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    Addigton Unlocked

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    delorte

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    of 15
    Christopher Addington In search of the Baroque The flute family 1680-1750 D 74° Pour les Flutes,* de par ; Composees Ordinaire® de ke Chambres du R a~ Y) flute PD Vrolon , R SSUS ie ; M..-Waraie» rMlusigque, J OM eat S Us. 1 Frontispiece to M, Marais, Pieces en trio (Paris. 1692}: engraving by C Simonneau (Paris. Bibliothéque Nationale} The Baroquie flute’ is now a familiar sight in the concert hall: it is readily identifiable as the type of instrument popularized by Quantz in the mid-18th century. This became the standard flute of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and was the kind that was_mass- produced in England by Richard Potter and Henry Cahusac. Thus most of the instruments we know as Baroque flutes’ are actually of a type prevalent 50 or a hundred years afterthe time of Bach and Telemann. tis ‘open to question. then. whether they are representative of the instrument for which those composers wrote. Paradoxically, many flutes from after the late Baroque period survive (and may still be bought quite cheaply). despite the fact that flute music from about 1750 onwards was in a state of decline. Yet only a few dozen survive from the period which ends with Quantz’s Versuch of 1752. This imbalance may not be entirely accidental, One of the first principles of the search for ‘authenticity’ in ‘music is that in dealing with a single historical period we should not rely on certainties of a later date: thus in 34 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984, principlewe are no more justified in identifying the true Baroque flute with the instrument played in the late 18th century than we would be in identifying it with the cylindrical Boehm-type flute. Before examining the flute as it existed in the first half of the 18th century. we must clear our minds of three 20th-century precon- ceptions First, we are used to regarding ‘the flute’ as a single strument rather than as one member of a family of instruments. This results from the standardization of the orchestral flute sounding a’ with all seven holes closed (or'in 1. and sa on for flutes af other pitches) But in the 16th and early 17th centuries the term ‘flute’ usually “German flute'—denoted any member of a consort of instruments ranging from descant to bass. with the bass a particularly prominent member. Thereis evidence that this usage continued into the 18th cen- tury far more widely than is generally appreciated. A second source of misunderstanding results from a Danwinian attitude towards old instruments, which tend tobe evaluated in terms of their survival rate. Thus. ian instrument once existed in two versions, that now represented by the larger number of museum speci- mens is often regarded as the “standard one. and the other is treated as a deviation. But the preservation of instruments is a haphazard affair: 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 itis very difficuit +> play) 1 believe this is precisely what happened in the case of the Baroque flute. Historical factors and geographical accident also haveto be taken into account: the British. for example, are a nation of collectors, whereas the French have been extremely unsuccessful in preserving their old instruments, largely because of the Revolution." This is particularly unfor- tunate in view of the fact that the flutes played in 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, lurked very much in the wings. The third preconception concerns pitch. We have become accustomed to the idea of an international pitch standard based upon a value fora’ that is defined in terms at least as fine as one vibration per second. Performers of Baroque music have tended to settleona pitch standard exactly 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. This variati about a 5th, arose from various factors. According to Quantz, national pitch varied by almost ath. with three main standards: the medium ‘German’ pitch, which itself varied by six commas (two-thirds of a tone}: "French chamber pitch’, a minor 3rd below it: and, the high ‘choir pitch’, a minor 3rd above it, which was used especially by the Venetians ‘There were also pitches proper to certain instru- ments. Instruments tended to become fixed at particu: larpitches—the 18th-century German organ, for exam- ple. was often in choir pitch. We know from Quantz that there was a similar association between wind instru- ments and French chamber pitch. Chamber and orches- tral music may each have had an appropriate pitch ‘Throughout the late Baroque there was a movement towards a rationalization of pitch and its notation. Corelli. Couperin. Bach, Rameau and Quantz himself all played a leading part in the develnpment of a fixed. ternational pitch. However. the process was necessar ily’slow. as can be seen from Quantz’s description of a prevailing situation that by our standards was chaotic. The question of pitch is particularly important 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 isnot merely atechnical matter, since a difference 2 Five 18th-century ivory flutes (Paris, Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique) FARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984 35, of even a semitone will alter the timbre quite noticeably, while larger variations involve a degree of difference comparable to that between a soprano and an alto singer. What then was the true Baroque flute like? Itis clear from written and—occasionally—musical sources of thetime thatthe following types of flute were played in the first half of the 18th century, I High octave flute (flauto piccolo, sopranino, fluter).. In D, an octave above the ‘ordinary’ flute 2. Fife or ‘Swiss Pipe’. In B flat, a military instrument. 3 Descant flutes. Quantz mentions a'tittle quart flute’ in G, a 4th above the ‘ordinary’ flute; there was also certainty 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 5rd above the pitch of most harps: chords and orchestras. The terzetto was 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, varying atleast froma standard of a'=390 toone of a’=4502 Table 1 Baroque Mute tunings 6 Flaite d'amour, flauto d'amore. An alto instrument tuned to D at French chamber pitch (abouta’=350) and thus sounding a major or minor 3rd below the normal pitch of harpsichords, and played at either of these transpositions. Itwas treated as an instrumentin either B or B flat: in the latter pitch it was known as the flute pastouretle? 7 Tenor or intermediate bass flute, Quantz mentions a low quart flute 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 Octave bass flute. In the D below that of the concert flute Specimens of most of the flutes listed above sutvive {and can be identified with surviving instruments) with the exception of the descant flutes and also possibly the original flauto terzetto and the low quart flute Bearing in mind the critical importance of a flute’s, length, a good idea of the variety of instruments played in the 18th century may be gained from illus.2, which shows ivory flutes in the instruments museum of the Paris Conservatoire. (This by no means covers the full range of flutes in that collection: there is one flute with aa Tes Fine Fano Tones Te oa cre] guint | quar ne sot | ewer | quot | naa = — Ce B E Fe —— >} ele] Ff A ole/ Fle — l|alole G cloilela ——-|[e6]cl]o F eilclolc« — >] Fi a] c — Al B] Cy F ——J|e;ale D ci[alsele ——| of cfa c rFlao]alo Boom acre be (0 togerngs EI = ——: | =. ‘stale aso the Mate mod of Quant Hote a Come nd ce of mie By Hocetene. Cop Phi, ach Telemann. Quan Gnspne an Make 36 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984 2 Brunelie Vues ier 2 Suilte en Dla res v + ‘ 7 o FE vr cate bf bs EE : peficcarder) |" Peullages wrivnapbecherbsstandres Grose leony devas iva sce loser LL vay + he chases = : 3 Opening of a brunette from Jacques Hotteterre’s collection Airs et brunettes Bibliothéque Nationale} a sounding length four times that of thesmallestshown here and thus pitched two octaves lower) Composers hardly ever specified the type of flute they were writing for; and the boundaries between the different types were blurred. Since the playing pitch both of other instruments and of the individual flute was sovariable, many instruments could have played as different kinds of flute in different performances. The problem is one of notation, since all flutes were written as if they were in D—at least during the first quarter of the 18th century—whatever pitch they played at. The note played with all finger-holes closed was written as ¢ and called re even in music for the bass flute in G. Thusitis often extremely difficult to judge simply from 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 Asif 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 quarter of the 18th century; the other, in four pieces, superseded it in the second quarter. The three-piece flute. The conical one-keyed flute was invented in France in the second half of the 17th century. probably by members of the Hotteterre family. For several decades the French had a virtual monopoly in flute making. The frontispiece (illus.1) ofacollection of trios by Marais for flute or recorder (Paris, 1692) isthe earliest representation known to me of the new flute design. Some of the surviving specimens, however. tiréz des meilleurs autheurs (Paris, 1721) (Paris, suchas the Chevalier(Boston, Museum of Fine Arts) are thought to be of an earlier date. The first compositions scored specifically for the flute are La Barre’s five Piéces pour la flite traversiére (Paris, 1702). Over a dozen surviving specimens of this instrument, all made either in France or by Frenchmen living abroad, have now been identified, The design is dis- tinctive and appears to be quite homogeneous. apart from small variations in external appearance and critical differences in the all-important matter of pitch. The exterior consists of two long, plain tubes connect- ed to three ornately turned smaller parts: thedistinctive cap to the headpiece {usvally very long): the socket connecting the head with the single middle joint: and the foot joint often of ovoid design). The mountings are usually made of ivory. Other features distinguish this flute acoustically from the later four-piece model: its generally wider, less regular bore; larger and less undercut mouth-hole; heavier walls: and larger finger- holes placed further down the flute. Of particular interest is the fact that the end appears originally to have been stopped with wood rather than cork. * These apparently small details combine to make a decisive difference to the player's technique and the instru- ment’s sound, But most of the interest in this flute has focused on the question of pitch. In his Versuch, Quantz several limes mentions the low pitch that was a distinctive feature of the early French flute: Indeed’, he says ofthe entire new generation of wind instruments created by the French, ‘they owe their existence to the low pitch.” His identification of French chamber pitch as being a minor 3rd below the German standard of his own day is, supported by the most famous of all the players of the three-piece flute, Jacques Hotteterre himself. Inartde EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984 37 preluder. written in 1719, he devotes a whole chapter (chap.a) to flute transpositions. One of these. which involves the overplaying of the two G clefs, he considers crucial to flute technique ‘because it enables one to play tunes in their true tonality [or pitch’—the French fon could mean either), and in unison with the voice This can mean only that the flute was not normally in ‘unison with the voice, but played a 3rd below. (For an example of this overplaying technique. see illus.3.from Hotteterre's Airs et brunettes (Paris, 1721).) The surviving examples of this flute aretobe foundin 38 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1984 4 Agroupof French musicians:

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