While very few flutes remain from the Renaissance and Medieval eras, many Baroque flutes have been preserved. The traverso was made with a variety of materials including various types of wood, most often boxwood, as well as ivory and metal. There is one key on the baroque flute and it is on the foot-joint. Additionally, the two body pieces (upper-body and lower-body) each contain three equally sized finger holes. The head joint of the traverso contains one embouchure hole which air is blown across.
This conical bore design gave the flute a wider range and more penetrating sound without sacrificing the softer, expressive qualities. Additionally, the traverso was made with a conical bore from the head joint down. Now often called the traverso (from the Italian), it was made in three or four sections or joints (the head, upper-body, lower-body and foot joint). As a result, this flute had a rather soft sound and was used primarily in 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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