A Brief History of the Flute From the Middle Ages to the Classical Era College Level Flute Studies Studio Class Falane Gerritsen

Flutes of the Middle Ages Single piece of wood cylindrical in shape two feet in length sounded scale of D Major six closely spaced finger holes

Flutes of the Renaissance Variety of flute sizes corresponding to the various voice types, each sounding a fifth apart six to eight finger holes cylindrical bore one or two pieces

Fun Fact! Marin Mersenne called to attention the fact that there were no keys on the flute in the mid 1600’s, and explained that the flute could be made fully chromatic with keys. But it was 50 years before the flute even got its first key!

Flutes of the Baroque Period Six finger holes, spaced in two groups of three, built to correspond to the configuration of the human hands conical bore three or more pieces one or more keys

The Conical Bore The conical bore improved the tuning of the upper (overblown) notes, flattened the scale and the finger holes in compensation were moved closer together.

The D sharp and E flat Keys The inventor of the D sharp key is anonymous, but it is estimated that it was created around The key enabled a hole to be covered a part of the flute that is not able to be reached. Quantz added the E flat key around It was designed to enable the player to distin- guish between enharmonic D sharp and E flat. This was because in the 18th century tuning systems, the flat was played higher than its enharmonic sharp. Quantz’s invention was un- popular, and eventually died out.

The Four Piece Flute 1720, the flute was divided into four joints to improve intonation. There was a head joint two middle joints, and a foot joint. Flutes came with various sizes of middle joints to flatten or sharpen the pitch. There were three to six lengths per flute. Later, a two part foot joint was invented for the same reason the body was divided. Quantz Flute

Materials Used Box wood: Has a sweet tone, but absorbs too much moisture; is liable to change in dimensions. Cocus wood: from Jamaica. Has a brilliant and powerful tone, non-absorbent, can stand heat and moisture, but is prone to cracking. Ebony: Has a fine tone at first, but is liable to change in caliber and is also prone to cracking. Box Wood Flute Cocus Wood Flute Ebony Flute

The Hotteterre Family We aren’t sure which member of the Hotteterre Family made the flute models that we have today, but it is assumed that they were made by Jacques- based off similar flutes found in his books. The flutes had a long ball-ended finial to cap the end of the head piece, a symmetrical centre ferrule joining together the head and middle pieces, and an ovoid foot piece.

Other Flute Makers Rippert Flutes Naust Flutes Denner Flutes

Flutes of the Classical Era Conical bore, the bore had a increased taper to strengthen the flute’s low register. Keys were added. Different numbers of keys varied on each instrument. Some had as many as seventeen keys! Various experiments were done with the flute bore, the size, the undercutting, and the spacing of the embouchure and toneholes, the materials used, and wall thickness of the tubing.

Mozart Concerto in D Major One keyed flutes were also played in the classical era. Mozart’s concertos in D and G Major were probably written for these instruments. Click to listen

Boehm Flute In 1831 Boehm developed a new flute that could control holes beyond reach. He refined his flute in the next year, and it was a ring-keyed flute. In 1847, he developed a metal flute with a cylindrical bore, and used similar mechanisms to his 1832 flute.

References dex.php3 Solum, John. The Early Flute. Clarendon Press, Oxford Rockstro, Richard. The Flute. Musica Rara LondonW.I. Chapters 13 & Toff, Nancy. The Flute Book. Oxford University Press. New York. Chapter