatures.
The latest appearance of the three-piece flute is in
practicum(Swdbisch
Majer'sMuseummusicumtheoretico
Hall, 1732). This has an illustration of a flute, together
with a fingeringchart,andthey areparticularlyinteresting fortworeasons:the instrumenthas a very'advanced'
feature in the form of an extended footjoint giving c';
but this is connected to the out-of-date, single-piece
middle joint. Majermakes no mention of the new fourpiece design. But a transition of only ten years is quite
short, comparedfor example with the length of time it
took for the cylindricalflute to replace the conical one
in the 19th century.
The external appearance of the four-piece flute is
very different from that of its predecessor and is too
familiarnowadaysto requiredescription. Acoustically
there are a number of subtle but very important
differences, which affect all the sounding elements of
the instrument:the bore, the cork position, the embouchure, the finger-holes and the thickness of the
walls. The new kind of instrumenthas a more refined
sound than the old French flute, and a much wider
range: it can cover as much as three octaves and a
semitone and is very strong in most of the notes above
the staff, which in the Frenchflute are little more than
falsetto notes. Theinstrumenthas a much clearer,more
precise tone and is extremely nimble, handling rapid
passage-workand dramaticjumps with ease. The compensating loss is that, even in its lower-pitchedform,it
cannot quite match the sensuous, resonant quality of
the Frenchflute.
There is nothing to suggest that immediately the
four-pieceflute was inventedit took the formexclusively of the Baroqueflute played today. On the contrary,
there seems to have been a periodof experimentationand of extremeconfusion--lasting ten ortwentyyears.
Amongthe enormousrangeof pitches used atthattime,
it is nevertheless possible to discern three basic levels,
described in the list above under types 4-6.
As one would expect, the majority of instruments
that have survivedfromthis period are of the same type
as the modern Baroque flute at a'=415. They are
identical to the instruments that remained standard
well into the 19th century, except for some small
EARLYMUSICFEBRUARY
1984

39

changes (especially in embouchure). The variability of

pitch, however, can hardly be overstated. At this time,
almost every flute originally had several different corps
de rechange;indeed, it was largely the problem of pitch,
according to Quantz, that brought about the invention
of the divided middle joint.
In its lower range, the four-piece flute remained at
the old French chamber pitch. This is the version
sometimes called thefltite d'amourorflauto d'amore.It is
100-150mm longer than the concert flute and plays
about a major or a minor 3rd below a'=440. A number of
these instruments have survived. The most interesting
thing about them is that, apartfrom their length, they do
not differ in any way from the concert flute; that is to
say, the bore and embouchure are identical. This led me
some time ago to suspect that these two forms were not
really looked upon as different kinds of instrument, but
merely as the same-flute at different pitches; logically, it
seemed possible that one flute should be capable of
being adjusted to both pitches. I have since discovered
that one of the flutes in the Paris Conservatoire does
precisely this: the remarkable Schlegel flute (described
below in the appendix).
te d'amourhas the same tuning as the
Although
thefl,
French three-piece flute, its sound quality is quite

different,and in the middleand upperregistersthe very

narrowbore produces a haunting, veiled tone. It is as
expressive as the French flute, but its timbre is quite
different, being darker,more innig.
I know of no surviving specimens of the original
flautoterzetto.The well-known'flute in F'seems to be a
late 18th- and 19th-century type. Quantz, however,
speaks of flutes tuned to the high choir pitch, three
semitones above Germanpitch. He complains of their
unattractivelyshrill sound, and also makes an interesting technical criticism.Accordingto a well-established
principle of flute making known well before Boehm's
treatise,the diameterof a flute's bore and embouchure
should be in direct proportion to its length. Quantz,
however, notes that these high-pitched flutes had the
same bore as the'ordinary'flute, and werethereforenot
built to the usual proportions.(This is not true of the
later flute in F, whose makers seem to have heeded
Quantz'sadvice.)Some Baroqueflutes sound considerably above a'=440 at their highest setting, and I think
Quantz was indicating that some flute makers of his
time weretakingthis tendency even furtherand cutting
another 50 or 60mm off the normalflute's length.
Thus there seem to have been three types of flute of
common bore but differing in length by up to 50%.

Table 2 The expanding Baroqueflute

Embouchure
distance

Diameter of
bore (mm)

Diameter of
embouchure (mm)

19-13.5

9x8.5

430 ) (German
405 1 pitch)

19.5-13.6

9.5x8.8

350

19-13.5

8.5x8.5

Approximate
pitch at a'

Instrument
Flauto terzetto

fingering (Hz)
?475

(from Quantz's description)

500
(choir pitch)

Schuchart(BateCollection);a typical concert

flute, at two corpsde rechangesettings

540
575

Fridrich(Vienna,KunsthistorischesMuseum);

683

a typical flzfte d'amour

(French
chamber pitch)

Scherer (Bate Collection); low flzte d'amour

or pastourelle

715

330

19-13.5

8.9x8.3

Anciuti (Vienna, KunsthistorischesMuseum);

bass flute in ?G

970

280

19.5-14

9.5x9

Note: In all these cases, the last two figures remain almost unchanged.
Sources: Quantz'sVersuch,Bate Collection Catalogue and author'sown measurements

40

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984

it, '[imagining]a different clef for the notes' was partof

every flautist's technique.
Couperin seems to have been particularlytroubled
by these discrepancies and went to great lengths to
'unite the tastes'. He was a conscious innovator and
seems to have been aiming for an internationalpitch
standardbased on a compromisebetween the low(doux)
French sonority and the shrill, harsh (hagard)Italian
one.6 He was the first Frenchman to write chamber
music in the modern treble clef. By doing so he
abandoned the low chamberpitch associated with the
dessus line and fixed the pitch of a piece according to
that of the bass line. Thisdoes not mean, of course, that
Couperinexpected the wind instrumentsto alter their
pitch; instead, he intended that they should transpose
up to the key of the bass. This technique may perhaps
have been known as playing en amour.Couperinis not
usually thought of as a composer for the flute. His
music is too low-pitched and the keys he uses too
difficult. However, in his avertissementto the Concerts
royauxhe does mention the flute as one of the instruments for which the music was intended, and if we
consider that he was writingfor a low, transposingflute
(in his case, alwaysby a minor3rd),much of his writing
suddenly emerges as beautifully idiomatic for the
instrument. For example, the passage from Ritratto
dell'amoreshown in ex. 1 is unplayable on the flute as
written(ex.1a), but transposedbackto the Frenchviolin
Untilthe early 1720s, all Frenchflute music was written clef (ex.lb), in which it must originally have been
in the French violin clef (Gl). In general, any music written,it reads like a passage by LaBarreor Hotteterre
writtenin this clef would have been played at a tuning (particularlywith the passing c' sharp).By 1730, most
about a 3rd below a'=415, that is at about a'=350. But other Frenchcomposers had followed Couperin'slead
therewere serious discrepancies. Italianmusicians had and abandoned the Frenchviolin clef in favour of the
for many years been settling in France, and they treble clef.
broughtwith them the exciting newgo?t italien.One of
the most strikingdifferences between the two national
Ex.1 FromFrangoisCouperin,Ritrattodell'amore:Nouveau concert
schools of music was that of taste in instrumental no.9 from Les
gofits-refinis(Paris,1724)
colouring. The Italians played at a much higher pitch (a)as written
than the French, using the modern treble clef(G2). In
theory, the two Gswerethe same;in practicethey must
have been severalsemitones apart.In France,music for
the harpsichordand the voice had alwaysbeen written
in the treble clef, and the impact of the brilliant but
strident Italian violin must have been intense. The
(b) transposed to the French clef
everydayBaroquesolution to the problemof fitting the
idiosyncratic Frenchflute into this variety of contrasting sounds was transposition,as maybe seen in illus.3.5
Hotteterre'sinstructions to the bass are to 'play in this
...
clef in order to tune with the upper voices' (i.e. the
-I-I
flutes). Thistechnique of transposingby, as Quantzput

Strangerstill, this anomaly is also to be found in the

bass members of the flute family. Table 2 shows the
measurements of several Baroqueflutes whose pitch
varies by almost an octave. Thus it seems that many
flute makersof this periodconsidered the flute to have
a certain ideal bore, which could be lengthened and
shortenedatwill, as it werea trombone.Thosewho have
observed this anomaly have naturallyconcluded that
the dimensions of the higher and the lower flutes are
deviations fromthe'correct'proportionsof the concert
flute. ButQuantz,who surelywould have knownbetter
than anybody, expressly contradicts this, saying that
the dimensions of the four-piece flute were originally
based on the design of the low flute. Thismeans thatthe
fl^ted'amourmust be the archetypeof the Baroqueflute
fromwhich the other forms are derived(in the Encyclopedieit is statedthatthe flute'srangeis particularlywide
in the d'amoresetting);and it tells us a greatdeal about
the sound qualitythat people of the time expected of a
flute.
Beforeexaminingthe way in which these differences
in the flute's design may have affected the playing of
the instrument,we ought to consider several important
and closely relatedevents in the historyof the flute that
took place at exactly the same time as the invention of
the four-piece design.

&

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EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984

41

Although the French kept their primacy in performance on the flute, the new generation of composers
had completely lost the spirit of the gotitfrancois,and
French composition for the flute went into a sharp
decline. Of the two leading flute virtuosos, Michel
Blavet wrote music that is indistinguishable from any
other compositions of the international style galant,
while Pierre-GabrielBuffardinbecame so italianized
that he even styled himself 'I1Sigr. Bufardini'.
The Germanstook up the flute with almost as much
enthusiasm as the French,andbefore long it once again
became the 'Germanflute', in fact as well as name.
There is very little Germanflute music from before
1720. Bach was one of the pioneers, and his interest
may have been stimulated by the new four-piece
design, since only one of his compositions seems to
have been written for the bottom-heavy three-piece
flute. This is the early G majorTrioSonataBWV
1039, a
work quite different in style from Bach's other flute
music.
At this time too the flute began to be heard with an
orchestra.It is notable that all the Frenchflute music of
the first quarterof the 18th centurywas scored for very
small forces-for one, two or occasionally moreflutes
playingtogether,often withouta bass. TheFrenchseem
to have had the greatest difficulty in combining the
flute with any other instrument,even the harpsichord,
and it was not until the 1730s that a Frenchcomposer
ventured to write a flute concerto. The Italians were
greatorchestralinnovatorsbutthey had little interestin
windinstruments,though Vivaldibeganto compose for
the flute in this period. Germancomposers took the
lead here; Bach, from his BrandenburgConcertos
onwards,was an importantinnovator.
Initially, the 'ordinary'flauto traversowas probably
the flzte d'amour.The conical-bore flute was entirely a
French invention, and it had acquired a status almost
equal to that of the violin, purely on account of its
mellow, inimitable tone colour. When the use of the
flute, in its alteredfour-piece form,became morewidespread, musicians must naturally have preferredthe
version which came closest to the sounds of the low
Frenchflute-in other words,theflute d amour.Quantz
describes the ideal flute tone as being 'thick, round,
masculine'.'Ingeneral',he says,'the most pleasing tone
qualityon the flute is thatwhich morenearlyresembles
a contraltothan a soprano, or which imitates the chest
tones of the human voice.' This is plainly a description
of the flzitedamour.Quantz'sevidence is particularly
telling, for he was writingat a time when the standardi42

1984
EARLYMUSICFEBRUARY

..,;..

5 Aflute player,possiblythe imperialcourtmusicianF.J. Lemberger

painting (1709-24/5) by Jan Kupeckdl(1667-1740) (Nuremberg,
GermanischesNationalmuseum)

zation of the flute at the higher pitch was alreadywell

under way, and he himself contributed more than any
other to that process.
An interestingsign of the d'amore's
popularitycan be
found in the inventoryof instrumentsbelonging to the
Kapelle of Sayn-Wittgenstein.In this collection, the
wind instruments in the lower range far outnumber
theirordinarycounterparts.Ofthe flutes, there areonly
two ordinaryinstrumentsto threeflzitesd'amour(one of
which is described as 'large').Again, the surprising
thing is that this inventoryis dated as late as 1741, only
a decade before Quantz's Versuch.I think it probable
that for the first 10-15 years after the introduction of
the four-piece design, the d'amorewas played at least as
much as the type nowadaysknownas the Baroqueflute.
The choice of different types of flute must have been
first and foremost according to function. The flzte
d'amouris essentially a chamberinstrument:it was the
flute on which one would play serious, expressive
music such as the trio sonata in the MusicalOffering.
Mostif not all of Bach'schambermusic for the flute was
written for this instrument. The Sonata Bwv1030 is
particularlyimportant. Bach wrote two scores of the

about these compositions is their unity of idiom. They

all have a distinctly pastoral air, and in one of them
Telemann actually calls the instrumentthe 'fli te pastourelle'. It is significant that the only piece in which
Bach combines the fluited'amourwith orchestra is the
Pastoralefrom the ChristmasOratorio.(This group of
pieces is the only context in which I have encountered
the name'flauto d'amore'in manuscriptsof the period;
unless we are to conclude that the instrument was
seldom played, this must mean its use was so normal
that it was only exceptionally specified by name.)
The flauto terzettoalso probably had its origins in
these experimentswith the orchestra. Its descendant,
the flute in F, can hold its own in any band or orchestra
by virtue of its penetrating sound. There are two
concertos written for the terzettoby one of the Graun
Ex.2 J. S. Bach, Sonata in B minor Bwv1030
brothers,who were Quantz'scolleagues at the court of
Andante
Frederickthe Great.But quite a lot more of the early
A
'
-"
music for flute and orchestramay originallyhave been
scored for it. In view of Quantz's comment that the
used to playat the shrillchoir pitch, it maybe
Venetians
Bach'stwo eldest sons also showed a preference for
was the flute for which Vivaldi comthe
terzetto
that
the flfited'amour,whose sound is ideal for the empfindsamerStil of their music. With its strong vocal quality, posed. Certainlyits chirpysound is ideal for his 'Goldthe instrument would also be the perfect obbligato finch' ConcertoRV428.
instrumentin vocal music. PhilipBate7has pointed out
thatflute obbligatosin Bach'schurchcantatasareoften High-pitched flutes
intended for the d'amore.
It is often stated that the true piccolo at the octave did
on
the
other
not
come into use until Beethoven'stime. In fact, it was
The soprano-voicedconcertflute,
hand,
and
eventual
over
its
owes
predominance
very common in the Baroque era, from which some
popularity
other flutes to the rise of the orchestra. The develop- examples have survived.It is difficult to see what other
ment of orchestralmusic duringthis period is perhaps instrumentBach can have had in mind as the'Fl. Trav.
the most criticalfactor in the historyof the instrument. in 8a' of his choral scores. Correttetells us that the
d'amouris unsuitable for combinationwith an piccolo was the correct instrument for playing the
Theflu^te
orchestrafor two reasons. First,it is at a different pitch tambourinpieces that werebecoming fashionable at the
from the other instruments (though this could, of time he wrote his Mdthode(c1740).The quartand quint
course, be solved through transposition). The main flutes were probably played mostly in France, as
disadvantage, however, is its mellow, intimate tone descant membersof the three-piece flute consort. The
quality,which tends to blend ratherthan contrastwith rathershort instrument in Jan Kupeck,'s portraitof a
stringinstruments.Orchestralmusic demandsa level of flautist (illus.5) may be of this type. And what were
uniformity and balance between instruments that we Bach's 'fiauti d'eco' in BrandenburgConcerto no.4?
take for granted,but which was signally lacking at the Were they perhaps two little quartflutes?8
beginning of the 18th century. The flute joined forces
with the orchestra only after its design and technique Bass flutes
had been considerablymodified-that is to say, afterit Variouskinds of bass flute seem to have been played a
had become transformedfrom a basically low-pitched greatdeal throughoutthe Baroqueperiod,though until
instrument into the soprano instrument that it has recently only one piece of music was known to have
remained. Thereare nevertheless a dozen or so pieces been composed for such an instrument-C. P.E.Bach's
forflate d'amourand orchestrawrittenin the late 1720s delightfulFmajorTrioSonatawQ163.(Moderneditions
and early 1730s by Telemann, Graupnerand Molter specify bass recorderfor the 'Bassfl6te'called for here,
(possibly for one particularplayer).The strikingthing but it is difficult to see why C. P. E. Bach should have

keyboardpartfor this sonata, one in B minor,the other

in G minor. Oboists, perhaps frustratedby the lack of
any chambermusic by Bach for their instrument,have
sometimes claimed the G minor as Bach's original
version, for oboe. But since we know that the flute at
this time was a transposing instrument, there is no
reason to suppose that Bach intended the two versions
for different instruments. They are merely written in
two different keys for the instruments used, flute and
harpsichord. It will be observed (ex.2) that the transposition used in this piece-two flats to two sharps-is
the same as that used by Hotteterre in the brunette
shown in illus.3. Andit is the harpsichordpartalone of
BWV
1030 that survives in G minor.

EARLYMUSIC FEBRUARY1984

43

chosen to writesuch a sophisticated piece of music for

an obsolete instrument that would have been inaudible against a viola, ratherthan for one which seems to
have been very popular at the time.)
By the middle of the century, French makers had
evolved an elaborate five-keyed design with the head
connected to a U-pipe;this instrumentwas either in G
or in the octave at D. Twoother kinds of bass flute have
survivedfrom this period, one by I. Beukerof Amsterdam (now in the Paris Conservatoire),the other by
J. M.Anciutiof Milan,1739(Vienna,Kunsthistorisches
Museum; illus.6). Both instruments are fascinating,
above all because their makers set out in opposite
directionsto solve the problemsof bass flute design. In
essence, the Beuker is simply an oversize four-piece
flute. Its length is double that of the concert flute, and
the maker followed the principles later approved by
Quantzand Boehm in makingthe diameterof the bore
and embouchure correspondingly large. The fingerholes arelargeandwidely spaced, but the difficult third
and sixth holes are broughtwithin reach by a doubleaction key system similar to that of the oboe. The
instrumentis surprisinglylight for its size.
The Anciuti flute is extraordinaryin every respect,
anddeserves furtherdiscussion. Especiallyremarkable
is the fact that although it has a sounding length almost
as greatas that of the Beuker,its embouchureand bore
measurements are exactly the same as those of the
concert flute. The problem of reach on the Anciuti is
solved through two devices: a bent-back head-piece
made out of a single piece of wood, and an ingenious
system of cutting the finger-holes, which are raised
above the outside of the wall and cut at a very acute
angle with fine craftsmanship. Despite its curious
features, though, the Anciuti is easy to play and has a
lovely sound. Mersenne, discussing the problems of
the bass flute a hundredyears before these two irstruments were made, says: 'Still, one can remedy this
defect in the bass of the said flute by many keys, or by
breakingthem and doubling them back, as is done in
the bassoon'.9 In other words, these instruments are
both of a very old design. (Even in Mersenne's time
therewas nothing new aboutthe use of keys to makethe
diatonic notes reachable; but the concept of adding
keys for chromaticnotes was revolutionary,anddid not
take hold until the end of the 18th century.)The bass
flute seems to have been particularly favoured in
France. Included in the pieces in Hotteterre'sAirs et
brunettesaresome triosin which a flute plays bass to two
higher-pitched flutes in consort, and several of the
44

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984

6 Bass flute by J. M. Anciuti

(Milan, 1739) (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente)

It

transposed solo pieces are writtenfor the low quartor

de
quint flutes. Twopassages in Couperin'sL'apotheose
Lulliappearto have been scored for the bass flute in G;
anotherpiece writtenspecifically foritis Philidor'ssolo
La chasse (ex.3). Since such an instrumentwould have
been the flute equivalentof the oboe da caccia, it would
have been ideal for such a composition.

Ex.3 Pierre Danican Philidor,La chasse, from op.3 (Paris,1718)

03
lo

A]I

DI.

J
.

* J*

'Atpresent',says Quantz,of the 'unusual'types of flute for flute and obbligatoharpsichordBWV1032is thought
like the flt2ted'amour,'none approaches the regular to have been writtenin its presentkey of Amajoraround
transverseflute in trueness and beautyof tone.' Butthis 1736, apparentlyin transposition from an original C
is a value judgement, and a highly partisanone at that, major (though the middle movement seems to have
which comes from the person most responsible for been raiseda minor 3rd).These alterationsare entirely
making these instruments obsolete. His use of the consistent with the idea that Bach was rewritingthe
words 'at present' is significant: they imply that the sonatafor the soprano-voicedconcertflute then coming
situation was not always so, and that the 'regular into fashion. 10
transverseflute' had only recently begun to match the
Musicians now seem for the first time to have
'unusual' ones.
thought in termsof a fixed, internationalpitch system.
Fromthe extremelycomplexstate of affairsdescribed Even unaccompanied flute pieces were now written in
above, it appearsthat the standardizationof the flute remote keys: for example, of W. F. Bach'ssix duets for
was a farfromstraightforwardprocess. Quantzis not as flutes, two are in E flat and one is in F minor, a key
reliable in questions of taste as he is in mattersof fact: almost unheardof in such music. Thesewere definitely
this is one of the rareareasin which we find something intended for the fltte d'amourin B flat, but an earlier
self-contradictoryand equivocal in the Versuch.Onthe composer would have written them in G major and A
one hand, he several times emphasizes the importance minor respectively and left the choice of flute to the
of the low tone of the flute, and speaks out strongly discretion of the player.
Thisbringsus to a veryimportantset of pieces written
against the shrill sound of the terzetto flute then
becoming prevalent. He complains that this tendency around 1740, Telemann's 12 Fantasias for unaccomClavier,
was'denaturing'the flute andturningit into a fife. Atthe panied flute. This is the flautist's Well-tempered
same time he says: 'I do not wish to argue for the very for it is the only collection of pieces for the flute
low Frenchchamberpitch,althoughitis mostadvantageous systematicallycovering a rangeof differentkeys. Frans
for thetransverse
flute'(myitalics) and decides in favour Vesterhas suggested (letterto the author)that the more
of the medium Germanpitch, which is 'neithertoo low 'remote' of these fantasias were meant for the fltte
nor too high'. Perhaps many of his contemporaries d'amour.I am inclined to agree with him, but it is also
would have been convinced by these statements; but worth bearing in mind that at this time the ordinary
the jump from the old Frenchpitch to that of Quantz's flute's technique was being extended to cover all keys,
'ordinary' flute was greater, if anything, than the and that Telemann may have been putting the instruinterval between Quantz'spitch and that of the shrill ment through its paces.
terzetto.If La Barre,for example, had heard Quantzplay
Hitherto, the flute had had a variety of higher and
one of his soprano-voiced flutes, he might well have lower 'voices', each of which was only reallyat home in
found its pipsqueak sound as excruciating as Quantz the four or five keys it could play most naturally.As the
found that of the terzetto.(Quantzwas probablyaiming, Potsdamflautists began to use only one type of instruas a compromise,at a level somewhere at the lower end ment, the concert flute, they compensated by developof the middle Germanpitch. His own flutes appear, ing a technique that made a much widerrange of keys
from their measurements,to have gone down to about available. Frederick the Great's rigorous solfeggios
a'=400. It may be significant that quite a few flutes cover about 15 different keys. But one wonders how
made in France at the same time-by Bizey, Lot and widespread these techniques were. (Prussia,after all,
Leclercq- aretuned to the same pitch.) In fact, Quantz was still the only countryin Europewhose soldierswere
was largely endorsing a process that had been taking drilled to march in step!) No one really succeeded in
place quietlyduringthe 1730s and 1740s. Bach'sSonata turning the one-keyed flute into a fully chromatic
EARLYMUSIC FEBRUARY1984

45

instrument: within 20 years of the Versuch, Kirst, who

must have know Quantz well, was already introducing
extra keys for the more difficult notes.
The traditional attitude to the flute had its champion
in Sans Souci itself. C. P. E. Bach, who was one of
Quantz's colleagues, seems to have been particularly
fond of the unusual types of flute. To Quantz, with his
reformer's zeal, this attitude must have seemed like an
irresponsible and retrograde desire for the chaos from
which he was trying to rescue the flute; and it no doubt
contributed to the poor relationship between the two
men. Quantz was trying, in fact, to do to the flute what
his employer was doing to Germany; his success was
every bit as swift and as far reaching. From the time of
his Versuch, a single type of instrument came to be
regarded as the flute: the orchestral instrument which is
known nowadays as the Baroque flute. By then, however, the Baroque era was almost at an end. Perhaps this
instrument could more aptly be called the Rococo
flute."I

t?;:'
1' ?
~..??1?

??~:?
r::
i?~,?;
~:ii

46

EARLYMUSIC FEBRUARY1984

~II ?s
~"" "" ~~~
:i`

...:

i~ ::~:~ :ri:

::o:
jb:~:d??t::

I am particularlygratefulto Frans Vester,who sent me the list

ofcompositionsfor the 'flzte d'amour'that he has preparedfor
the second edition of his flute repertorycatalogue.
Appendix:the Schlegel flute
One of the instrumentson display in the instrumentmuseum
of the ParisConservatoireis an ivoryflute (no. c.440) made in
Basle by Schlegel in the third quarter of the 18th century
(illus.7). In appearanceit is a typicalfluted'amour,
very similar
to the Schererin the BateCollection. (Themuseum has seven
other pieces of the flute which are not on display.) The
Schlegel flute is the missing link between theflzted'amour,the
low-pitchedold Frenchflute and the Germanconcert flute. It
is unique in that all four of its parts(if we include the sliding
cork) can be adjusted in some way to alter the sounding
length. The upper middle joint has seven numberedcorpsde
rechange;there is a longer and a shorter lower joint; and the
foot joint expands by up to 14mm.The expanding sleeve (or
'register')is calibratedby numbersto matchthe differentcorps
de rechange.The silver key is also extendible.
There is a marked difference between the first corpsde
rechangeand the remaining six, as can be seen from illus.7.
No.1 is 75mm longer than no.2; but no.2 is only 42mm longer
than no.7 (the shortest),and the interveningsizes diminish in
steps of 8-9mm. The longer lower joint, with its wider
spacings for the finger-holes, obviously goes with no.1, the
shorter with the remainingsix settings.
Between no.7 setting and no.l, the distance from the
middleof the embouchureto the tip of the foot joint increases
from 508 to 665mm; in other words, the flute can vary in
length by nearlya third.Atits longest, the instrumenthas the
same dimensions as either a flzte damour or the type of

P~?i:
~':?
??
o

I:::
i?
s:li*:,!k:%
i'

.i-: .
ii::?.tF
(;~`-?T
; "?::
?.;.,t:

.,. i$i
I'
45

c.

:"
L
?I:i?::P:Pil4j;
?:::~:

I`,
t4

~;a--?

7 Ivoryfour-piece flute by Schlegel (Basle,c1730-40), shown at the

du
no.1 setting,withcorpsde rechange(Paris,MuseeInstrumental
NationalSuperieurde Musique)
Conservatoire
instrumentseen in the Tournierespainting (illus.4);it is less
than a quarter-toneflatter than the Naust flute in the same
collection. The note a'=440 is sounded in the C sharp
position: in otherwords,the flute in its no. 1 setting is in Bflat
at modern pitch or in D at a tuning of a'=c350. This no.1
setting is almost certainlythe corpsd'amourmentioned in the
'Flute allemande' section of the Encyclopedie.The other six
settings bringthe instrumentto exactly the proportionsthat

aremosttypicalof the German18th-centuryflute as described

by Quantzand as found in manyextantexamples. No.2 tuning
is around a'=415 (present-day 'Baroque'pitch), while no.7
sounds sharper than a'=440 (modern concert pitch). The
grades in between each correspond to a comma. The flute
therefore plays at two quite distinct levels, the low French
chamber or d'amorepitch, and the variable German pitch
probably used by most orchestras. The intervals between
these two levels are: a minor 3rd at the lower end of the
Germantuning (no.2) and a major3rd at the highest (no.7).
Both of these intervals occur as transpositions in German
music for the flzte d'amour(e.g. in Bach's flute sonatas).
Dr Kriekeberg,curator of the Berlin MusikinstrumentenMuseum, has sent me informationon Exhibitno. 1531 there,
which consists of several ivory flute pieces by Scherer that
belonged to Frederickthe Great.Dr Kriekebergbelieves that
1531 was originally a pair of flutes, each having a corps
d'amour.Thus Frederickdefinitely played the flzited'amour,
which corroboratesmy belief that J. S. Bach's two Potsdam
flute works (the trio sonata in the MusicalOfferingand the E
major Sonata Bsw1035) were originally intended for that
instrument;the same is also true of much of C. P. E. Bach's
flute music, particularlythe TrioSonata wQ162in E major,a
characteristicd'amorekey.
HundredHistoricalInstruments(New York,
'P. T. Young, Twenty-five
1982), lists only 102 extant flutes that can definitely be said to have
been made between 1670and 1750;of these, 55 were madein England
and 15 in France, and only two of those 15 have been preservedin
France.
2Theuse of exchangeable upper joints known as corpsde rechange
enabled the pitch of manyflutes to be alteredby well over a tone, but
even this was not always sufficient to cover all the variationsin pitch
between different kinds of instruments. Thus the flautist would
sometimes be obliged to transpose by a tone or a semitone. The
concert flute was therefore sometimes played as a'flute in C',or E (or
even D sharp).The picture we get from Quantz,Corretteand Diderot
and D'Alembert'sEncyclopddie(Paris, 1751-65) is that the corpsde
rechange,when first invented, could altera flute's tuning by as much
as three semitones, and that the span was refined at a later date to
between a semitone and a whole tone. Not manyflutes have survived
with all their corpsde rechange.In general, any flute from this period
that has survived as one assembled piece should be treated as only
one version of a variable instrument.
3Thiscould be the instrumentknown as theflf2ted cinqpieds.Writers
are awareof the existence of theflf2ted'amourin B, but seem to have
some resistance to the idea of one in Bflat. Butin the 18thcenturyany
flute was likely to adjustits tuning by at least a semitone (Iamsure,for
example, that the very low-pitched Scherer in the Bate Collection,
Oxford,originally had a corpsde rechangethat raised its pitch by a
semitone, and I have reconstructed such a joint fromthe dimensions
of another flute in Vienna). Conclusive evidence is provided by
Molter's E flat Concerto for 'Flauto tray. d'Amore'and orchestra
(Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, 307). In the manuscript
score, thefluzted'amourpartis writtenin G, a major3rd higher, which
involves the same transpositionas I use in playing Bach'sEflat Flute
Sonataswv1031. Molterwas personallyacquaintedwith Bachand his
family.
4SeeE.Halfpenny,'ASeventeenth-centuryFli7ted'Allemagne',GSJ,
iv (1951), p.42; the replica I have made of the Paris Naust includes
such a stopper, which I find gives a certain edge to the tone.

5Editorsareproneto regardall transpositionsthattheyfind in 18thcentury flute music as recordertranspositions,butthat cannot be the

case here. In was Hotteterre himself who originated the idea of
but his
to his Livrepremier,
recordertranspositions,inthe avertissement
suggestions are unconvincing--for example, that the D majorsuite
should be transposed a major3rd for the recorder,which would give
the key of F sharp major,little used on any instrument,let alone the
recorder.
6Theelaboratelyconstructedprogrammeof L'apothosedeLulliis in
fact an allegory of Couperin'sideas on the standardizationof pitch.
An article in which I analyse this workis forthcoming in Recherches'
sur la musiquefrangaiseclassique.
7TheFlute(London, 1969), p.185
8Theywere certainly not recorders in F. Bach wrote a different
version of the concerto forthe latter,in theirhome key. Thefiautideco
must have been flutes orrecorderspitched a tone higher,in G;andthe
'little quart flute', which is mentioned both by Quantz and in the
Encyclopedie,fits the bill exactly.
universelle,i (Paris,1636), bk 5, sv 'Flfiteallemande'.
9Harmonie
'?See R. L. Marshall,'J. S. Bach's Compositions for Solo Flute: a
Reconsiderationof their Authenticityand Chronology',JAMS,xxxii
(1979),pp.463-98. Marshallbelieves that, in the extantversion, Bach
has alteredthe keyrelationshipof the slow movementto the two outer
ones, raising it fromthe relativeto the tonic minor,possibly because
in its originalversion the slow movementwas the only one that went
below the range of the concert flute.
"AfterQuantz,theflzte d'amourcontinued to be played sporadically, enjoying a modest revival at the turn of the century. To meet this
new demand,the London workshopof Muzio Clementibegan in the
181Osto producecopies of the earlierinstrument-the firstcontribution, perhaps, to the early musical instrumentrevival?

The

Original
Baroque

Flute

As seen in the well-known Tournieres

painting: the French alto flute, for the music
of Hotteterre, La Barre and Couperin.
The C & C "Naust" flute is copied from one
of two surviving specimens. It is tuned at the

old French Chamber Pitch, and will play

with other instruments at a'=415 or 440. It

can also tune up to Concert Pitch with an
extra "Rippert" joint.
Standard version: Grenadilla with

boxwood mounts: ?338.

Other materials: by arrangement with the
maker.
"Rippert" middle joint: ?70.
Each instrument is sold with instructions on how
to play at French Chamber Pitch, together with a
table of Hotteterre's G-Clef transpositions.
SC& C (Oxford) Ltd
2 Bladon Close
Oxford OX2 8AD
Tel. (0865) 59185

EARLYMUSIC FEBRUARY1984

47