EDITORIAL CONVENTIONS
To avoid extensive footnotes, publication date (and page numbers where there are quotations) of the sources referenced are given in parentheses within the text following the author's name. Complete bibliographic entries are found in the annotated bibliography.
In quoting foreign language sources, references are made to available English translations. For example, page numbers for quotes of the Quantz tutor refer to the Reilly translation listed in the bibliography.
The exercises and tunes in Chapter Four come from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century flute tutors and collections. The exercises or tunes credit the composer (where known), the author (in the case of a treatise which has not identified the composer of its tunes), or the title of a collection. Edited slurs are shown by means of a dashed slur. Breath mark indications are mine, with the exception of the little duet in e minor by Blavet, who frequently indicated his own breaths. Trills very often begin from the note above the principal note—there are exceptions. The performance suggestions for the tunes in this Method are based on the instruction given in the tutor from which the tune was taken.
I have used the letters d'-b' for notes of the first octave, c"-b" for the second octave, and c'"-a'" for the third octave.
I have used the capital letter when describing a particular major key, such as G major, and a lower case letter when describing a minor key, such as e minor.
To simplify the layout, fingerings in Chapter Four are given using a simple number system instead of the graphics found on the charts. For example, g' is designated 1 2 3/---.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My deepest gratitude
To Amy Boland, Joyce Bryant, Betsy Colvin, Betsy Cuffel, Andrew Cox, David Dahl, John Dowdall, Christopher Krueger, Betty Bang Mather, Roger Mather, Judy Moore, Ardal Powell, Jama Stilwell, Teresa Texeira, John Thow, and Richard M. Wilson for advice offered after reading the text, in full or in part. To Richard M. Wilson and Christopher Krueger for guidance in writing the chapter on intonation. I take responsibility for all the errors and omissions which remain.
To flute-maker Friedrich von Huene for permission to reprint his excellent drawings of original instruments.
To Stephen Preston for information, insights, and inspiration given at annual baroque flute master classes at the Wildacres Flute Symposium since 1985.
To Barbara Kallaur for repertoire ideas.
To Betty Rogers, Linda Bloedel, Harlene Hansen, and Richard Doyle at Stewart Memorial Library at Coe College for assistance with interlibrary loan materials. To The University of Iowa Libraries for making their materials available. To David Lasocki at Indiana University for answering many reference questions.
To the Iowa Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts for a Creative Artist's Grant to assist in readying the book for the publisher.
To McGinnis & Marx Music Publishers for permission to reprint my survey of eighteenth-century tutors from Fluting and Dancing: Articles and Reminiscences for Betty Bang Mather on her 65th Birthday (New York: McGinnis & Marx, 1992).
To John Dowdall and Elsie Kleese, my ardent supporters in whatever I strive to do.
And most of all, to Betty Bang Mather, my mentor and friend, who has given me a wealth of instruction, advice, and encouragement. Her pioneering work with the one-keyed flute, her patient, masterful teaching, her exemplary musicianship, and her many contributions to the scholarly world have been my inspiration.
Marion, Iowa
J.D.B.
December 1997
CHAPTER I
ABOUT THE ONE-KEYED FLUTE
Illustration from Johann Phillip Eisel, Musicus autodidaktos. Erfurt: Johann Michael Funcken, 1738
ON THE FLUTE
A Bit of History
The one-keyed flute was developed from the keyless, cylindrical-bored Renaissance flute, possibly by 1660. Its beginnings are sketchy at best. Historians have traditionally credited the Hotteterre and Philidor families at the French court of Louis XIV with the “perfection” of the flute. New evidence has challenged that position (Powell, 1996), but we, as yet, have nothing to replace it. Regardless, early one-keyed flutes had three sections: a more-or-less cylindrical head joint, a conical middle joint with six tone holes, and a foot joint with one tone hole covered by a key. Later, probably by about 1720, makers divided the middle section into two parts.
The one-keyed flute, with some modification, was in use for well over one hundred years. Many professional flutists used it as the instrument of preference to near the end of the eighteenth-century. Some amateurs used the one-keyed flute even longer. One could purchase a one-keyed wooden flute in the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue in the United States in 1908 for $1.55.
In the eighteenth century, the flute was the most popular of all wind instruments. It was considered very fashionable, as evidenced by Frederick the Great of Prussia's great passion for the instrument. Composers found a market for flute music among both amateurs and professionals, and consequently the eighteenth century is rich in flute literature.
Names
The one-keyed flute has many names. Eighteenth-century tutors refer to it as the one-keyed flute, the cross or transverse flute (la flûte traversière, die Querflöte, or flauto traverso), and the German flute (flûte d'Allemagne). (Be aware that in the early part of the eighteenth century, the simple term “flute” [flauto] usually referred to the recorder.) Today the instrument is variably referred to as the “one-keyed flute,” the “baroque flute” (certainly appropriate for the early eighteenth-century instrument), or the “traverso,” a shortened version of its Italian name. I shall refer to it as the one-keyed flute.
Materials Used
Historically, one-keyed flutes have been made mostly of wood. Quantz (1752) declared boxwood to be the most common and durable, but he preferred ebony for its clear and beautiful tone. Tromlitz (1791) said both ebony and grenadilla produced a flute tone that was brighter and stronger than boxwood. Kingwood and ivory were also used. However, ivory was used more often to decorate wooden flutes, and many flutes featured ivory ferrules at each joint and an ivory end cap.
Range
The range of the one-keyed flute is d' to a'". However, I recommend that the beginner limit the first efforts to the more traditional range of d' to e'".
traditional range
Concerning the Highest Notes
During the first part of the eighteenth century, the highest practical note was considered to be e'". Hotteterre (1707, pp. 45–46) writes:
The notes above e'" are forced notes, and cannot enter naturally in any piece. Furthermore you must not persist in wanting to find them at the beginning, as it is a trouble which you must spare yourself until you are very advanced.
Quantz (1752, p. 57) agrees, saying, “The highest usable note that you can invariably produce is e'". Those which are higher require a particularly good embouchure.”
The third octave f is a bad note on some instruments. Hotteterre (1707, p. 46) finds that it “can almost never be done on the flute” and